M - Waschaecht

CARLA KIHLSTEDT – MUSIC FOR HANDS AND MOUTHSIhave been to Wels for these remarkable three days in Novemberfor the past three years, and each time, I’ve beenstruck by the open-mindedness not only of Wolfgang and peoplewho make this event happen, but of the audience thatchooses to come here. There are no aesthetically-based preconceptionsthat dictate what belongs here and what doesn’t—onlya commitment to independent and intentional music. As aplayer, I have been on the stage here improvising, singingsmall songs, performing rigorous contemporary music, and accompanyingold silent films. As a listener, I have heard thequietest and most intimate music, the most raucous madness,and the most Avant Garde experiments, and it seems that theaudience is always ready to be present and open for whatevercomes their way. For me, that is the heart of what music isabout. Attaching this label and that label to sounds are helpfulonly for publicists and marketing strategists. They are distinctlynot helpful for the ultimately generous acts of listening, andof music-making.So, although I thought about many themes and throughlinesthat would anchor the festival this year, what seemedmost important was to bring a breadth of music for all of us towitness. What unifies it all is the simple gesture of picking up,or sitting at an instrument, or opening a mouth with intentionand intensity. In the end, there have only ever existed simpleextensions of the most fundamental tools that humans have:our hands and mouths.I’ve invited musicians who have intrigued or moved or excitedor challenged me. Once I started to really look around, Ifound interesting music teeming under every stone I overturned.I could have filled a month—in fact, in some ways itwould have been easier to book a month than it was to bookthree days. Luckily the complicated schedules of touring musicianshelped to narrow things down some. I also tried not tobring repeat groups from the last few years, though there aremany repeat individuals. There is a very loosely structuredWels family, and this festival is the annual family holiday. (Ishould say that my own family Christmas holiday has alwaysbeen like this… a handful of regulars who are augmented everyyear by new faces and wayward travelers.)Please remember to stop in to the Bauwagen outside periodically.Every evening, it will house a different sound installation,one by Marina Rosenfeld, one by Shahzad Ismaily, and oneby Wellington Jon Bowler and myself in collaboration. This canbe a respite from the performances, a place to rest your eyes, ifnot your ears. Though I’m not sure what Marina and Shahzadhave planned, Wellington and I have constructed a piece calledConcurrence which is a collage of sounds we’ve recorded fromour various travels of the last 4 months or so (Wellington’s inAfrica, Asia, and Europe, and mine in the U.S. and Europe.)Of the performances, if I started to make a list of things youshould be sure to check out, I wouldn’t be able to stop until Ihad listed them all, and that would be redundant. So catch asmuch of it as you can, and then come shake yourself out fromall of your patient listening and dance yourself into the weehours of the night. You can always sleep late tomorrow…that’s why we don’t start the music until the afternoon!Thank you for making this such an wonderful tradition.Ciao, – Carla.CARLA KIHLSTEDT DISCOGRAPHYTin Hat TrioMemory is an Elephant (Angel/EMI,1999)Helium (Angel/EMI, 2001)The Rodeo Eroded (Ropeadope, 2002)Book of Silk (Ropeadope, 2004)Great Jewish Music: Sasha Argov(Tzadik, 2003)Masada:Voices in the Wilderness(Tzadik, 2003)Tin Hat: The Sad Machinery ofSpring (Hannibal/Rykodisk, 2007)2 Foot Yard2 Foot Yard (Tzadik, 2003)Great Jewish Music: Jacob doBandolim (Tzadik, 2004)Yard Work (Yard Work, 2007)Sleepytime Gorilla MuseumGrand Opening and Closing, (re-released-The End Records, 2006)Live, (Sickroom Records, 2003)Of Natural History, (Web of Mimicry,2004)The Face (a DVD with Shinichi Iova Koga),(Sleepytime Gorilla Press, 2005)In Glorious Times (The End Records,2007)Maybe MondayUnsquare: Fred Frith, Miya Masaoka,Zeena Parkins, Ikue Mori,Carla Kihlstedt, Gerry Hemingway,Larry Ochs.(Intakt, Zurich, 2007)with Fred Frith, Stevie WishartThe Compass, Log, and Lead(Intakt, Zurich, 2005)with Satoko FujiiMinamo (Henceforth Records, 2007)with Shahzad IsmailyFlying Low (Holy Night in the Outhouse,2004)Carla KihlstedtRavish (Nestegg Records, 2007)Book of KnotsBook of Knots, (Arclight Records, 2005)Traineater, (Anti-, 2007)Charming HostessEat, (Vaccination Records, 1998)Punch (ReR, 2005)Peter GarlandLove Songs (Tzadik, 2005)Redressers (Free Porcupine Society, 2004)Rova :: OrchestrovaAn Alligator in Your Wallet(ewe, 2004)John Coltrane’s Ascension(Black Saint, 2005)Lesli DalabaTimelines (Tzadik, 2004)DalabaFrithRiemanKihlstedt(Accretions, 2003)Fred FrithThe Happy End Problem(Fred Records, 2006)Carla BozulichI’m Gonna Stop Killing(DiCristina Stair Builders, 2004)Tom WaitsAlice (Anti-, 2002)Orphans (Anti- 2006)Ben Goldberg12 Minor (Avant, 1998)The Door, the Hat, the Chair,the Fact (Cryptogramophone, 2006)Lisa BielawaA Handful of World; Kafka Songs(Tzadik, 2007)UPCOMING IN 2008:Carla KihlstedtNecessary Monsters (a staged songcycle based on Jorge Luis Borges’ Bookof Imaginary Beings)Lisa BielawaConcerto for 2 violins (to be performedin 2008 with the Boston Modern OrchestraProject)Michael FidayDharma Pops (for 2 violins and orator)Sleepytime Gorilla MuseumThe Last Human Being (a shorteducational musical film)