#4995, Found Voices
Hear music that features found voices by English composer Gavin Bryars; Irish composer Emma O’Halloran; and Brooklyn-based composer Phong Tran. Plus, a piece from pianist Jason Moran.
Listen to some of Gavin Bryars’ work “Jesus' blood never failed me yet”, a work born of Gavin Bryars’s filmmaker friend Alan Power making a 1970’s documentary focused on people living in impoverished areas in London. The taped material on which Bryars built the piece was that of a singing vagrant who offered an improvised song riff of "Jesus' blood never failed me yet..." Bryars found that the man’s voice was strikingly in tune with his piano and that the opening section of the song formed an effective and occasionally unpredictable audio loop (Conor Hanick).
There’s also music by Irish composer and vocalist Emma O’Halloran, in her work, “Constellations,” which takes processed and chopped vocal sounds and weaves them together with a live vocalist and chamber ensemble. The work won National Sawdust’s inaugural Hildegard competition in 2018.
Listen to a piece that uses a sampled computer voice in Brooklyn-based composer, electronic musician, and visual artist Phong Tran. Tran was an avid gamer during his formative adolescent years, and his work from The Computer Room expanded to his considering how he was raised by the internet. In his work “bsod”, an AI reads out old usernames from the game MapleStory. Then, there’s also a Turkish telephone conversation, set by pianist and composer Jason Moran with help from his group Bandwagon, “Ringing My Phone (Straight Outta Istanbul)”. And more. - Caryn Havlik
Program #4995, Found Voices (First aired 4/3/2025)
ARTIST: Gavin Bryars
WORK: Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet [1:00]
RECORDING: Bryars: Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet
SOURCE: Obscure #1, reissued on Virgin #45970, another recording with Tom Waits is on Point 438-823.
INFO: gavinbryars.com
ARTIST: Gavin Bryars
WORK: Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet, radio edit [13:35]
RECORDING: Bryars: Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet
SOURCE: Obscure #1, reissued on Virgin #45970, another recording with Tom Waits is on Point 438-823.
INFO: gavinbryars.com
ARTIST: Tim Clément
WORK: Beautiful Lady [6:39]
RECORDING: Waterstation
SOURCE: Summerland Music
INFO: https://timclement1.bandcamp.com/album/waterstation-2
ARTIST: Phong Tran
WORK: bsod [6:35]
RECORDING: The Computer Room
SOURCE: New Amsterdam
INFO: https://phongtran.bandcamp.com/album/the-computer-room
ARTIST: Madeline Healey, Soprano; The Refugee Orchestra Project; Lidiya Yankovskaya, Conductor
WORK: Emma O'Halloran: Constellations [9:18]
RECORDING: Hildegard Winners, Vol. 1
SOURCE: National Sawdust
INFO: nationalsawdust.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: Jason Moran & the Bandwagon
WORK: Ringing My Phone (Straight Outta Istanbul) [5:17]
RECORDING: The Bandwagon
SOURCE: Blue Note Records
INFO: Available at AppleMusic, Amazon.com, Spotify, YouTube
