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lundi 19 avril 2010

Deaf Bach



In response to the post on the Portsmouth Sinfonia a couple of days ago, here are a selection of tracks from Artur Zmijewski's Deaf Bach recordings. Zmijewski, a Polish visual artist, is known well for his work with disabled people.

The recordings are the result of two projects - "Lekcja śpiewu" / "Singing Lesson" (2001), performed in the Augsburg-Evangelican church in Warsaw, and "Lekcja śpiewu 2" / "Singing Lesson 2" (2003), performed at the Leipzig Cathedral.

For both projects, Zmijewski selected a group of deaf and near-deaf young people, and formed a choir. With none of the group having sung before, it was an introduction not just to choral performance but singing in any sense. Accompanied by trained musicians, an occasional soprano and a conductor, "Singing Lesson" saw the group perform Jan Maklakiewicz's Polish Mass, while "Singing Lesson 2" interprets a J. S. Bach cantata. Also included is a solo piece by one of the group, 'I love you', sung by Anja Fessel.

The result is astounding and magnificently cacophonous, managing to explore the limits and potentials of disability both humorously and respectfully. And it's an interesting counterpoint to Gavin Bryars' purposefully chaotic Portsmouth Sinfonia..






J.S. Bach - Wir eilen






Jan Maklakiewicz - Kyrie








Anja Fessel - I love you (lyrics below)


I love you
I can not forget you
Every days and every hours i remember about you
I love you
The world can not hear
Without you I have lose, because you belong me

I can sleep by you, because you love me
You can say me, how many feeling need you and how you feel me
Without you I can not live

I love you...

When you go somewhere else, then you are not by me
I do not love you, because you have another
You can not say me, how very you feel
Without you I can not live

I love you

I love you
I thought you very
Come to me back!
Without you I can not live

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