Hi Johannes, we're in NY but a somewhat quick reply. I've played sarinda, it's even on one of my recordings (forget which), is related also to the sarangi. The one I had was from Baluchistan and was amazingly decorated. Azure and I gave it to the National Music Museum in South Dakota, which is the main such place in the U.S.; it's well taken care of there. It was a unique instrument and probably dated from the early 20th- century. They're hard to date. They're also hard to play! The writing came out of really thinking about what I do, and that, for me, the sound/music is connected to philosophy, to difficulty; it's not exalted playing but a form of work I learn from, especially the places that tend to open up. Thanks! , Alan
On Fri, Jan 26, 2018 at 11:21 AM, Johannes Birringer < [email protected]> wrote: > > Alan > you seem to be walking by the crackling fires or waves of something, river > or burning pathway, > but your early lines in the text on music and instruments, and what i > always considered your love for and curiosity > in instruments, made me think of you / of the other day. > > I was in Houston and one quiet morning went to the Asia Society, a small > marvel of a museum, and there they > had a fascinating exhibition on view, upstairs, i was nearly all alone and > walked around " ART & ISLAM THROUGH TIME & PLACE". > > I saw an instrument there that amazed me. > > A Sarinda, carved from a single piece of wood, with stretched animal hide, > strung with gut, the instrument looked old and a little brittle > (created in India I believe), it is played with a bow, the wall text tells > us. There is also an epigraph on the wall, nearby - > > 'Should the moon meet us apart / May the Sun find us together' > > but it turned out to be by an Egyptian artist, not connected to the > Sarinda. Have you played one, and if this one was several hundreds of > years old, how would it sound? > > The exhibit, if you are interested, features more than 100 works of art, > and showcases the long history, vast geographic expanse, and amazing > diversity of works of art in the Islamic world. > Two factors distinguish this exhibition: first, the inclusion of works > from Southeast Asia and East and West Africa, areas largely overlooked in > most exhibitions of Islamic art; and second, modern and contemporary works > are featured side-by-side with historic objects. Works in the exhibition > cover nearly all media, ranging from carpets to dress to jewelry, ceramics, > glass, metal, paintings, prints, calligraphy and photographs. (museum > website) > https://asiasociety.org/texas/exhibitions/wondrous-worlds- > art-islam-through-time-place > > with regards > Johannes Birringer > > ________________________________________ > Alan Sondheim [[email protected]] Sent: 23 January 2018 23:49 > > http://www.alansondheim.org/uv24.jpg > http://www.alansondheim.org/parlorrain.mp3 > http://www.alansondheim.org/uv14.jpg > > I create music because I find music a problem. > I play thinking about that problem, that set of problems. > For example, embodiment and sound. > For example, thought and sound. > Or the obdurate in music, or what constitutes attention. > Or the withdrawal of attention, and then, procedures. > Or not procedures but unconscious choice. > Which then returns to procedures and a kind of exhaustion. > Or the instrument itself, instruments themselves. > And what constitutes the tending of these instruments. > What constitutes their embodiment and sound. > And what of the thinking of these instruments. > Their obdurate. > The attentiveness necessary for the production of sound. > And what are the channels of sound through and around them. > What of their relation to us, their beings to us. > The semiotics of sound which is always already behind us. > The semiotics of silence which is always before us. > The sound which is yet to be produced. > The memory of sound which has been produced. > The memory of structure and of structures of structures. > The attentiveness to that memory. > The withdrawal of attentiveness from that memory. > And the unwieldiness of this situation. > Or these situations. > And the obdurate or dynamics of that unwieldiness. > So there is this set of problems and pleasure plays no part. > Or pleasure or unpleasure surrounds this set. > Surrounds this set as forgotten or as a diacritical mark. > The mark which tethers the music to the social or example. > Or to accomplishment for example. > Or the lack of accomplishment. > Or the aegis of failure or success. > So that I am not a musician or am a faux musician. > Or am a musician manque or a failed musician. > Or someone walking near a parapet in the fog. > The walkway along the bank of a nighttime river. > The sound of the water moving slowly. > The lights by which I insist this is not a program. > Nor programmatic music nor a lyric. > It is a walk by the Thames on a rainy night. > It is March 1824 and the moon is new. > > _______________________________________________ > NetBehaviour mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour > _______________________________________________ > NetBehaviour mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour > -- *=====================================================* *directory http://www.alansondheim.org <http://www.alansondheim.org> tel 718-813-3285* *music/sound http://espdisk.com/alansondheim/ <http://espdisk.com/alansondheim/> * *email sondheim ut panix.com <http://panix.com>, sondheim ut gmail.com <http://gmail.com>=====================================================*
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