English-Language Arts Network

Nomad / extinction

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Summary:

Excerpt of soundtrack for the multi-disciplinary performance 'extinction', a piece about the abandonment of farms & towns in Western Canada & the loss of a way of life. It is a metaphor for the challenge of being an artisit in contemporary society. Collaboration with the dancer Lin Snelling.

This is an excerpt of one of the musical pieces that comprises the sound score for the dance-theatre piece 'extinction'. This piece accompanies a dance solo by Lin Snelling along with a video I had previously shot of her dancing 'in situ' in an abandoned house on the prairie in Saskatchewan, her body framed by several windows giving onto the dry horizon & big sky. The piece is about the abandonment of farms & towns in the West & the subsequent loss of a way of life. It mirrors the struggles of the artist to continue making art despite economic pressures, consumerism & entertainment; & attempts to discuss the perils of the loss of a way of life giving way to impersonal globalization & conformity. To a sort of mono-aesthetic that benignly threatens to erase individuality, history & art. The music was created with near-extinct technology; a 1980s Dr. Rhythm drum machine & a 1970s vintage Roland single-note analog synthesizer. It was recorded on a Roland VS880 8-track digital recorder in my kitchen.

published

[h]and'sum music 2004

copyright

Michael Reinhart 2004 [h]and'sum music