Injazero #29 - Heinali Guest Mix

Injazero Records founder Siné Buyuka plays a selection of electronic, experimental, ambient and contemporary classical tracks.

This episode starts with Gesualdo, a 16th-century composer-murderer and Prince of Venosa who is famous for his madrigals that were ahead of their time (some would argue they still sound a bit too contemporary). It is followed by a piece of a contemporary composer Caroline Shaw that is inspired by a motet by another 16th-century composer Thomas Tallis, from England.

This is followed by music written by Thomas's contemporary compatriot—John Dowland. Dowland's composition is secular and chamber, fashionably melancholic—has been written in the shade of Elizabethan England religious and political repressions. Not unlike the next piece by Valentyn Silvestrov, a contemporary Ukrainian composer who shares not just Dowland's melancholy (except Silvestrov's melancholy is brighter and is more rooted in the XIX century) and chamber intimacy of "Kvartirniki"—dissident apartment concerts hidden from Soviet cultural repressive machine.

Next one is Tsegue-Maryam Guebrou, a Sylvestrov's contemporary, an Ethiopean pianist nun who shares her intimate "home piano" with Valentin's sound but brings a completely different, much less Western perspective to this practice. She's followed by another composer nun (later—abbess), Hildegard von Bingen, from the XII century. Hildegard's music, as Margot Fassler aptly noted, is like a stick of dynamite thrown into a Gregorian chant. However, Hildegard didn't have any musical education. The same is true for me. She relied on her secretary to write her music down (that she supposedly sang to him or her).

I rely on machines instead, on my modular synthesizer that is programmed to do generative polyphony—several self-playing melodies performed at the same time. You can hear it on Giardino, next track. Generative polyphony there is joined by improvisations on period instruments: baroque oboe, archlute and baroque viola.

It is followed by Beata Viscera, Perotin's music from the XII century Paris. He is one of the first known composers of polyphonic music and one of the most famous representatives of the Notre Dame school of polyphony. Then there's a composition by John Tavener, a XX century English composer who shares with Perotin the sacred quality of music.

The playlist is concluded with Brighde Chaimbeul, a Scottish bagpipe player. The connection is with Perotin's music, in Beata Viscera Perotin uses drone—a tone that is constantly held during the whole piece. Like a music foundation. Similar techniques are widely employed by various fold and ethnic music around the world, including the Scottish bagpipe music.

Tracklist

Graindelavoix - Gesualdo - Tenebrae responsoria for Maundy Thursday: No.1. In monte Oliveti
Anne Leilehua Lanzilotti - Caroline Shaw - In Manus Tuas (Version for Solo Viola)
Jordi Savall & Hespèrion XXI - John Dowland - Lachrimae Antiquae
Inna Galatenko & Oleg Bezborodko - Valentin Silvestrov - Cantata No. 4: Evening, Cherry Orchard
Tsegue-Maryam Guebrou - The Homeless Wanderer
Anonymous 4 - Hildegard von Bingen - Responsory: Spiritui Sancto
Heinali - Giardino
The Hilliard Ensemble - Perotin - Beata Viscera
Anonymous 4 & Chilingirian Quarter - John Tavener - As One Who Has Slept (voices & strings)
Brighde Chaimbeul - Moma e Moma Rodila