Composer commission by Radiophrenia & Supernormal Festival
Image credit Claudia Rossi ft still by Richard Simkins
Fire Prevention
Or
How to sing a labyrinth
Or
The rebeing and the burning of the labyrinth
Nwando was commissioned by Radiophrenia & Supernormal Festival for 2020 / 2021 to create this original composition. It will be broadcast here Sunday 22nd November, 12pm – 1pm & 6pm – 7pm.
How to weave a story into being when I am caught, tangled in the middle
How to reach the crux when the wyrding way turns me about and about and I know the point is far away. And I have to crawl on bandaged knee to get there
How to share a journey when you were never there to feel the stony ground
What rough beast is waiting, waiting to be born in the embers
When were they burned?
The task of the wild woman is to open and be opened
The doors of perception are always just beyond reach but a constant cycle of life death life, of re-initiation will bestow many keys
The labyrinth will determine the correct key
And you are the whole
The task of the wild woman is to open eyes and open thighs and allow the light to pour in
To pull the thread and follow around the walkways
Then gather it all together and weave the tapestry of her own existence
To gather dead stuff, lay it down, sing over it, breathe from the vagas enraptured soul and begin again, remake the broken body and sing the old song until it is new.
We travel through time and space while we listen
You my friend and I
I guide you and you guide me
Maybe by the end of you listening to me I will have the answers
An experiment in an audio-ing a labyrinth; tangling and untangling the thwarted pathways of a mythopoetisised history towards a transformational fire ritual.
Radiophrenia is a temporary art radio station – a two-week exploration into current trends in sound and transmission arts. Broadcasting live from Glasgow’s Centre for Contemporary Arts, the station aims to promote radio as an art form, encouraging challenging and radical new approaches to the medium. This year's broadcasts will feature newly commissioned works from Marja Ahti, Rena Anakwe, Ain Bailey, Helena Celle, Cucina Povera, Double Goocher Shop, Jeff Gburek, Ashanti Harris, Mark Lyken, Aki Onda, OOR_Scintilla, Open Corner, Roy Claire Potter & Kieron Piercy, Gabi Schaffner, Soft Tissue, Nika Son, Eothen Stearn, Tandsmør and Alexis Weaver.