GASP Records releases Neil Leonard's "For Kounellis" - CD featuring saxophone and live electronics

 

"Mr. Leonard creates a haunting, rhythmic, chantlike score, secular spiritual music for a New World. After leaving the gallery I kept hearing it, with delight, in my head, on the street, all afternoon."Holland Cotter, New York Times, October 2013

GASP Records announces the release of For Kounellis, an extraordinary CD that features meditative, evocative electronic music created for a performance on Mount Vesuvius, Naples. The music draws on Leonard’s association with top-shelf artists including Marshall Allen, Joanne Brackeen, Don Byron, Richard Devine, Bill Frisell, Vijay Iyer, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Phill Niblock, Robin Rimbaud aka Scanner and Evan Ziporyn. Leonard's exciting and unconventional work is known widely through three decades of collaborations with visual artists featured by the Museum of Modern Art, Guggenheim Museum, Whitney Museum and Venice Biennale.

For Kounellis is a meditative, evocative electronic work featuring samples from Jannis Kounellis' sculpture, voice, live electronics and soprano saxophone. The sounds are based on Kounellis' untitled installation comprising 23 large church bells that Leonard recorded at the environmental sculpture park, La Marrana di Montemarcello in Italy. "The bells appear to spiral out from a cylindrical chamber rooted in the Earth’s core. I was struck by the intensity of this chorus of silent tongues, facing the sky and projecting a colossal resonance that is felt but is not heard. Like Kounellis’ inverted bells, Vesuvius’ mouth is a sonic hallmark of local history. Both face the sky, and suggest a tremendous capacity to transform the environment."

A highlight of the CD is the voice of local Vesuvian singer Alessia de Capua. “I processed and wove her voice thick choral textures that are intended to have the haunting, ancient quality suggested by both Kounellis installation of silent bells and the ominous volcano on which we premiered the piece. Alessia was new to this work but she instinctively knew how to create the atmosphere needed. Her voice became the sound of her native Vesuvian landscape.” The results are a unique combination of processed sound and acoustic performance that defies categorization.

The music was performed at Music Acoustica in Beijing, China; Nuits Sonores Festival in Lyon, France; and Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana, Cuba before this studio realization. For Kounellis, is available on CD for the first time here. The CD’s single track, For Kounellis creates an episodic journey that segues from ethereal resonance of processed bells, enchanting choral textures, slow paced hypnotic grooves and searing soprano saxophone solos creating a new music for 21^st century listeners.

GASP Records releases Neil Leonard "Mil Maneras" - EP featuring Oren Fader performing works for guitar and electronics

"Mr. Leonard creates a haunting, rhythmic, chantlike score, secular spiritual music for a New World. After leaving the gallery I kept hearing it, with delight, in my head, on the street, all afternoon."

Holland Cotter, New York Times, October 2013

GASP Records announces the release of Mil Maneras by composer/electronic musician Neil Leonard. This extraordinary EP features hypnotic grooves, ethereal electronic sounds and performances by virtuoso guitarist Oren Fader. The music draws on Leonard’s association with top-shelf artists including Marshall Allen, Joanne Brackeen, Don Byron, Richard Devine, Bill Frisell, Vijay Iyer, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Phill Niblock, Robin Rimbaud aka Scanner and Evan Ziporyn.

Mil Maneras showcases the work that Leonard developed when he broke with musical convention and began collaborating with visual artists thirty years ago. These pieces are known widely through exhibitions and performances at the Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum, Guggenheim Museum and Venice Biennale.

The title track Mil Maneras was created for a mixed media installation with artist Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons for the Dak’Art Biennial of Contemporary African Art where the sound was heard in an abandon textile factory. “The atmospheric beginning has no rhythm, melody or harmony, just clouds of ethereal sound that evoke the ghosts for workers past. The groove that follows alludes to the perpetual rhythm of the factory full of machines pulling in threads and spinning out fabric displaying striking Senegalese designs.”

Interiority is a highly evocative miniature suite created for a permanent installation on an Italian mountaintop. The work comprises a nocturnal experience in which visitors encounter a constellation of orbs that display video imagery, project electronic sound and reveal illuminated inscriptions. “The sound is inspired by paintings in the Etruscan necropolis in Tarquinia where frescos depict the afterlife as a vibrant and seductive continuation of our present existence. I created subtle and varied sonic textures to maintain the allure for the local population who will experience the piece for years to come."

Mil Maneras concludes with the blast-furnace strength performance by Oren Fader on Vitrales. “The piece combines the montunos and drumming of timba bands that I heard in Cuba with extended approaches to jazz composition introduced to me by George Russell. Parts of the piece were drafted using computer programs that I designed but the final version was made by hand, often with the guitar in my lap to feel how fingers dance.” Vitrales creates a mosaic of unique rhythms, intricate counterpoint and shimmering harmonies to create a new music for 21^st Century listeners.

Reviews of 53+1=54+1=55.Letter of the Year

I am pleased to share reviews of 53+1=54+1=55.Letter of the Year in following publications:

New York TimesArt News
BBC
Granma
Sapodeo Tropozo
UNDO
The Culture Trip

María Magdalena Campos-Pons & Neil Leonard

53+1=54+1=55.Letter of the Year
A multimedia sculptural installation

55th Venice Biennale
Museum of Archeology, Piazza San Marco, Venice
The Cuba Republic Pavilion, La Perversion de lo Clasico: Anarquia de los Relatos.
June 1 - Nov 24, 2013

53+1=54+1=55.Letter of the Year

María Magdalena Campos-Pons & Neil Leonard

53+1=54+1=55.Letter of the Year
A multimedia sculptural installation

55th Venice Biennale
Museum of Archeology, Piazza San Marco, Venice
The Cuba Republic Pavilion, La Perversion de lo Clasico: Anarquia de los Relatos.

