Listen to unusual music by vocalist, looper, and multimedia artist Pamela Z, who builds up choirs of sound, and other composers who take unusual approaches to voice. There's music from Berlin-based composer Holly Herndon and A.I. voices; Pulitzer Prize-winner Caroline Shaw and her Partita for 8 Voices; Haitian-American flutist, vocalist, and sound designer Nathalie Joachim and others.
Composer, vocalist, and multimedia artist Pamela Z uses a looping station to create entire sonic tapestries out of her voice, whether spoken or sung, wordless or with text, operatic or abstract. A pioneer of live digital looping techniques, she processes her voice in real time, to build out rhythm tracks and harmony vocals, and tells stories over the top, sometimes mixing in other media. Listen to a 2008 work by Pamela Z called “Chalky Crystal Liquid Cave”.
Then, listen to what could be shape note singing by Berlin-based composer Holly Herndon which relies on an electronic pop choir of blended and processed human and A.I. voices generated by Spawn, a modified gaming computer. Hear work by Haitian-American composer, flutist, vocalist, and educator Nathalie Joachim (Flutronix, eighth blackbird) and her new album called Ki moun ou ye, or "Who Are You?" / "Who Claims You?". On it, her precisely assembled original songs and compositions explore ideas about family, ancestry, and identity using recorded voices of family members, along with her own flute riffs and voice, and percussive elements.
Then, listen to music that won the Pulitzer Prize some of the Partita for 8 Voices by violinist and vocalist Caroline Shaw as performed by the vocal group Roomful of Teeth. There’s also music by Hysterrae, four musicians, all women, from three different traditions who draw on music from Afghanistan to southern Italy. Plus, hear music by the Toulouse-based Occitan trio Cocanha, whose vocal harmonies are often accompanied by body percussion (hands and feet), and sometimes the drone of Pyrenean string tambourine. And more. - Caryn Havlik
Program #4864, Women's Voices (First aired 4/02/2024)
ARTIST: Pamela Z
WORK: Chalky Crystal Liquid Cave [1:00]
RECORDING: Bang on a Can Marathon 2008
SOURCE: This performance not commercially avaialble.
INFO: https://pamelaz.com/work/chalky-crystal-liquid-cave
ARTIST: Cocanha
WORK: Suu camin de Sent Jacques (His way to St. James) [4:20]
RECORDING: Puput
SOURCE: Pagans Musica
INFO: pagansmusica.net
ARTIST: Ana Lua Caiano
WORK: Ando Em Círculos [2:46]
RECORDING: Vou Ficar Neste Quadrado
SOURCE: Glitterbeat Records
INFO: https://analuacaiano.bandcamp.com/album/vou-ficar-neste-quadrado
ARTIST: Hysterrae
WORK: Kholy [4:10]
RECORDING: Hysterrae
SOURCE: Linfa
INFO: https://hysterrae.bandcamp.com/album/hysterrae
ARTIST: Pamela Z
WORK: Chalky Crystal Liquid Cave [8:13]
RECORDING: Bang on a Can Marathon 2008
SOURCE: This performance not commercially avaialble.
INFO: https://pamelaz.com/work/chalky-crystal-liquid-cave
ARTIST: Roomful of Teeth
WORK: Caroline Shaw: Partita for 8 Voices, Passacaglia [5:56]
RECORDING: Partita for 8 Voices
SOURCE: New Amsterdam Records
INFO: roomfulofteeth.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: Holly Herndon
WORK: Frontier [4:29]
RECORDING: PROTO
SOURCE: 4AD
INFO: hollyherndon.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: Nathalie Joachim
WORK: Ti nèg [4:48]
RECORDING: Ki moun ou ye
SOURCE: New Amsterdam/ Nonesuch Records
INFO: https://nathaliejoachim.lnk.to/kimounouye
ARTIST: Geoff Smith & Nicola Walker Smith
WORK: Six Wings of Bliss [6:34]
RECORDING: Fifteen Wild Decembers
SOURCE/INFO: https://thegeoffsmithband.bandcamp.com/album/15-wild-decembers
ARTIST: Nathalie Joachim
WORK: Zetwal [2:37]
RECORDING: Ki moun ou ye
SOURCE: New Amsterdam/ Nonesuch Records
INFO: https://nathaliejoachim.lnk.to/kimounouye