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52\u00b046\u2019 North 13\u00b029\u2019 East\u00a0\u2013 Music for Wax-Cylinders | <\/strong>Merzouga<\/strong><\/a> Reviews<\/a><\/p>\nngg_shortcode_0_placeholder\n <\/p>\n The World\u2019s Most Moveable Armchair<\/em> <\/p>\n Marcus Gammel, Deutschlandradio Kultur<\/p>\n <\/p>\n (1) Erich Moritz von Hornbostel: \u201eDie Probleme der vergleichenden Musikwissenschaft\u201c (1905) in ders.: Tonart und Ethos, Leipzig 1986, S. 56<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n In our composition we worked with historic wax-cylinder recordings from the following collections (In alphabetical order):<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Archiv Ungarn <\/p>\n Berner \u00c4gypten <\/p>\n Gusinde Feuerland <\/p>\n Helfritz Jemen <\/p>\n Kaschke Abbessinien <\/p>\n Kunst Bali <\/p>\n Leber Samoa <\/p>\n Meier Schweiz <\/p>\n Preuss Mexico <\/p>\n Weiss S\u00fcdchina <\/p>\n Weiss Westchina <\/p>\n Excerpts:<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n MP3<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n MP3<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n MP3<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1 Track (38\u203242\u2033) <\/p>\nngg_shortcode_1_placeholder\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Credits<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Merzouga: <\/p>\n Recorded live in concert at Alte Feuerwache, Cologne, in autumn 2012. <\/p>\n Liner Notes by Marcus Gammel (Deutschlandradio Kultur). <\/p>\n Merzouga would like to thank <\/p>\n Special Thanks to <\/p>\n We would like to express our gratitude to the men and women whose names have been forgotten, but whose voices can still be heard on the wax-cylinder recordings of the Berlin Phonogram-Archive. We have been privileged to work with YOUR music.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Dedicated to Nicolai.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n With kind support of SKE Fonds, austro mechana<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Historic wax-cylinder recordings used with kind permission of the Berlin Phonogram-Archive, Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin \u2013 Stiftung Preu\u00dfischer Kulturbesitz<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n (P) 2013 Gruenrekorder (C) 2013 Janko Hanushevsky (AKM \/ austro mechana) & Eva P\u00f6pplein (GEMA). All rights reserved. Unauthorized public performance, broadcasting, hiring, lending and copying of the record prohibited.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Soundscape Series by Gruenrekorder <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a>Reviews<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n IDWAL FISHER – an antimacassar for the hearing<\/a><\/strong> <\/p>\n In his excellent sleeve notes the head of the Berlin Phonogram Archive Albrecht Wiedman asks a pertinent question; \u2018Could the archive benefit from such an endeavor?\u2019 But its not until he realises that unlike scientists, who request that the cylinders be digitally restored before embarking on their research, sound artists actually prefer the surface noise and imperfections and wish to incorporate these deficiencies into their own work. It sounds like an epiphany of sorts for Wiedmann who admits that he\u2019s glad he took the opportunity to work with the pair and now listens to the archive from different perspectives.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Merzouga\u2019s skill lies in the way in which they marry their instruments into a world filled with ghostly voices, bird calls, ethnic chanting, and all manner of grime as accumulated in however many of those 16,000 cylinders they worked through. P\u00f6pplein\u2019s electronic treatments are subtle and deftly placed, a ringing here, a quiet drone there, a fallen saucer lid coming to rest. Hanushevsky\u2019s bass meanwhile goes through all manner of permutations from rubbed edges, to tiny plucks to bowed throbs.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n What makes the piece work so well is the tempered nature in which the three elements combine. Never during this 38 minute piece do you get the feeling that one element or another has taken over and bossed the show. At times surface noise is left to run alone, chanting tribesmen are backed by a beautiful paced bass run, ancient ceremonies are backed by chiming bowl rings. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Merzouga have graced these pages before with a similarly approach to a trip down the Mekong river. 52 46 North 13 29 East [the coordinates for the Ethnologisches Museum Dahem where these cylinders are stored] is a far more adventurous undertaking and one with far more startling results. In the final second of this piece there lies the familiar sound of a needle full of fluff leaving its groove. A fitting ending but only a temporary one due to continuous plays. […<\/a>] <\/p>\n Hal Harmon | Musique Machine<\/a><\/strong> <\/p>\n As the story goes, Erich Moritz von Hornbostel was a musicologist who, due to poor health, was virtually homebound. Despite his predicament, he was fortunate to to be put in charge of a massive field-recording project. At edict of the Prussian Emperor during the early 1900\u2019s, all German trading and scientific expeditions were to be recorded via wax cylinders. Over 16,000 of these wax cylinders came under the care of Hornbostel and over 100 years later some of these recordings were made available to Merzouga.