June 1 - Nov 24, 2013
Opening: May 31, 2013, 5:00 pm

53+1=54+1=55.Letter of the Year is a multimedia installation about home, migration, the necessity of finding and redefining the meaning of permanency and locality. Birdcages were used by emperors and common men to capture beauty and to dream of freedom. From Yoruba deities, to Leonardo da Vinci, to space travel today, men and women have always dreamed of flight as embodying a lightness of being.

The interviews in the birdcages document the reconstruction of a dialogue between Cuban residents and their family members who live abroad, and the transformative power of this exchange. The sonic environment is complemented by recordings of street criers, known as pregoneros, a reflection of the increased liberalization of small businesses that exists within a void of corporate control. The voices in the cages elude physical, political and cultural borders in contemporary society. The small videos featured inside the cages were conceived as a performative response to the historical weight of the exhibition site.

The installation is a construct of architecture and sound, old and new, evoking a country that is evolving. And, like birds, people keep singing their songs of hope and freedom.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

María Magdalena Campos-Pons & Neil Leonard

53+1=54+1=55.Letter of the Year

A multimedia sculptural installation

55esima Biennale di Venezia

Museuo Archeologico, Piazza San Marco, Venezia

Padiglione della Repubblica Cubana, La Perversion de lo Clasico: Anarquia de los Relatos.

Dal 1 Giugno al 24 Novembre 2013

Opening: 31 Maggio 2013, h 17:00

Il progetto 53+1=54+1=55.Letter of the Year consiste in un'installazione multimediale incentrata sui temi dell'appartenenza e la lontananza da ciò che chiamiamo "casa", sulla necessità di trovare e ridefinire il significato della permanenza e della propria posizione nel mondo. Le gabbie per uccelli furono usate da imperatori e da persone comuni, per catturare la bellezza e sognare la libertà, dalle divinità Yoruba a Leonardo Da Vinci, l'uomo ha sempre sognato di volare, il volo stesso rappresenta l'incarnazione della libertà totale dell'essere.

Nell'opera 53+1=54+1=55.Letter of the Year le video-interviste all'interno delle gabbie documentano la ricostruzione del dialogo tra residenti cubani e i loro familiari all'estero, lasciando trasparire la forza che questo scambio rinnovato porta con sè. Nella componente sonora dell'opera sono rintracciabili le registrazioni dei Pregoneros venditori di strada, la cui presenza è un riflesso della crescente liberalizzazione dei piccoli mercati che esistono indipendentemente dal vuoto lasciato da grandi organizzazioni. Le voci registrate nei video ci parlano superando le barriere fisiche, politiche e culturali della società contemporanea. La componente video del progetto à stata concepita come una risposta performativa all'importanza storica del luogo espositivo.

L'installazione si compone quindi di elementi architettonici e sonori, alla ricerca di un proprio equilibrio tra storia e contemporaneità, evocando la vita di un paese in continua evoluzione. E, come uccelli liberi sulle loro ali, uomini e donne continuano a cantare la loro canzone di speranza e libertà.

La perversión de lo Clásico: anarquía de los relatos (The perversion of classics: The anarchy of narrations)

La perversión de lo Clásico: anarquía de los relatos (The perversion of classics: The anarchy of narrations)

I am honored to present work in the Cuban Pavilion of the Venice Biennale along with: Rui Chafes, Pedro Costa, Glenda León, María Magdalena Campos-Pons & Neil Leonard, Francesca Leone, H.H. Lim, Liudmila & Nelson, Hermann Nitsch, Sandra Ramos, Lázaro Saavedra, Tonel, Gilberto Zorio, Wang Du.

Project

53+1=54+1=55/ Letter of the Year
A multimedia video sound sculptural installation
Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons
Neil Leonard
Museum of Archelogy Piazza de San Marco Venice
Republic of Cuba Pavilion opening: May 31, 2013, 5:00 pm

Campos-Pons’ work is a site- specific installation Project 53+1=54+1=55/ Letter of the Year. Conceived in collaboration with musician and composer Neil Leonard, this multimedia installation consists of the massive structure of birdcages. The work presents a parallel to the grid of architecture and sound, old and new, always in motion, so typical of Cuban cities but also the cities around the world. The birdcages are used as metaphorical vessels to capture dreams. Inside of them there is an accumulation of fact data and fragmented video narratives played on numerous monitors, creating the mixture of sounds and images of urban Cuba, as the country evolves and the basic diversity of discourse changes in a dramatic and even theatrical way on the island, as well as in perceptions of the island from abroad.

For 53+1=54+1=55. Letter of the Year, Leonard utilizes the sound of Cuban street criers to create a sonic map constructed of voices from the island. This antiphonal map is suggestive of innovations carried out in Basilica San Marco, directly across from the Cuban pavilion, where 16th century composers began using site-specific placement of instruments and voice in their musical scores for the first time in Europe. Leonard investigates how in both present day Havana and 16th century Venice, antiphony emerged as a keynote sound that was intertwined with artistic and social transformation.

Previews/Reviews:

http://theculturetrip.com/caribbean/cuba/articles/classic-tales-of-distortion-cuba-at-the-venice-biennale/

http://blog.uprising-art.com/interview-exclusive-maria-magdalena-campos-pons-neil-leonard/?lang=en

http://www.artsobserver.com/2012/06/20/havana-biennial-exhibitions-at-wifredo-lam-center/