Whilst doing some work on my R&E bibliography last night I was listening to Stuart Maconie’s Freak Zone on Radio 6 music. He played a track by Anna Meredith called ‘Nautilus’ which made me stop and listen, so I thought I’d have a quick Google to find out more… So, Anna Merredith (MBE) is a composer and performer, working across a broad range; from electronic to acoustic music, beatboxers to symphony orchestras. According to Wikipedia, ‘her debut EP was compared favourably to the work of avant-garde jazz composer Moodndog’. Interesting. Youtube revealed a good selection of her work, and several new CDs were added to my Amazon wishlist.
Moondog though? … Moondog (AKA Louis Thomas Hardin) a very interesting musician and composer, and an intriguing character. He spent much of his life on the streets of New York living off handouts.
However he spent a year living with the composer Philip Glass on whom he had a significant influence: ‘We formed a music group, Moondog, Steve Reich, Jon Gibson and myself. For a time, we had weekly sessions playing Moondog’s compositions. We took his work very seriously and understood and appreciated it much more than what we were exposed to at Juilliard.’ This quote is from an article in the New Statesman by Glass, (2008) presenting his preface to the book “Moondog, the Viking of Sixth Avenue,” by Robert Scotto. Moondog’s music was influenced by street sounds as well as native American Indian music, which he experienced at a young age. According to Wikipedia, his music is characterized by what he called, “snake time […] a slithery rhythm, in times that are not ordinary […] I’m not gonna die in 4/4 time”.
I’m really interested in rhythm as the basis for composition; in music as in visual art. Counterpoint and syncopation playing with the vertical and horizontal relations (temporal and spatial) between different ‘voices’. This music, (Anna Meredith, Moondog, the avant garde or the challenging) is the sort that has a profound effect on me and is directly connected and analogous to the painting and sculpture I like and that I try to make. It’s the blending of the simple and the complex; – unexpected rhythms, colours, patterns and textures that take you to places that are somehow familiar but strange at the same time. I can almost feel my subconscious getting a digging over; allowing new creative seeds to germinate, (and new perspectives to develop).
A couple of hours later and no ‘proper work’ done, I resurface. There’s something bubbling away though; some slightly newer feeling about the importance of music in my work. This particular rabbit hole was a fruitful diversion I think. Many of them are not so.
Glass, P. (2008). ‘At Home with a Viking.’ The New Statesman’ [online] 137 (4880) pp 41-41. Available from: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=28456266&site=ehost-live [Accessed 17/11/2019]
Images from the website ‘Moondog’s corner’: http://moondogscorner.de/frame.html