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Cazenove Nigun (2013)
 

Sound and concept: Ben Kelly

 

A psychogeographic experiment of environment and its impact on creative output.
 
“The Hasidic nigun is most often sung without words, in short, stammering syllable interrupted by exclamations of joy or grief: it aims to express the un-expressible, to give voice to that which is too intimate to be uttered in words”
- Hanoch Avenary, “The Hasidic Nigun” (1964)
 
How much inspiration can a habitual environment contain?
 
How much of where we live is a catalyst for creative expression or the oppressing apparition of internalised output?
 
Using recordings, images, film and paint, I intended to explore these challenges with a literal ethic, to create cohesive multi-disciplined art orchestrated by the social-geographical fabric of half a mile of residential area at the nucleus of my creative practice.
 
Recording acoustic instruments outside public establishments pivotal to the community such as schools, places of worship and a basket ball court, triggered and automated compositionally by the road itself though projection and paint, the aesthetic of my habitual environment mapped and reclaimed as a palette’s stencil of quotidian influence.
 
The musical content equally influenced by the uncomfortable integration of mixed religious devotees daring not to let their glance leave the sanctuary of the floor beneath them for fear of eyes and faiths meeting, and the chants of transcendental song reluctantly ebbing from the crowded house next to my own.
 
All elements performed as a live improvised piece taking inspiration from the Hisidic-Jewish Nigun; A transcendental improvisation, with my conscious actions minimalized by the act of combined practices and attention to the road projection, all to create a one-off respectful homage artefact…
My eyes, my ears my thoughts..........
 
 
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