Artist: La Ponto Ensemblo
Tracklist:
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1.
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I Black Sand 10:14
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2.
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Knee Play 1 (a theme) 03:54
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3.
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II Fragrant Clouds / Synchro Set Up 07:46
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4.
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Knee Play 2 (a feeling) 03:51
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5.
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III Light Anthem 07:15
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6.
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Knee Play 3 (dust) 09:19
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7.
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IV Synergy And Silence 08:08
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Hans-Dieter Schmidt and I met in a very typical “modern” way. I saw him on Facebook and tuned in to some of his published music. The subtle beauty there that you don’t always find in the ambient/electronic canon immediately struck me. Also, like the work that I do, I could clearly hear neo-classical roots.
We agreed to collaborate in some way, and Dieter transferred to me a folder of unpublished work. This is when the spooky/magic started. I had just finished a piece I called AURURA 1 and had put it on my latome2 Bandcamp site. Inside Dieters folder there were also pieces called AURURA? Hmm, I thought. I opened the file in my editor and the first few bars put a chill up my spine. It sounded like me! Even the waveform looked familiar. One never knows what can happen over the Internet these days- so in a weird panic I messengered him that something was defiantly not right- what was going on?
He was justifiably confused. Then I saw the time stamp on the WAV files- several years ago. Was I caught in some time loop? No. Because as I listened on to his transcendent EWI wind pieces I got another chill…I had found my artistic twin across the sea. The rest as we say in the US “Is history…”
___ E-Clark Cornell; Aug.19, 2020
The Eniwetok Atoll chain near the Marshal Islands in the South
Pacific was the site of many of the first hydrogen bomb tests by the United States. Indigenous Polynesian peoples were relocated many times to “safe islands”. On one hand we have the Manifest Destiny 1950’s American attitude of the “techno-cultural right” to do whatever is in the national interest. We have the raw beauty of the atoll. And, on the other hand we have the terrible destructive capabilities of nuclear weapons- but…there is a chilling and surrealistic beauty to these explosions.
This music through choice of instrumentation and structure explores this seeming contradiction, and uses it to create an artistic convergence as a locus of Transformation and Transcendence.
[Originally intended as an overambitious opera, Dieter embraced the concept and working his already known magic it became a Suite.]
