From the mind of Behrang Najafi – known as half of Temp Illusion, among other things – “Kudos to Living Artists” asks the question, how would you make a mix of just one artist? Invited artists have crafted tributes to Boards of Canada, Brigitte Fontaine, Peder Mannerfelt, Grischa Licthenberger, Tania León, and more.
Behrang has done an exquisite job of curating guests, and each guest has found some particular curve-ball to add – see below. These programs air on Radio Fantasia, the excellent decolonial, extra-genre community radio led by a feminist collective with roots in Uzbekistan.
We’re in such a self-centered attention culture that it’s refreshing to get to put all your energy into giving that energy to someone else. My entry was personal; Tania León was my composition teacher at the CUNY Graduate Center. She’s someone whose work and personality I strongly feel everyone should know; even as she’s racked up critical acclaim, she’s not a household name quite like some of the others on this list. Born in Havana, she was a founding musical director of Arthur Mitchell’s Dance Theater of Harlem, had an astonishing career as a conductor outside of the composition now has Grammy nominations and a Pulitzer win. But the main thing is, I think you’ll find some worlds open up for you.
I wanted to see if I could mix these different compositions into a convincing continuous mix. (Speaking of teachers, I remember my piano teacher moaning about WQXR in New York cutting just one movement out of pieces.)
“Oh Yemanji” from Scourge of Hyacinths – Sequina DuBose, Gregory Thompson, Mira Frisch
Tumbao – Chloe Flower
Escancia: 1. Agua de Florida – Bergamot Quartet
Rituál for Solo Piano – Clemens Leske, piano
Batá – Louisville Orchestra & Lawrence Leighton Smith
Momentum – Misty Shore Duo
Ajiaco – Cory Smythe, piano; Daniel Lippel, electric guitar
El organillo – Margaret Willig Crane
Alma – Jennifer Grim, flute; Michael Sheppard, piano
Four Pieces for violoncello: II. Lento doloroso, sempre cantabile – Angelique Montes
To and Fro (Four Moods) III – Sonidos CubanosBatéy for Vocal Ensemble and Percussion – The Western Wind Vocal Ensemble; Puntilla and New Generation; Daniel Ponce, conga; Erik Charlston, percussion; Joseph Passaro, percussion; Tania León, conductor
People know me as a “gear guy” or something, but this is a big part of who I am.
Tegh, the other half of Temp-Illusion (Shahin Entezami) took on Boards of Canada:
The awesome Farzané, who’s doing some extraordinary experimentation with machine learning research among other things, goes into the adventurous sonic terrain of Bjarni Gunnarsson:
Malo Williams, a Paris-based DJ and radio host, takes us to singing legend Brigitte Fontaine. Hey, look, the western imperial cores have their myriad structural problems, speaking as a US American living in Berlin, but sometimes Paris does give us this lovely singing, so there’s that:
Nesa Azadikhah, another brilliant Iranian producer who’s landed in Paris (Deep House Tehran founder), does what I did and skips over the usual club thing to go with a great composer. Meredith Monk intersects with my other alma mater, even, Sarah Lawrence. Meredith and Tania would not typically find themselves in a direct comparison, but the sensibilities we teased out in these two mixes go together nicely enough that you could play these mixes back to back. Meredith was a big inspiration to me, too, with I think a highlight of my musical career being a time when she complimented the barking vocalizations I made in a performance of her music. (She won’t remember that, but how often do you get to say that?)
For his entry, Behrang chose another friend who I totally look up to, Grischa Lichtenberger. That’s a pairing of two of my favorite producers. I love that Behrang recorded this in the rain.
“It’s about appreciating life” – but it is, actually! I really wondered if this would work. You feel like it’s going to be way too one-dimensional or you won’t find anything interesting to do with the mix or the whole thing will seem like you’re trying to get a copyright strike. And then you hear these mixes, and they’re totally magical.
I hope the artists hear our kudos.
And yes, I couldn’t agree more. We need to talk about artists, talk to each other, while people are alive. We’re all running out of time.
All that being said, the one that made me laugh out loud was the newest episode. Bogdan Raczynski decided to do a tribute to himself:
Episode of Kudos to Living Artist by Bogdan Raczynski: Kudos to Bogdan Raczynski ♲
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“so underrated” – Aphex Twin
“nah” – Bjork
“asshole” – Bogdan Racyznski
“provocateur” – Tom Whitwhell
3/10 – Mojo
#37 – 1999 IDM TOP 40