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Before delving into the music presented, I must comment on the presentation, which is very top notch. The disc comes in a full-color digipack with a 12 page booklet featuring photos of some of the cylinders used.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 52\u00b046\u2019 North and 13\u00b029\u2019 East – Music for Wax Cylinders contains a single 38:42 track recorded live in concert at Alte Feuerwache, Cologne in the Fall of 2012. The duo delivers instrumental passages (predominantly and electric bass guitar and minimal electronics) interspersed with a number of recordings from the wax cylinders. Throughout the piece you\u2019ll find children singing, people speaking, yodeling, chanting, and bands playing, captured on wax cylinders in various countries from around the world. And of course, it goes without saying, that there are copious amounts of wax cylinder surface noise to be found on the recording, which a very much enjoy. The sounds go from being straightly played to being manipulated through delays and other effects. Hanushevsky\u2019s bass interludes are found throughout the piece, which often play out in dense reverberating waves. There\u2019s also a lot of wild string plucking and seeming electro-acoustic parts either coming from the recordings or from one of the duo. It\u2019s hard to tell sometimes. The pairing of the instruments with the recordings makes for a listening experience that goes from jovial to haunting to somber. To be able to see those wax cylinders on stage must\u2019ve have been quite a spectacle.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Another solid release from the folks at Gruenrekorder. <\/p>\n Holger Adam | testcard #24: Bug Report. Digital war besser<\/a><\/strong> <\/p>\n Ed Pinsent | The Sound Projector<\/a><\/strong> <\/p>\n Ian Holloway | Quiet World & Wonderful Wooden Reasons<\/a><\/strong> <\/p>\n Of the two it is the former that I hold in higher regard (which is not to discount the latter entirely) but there is a third and much rarer form that comes my way on occasion that is by far for me the preferred. Here the field recording becomes a clear and equal partner in the work, neither hidden nor dominant, and this is what we have here.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n At the heart of this album are a number of wax cylinder recordings created in the early 20th century by globetrotting Germans and kept in the archives of the Berlin Phonogram Archive. These phonograms have been digitised and made available to artists to explore and utilise.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Merzouga are the duo of Eva Popplein (electronics)and Janko Hanushevsky (electric bass) and here they have seamlessly interwoven a selection of beautifully worn, warm, crisp and crackly recordings of song and speech into their music. The voices guide the piece with the Hanushevsky’s bass giving the proceedings a real melancholy perfectly at home with the aged beauty of the recordings whilst also occasionally pushing itself to the fore and fluttering against your perceptions like one of the more broken of the elder recordings. Popplein’s electronics insinuate themselves in between the sounds adding subtle textures and colours with the realisation that its presence is all the stronger for it’s restraint.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This is a glorious recording. It’s a communion with voices past, an exploration of the ethnographers curiosity and, most of all, a celebration of the vitality of sound. <\/p>\n PROGRESS REPORT<\/a><\/strong> <\/p>\n There\u2019s a number of things one can expect after having read the liner notes; recovering sound from old wax cylinders with the purpose to make an archival recording (this is actually being done by the museum, lots of these works have been digitalized over the last 15 years) with the aim to preserve it, but it of course also opens up possibilities to interpret those historical snippets and morph them into new abstractions. It is maybe not surprising that this approach is taken on this Gruenrekorder release. Some of the sounds on this Gruenrekorder release are more than a century old, and represent some of mankind\u2019s first attempts to record and document music. A field recording collection of more than 100 years ago to which Janko Hanushevsky and Eva P\u00f6pplein (duo Merzouga, earlier reviewed for this site with their Mekong Morning Glory) were granted access to in order to use wax recordings to create a patchwork of old and new sounds, interwoven in an inventive way in which this music of long forgotten times get framed into a new context, creating an atmosphere not unlike the way archaic fetishist and NWW collaborator Andrew Liles was doing in some of his earlier work. In the same mesmerizing way, it is not always easy to distinct between what is old and what\u2019s new and amplified by the hiss and cracks, time begins to play tricks itself. Opening up a 39 minute window on forgotten times, revealing a history most of us are not aware of. These aural images reminded me of those black and white short movies where movement never seems to be right ; it\u2019s either too fast or too slow, and it has an almost alienating sense of drama, as if we are watching found footage of strange worlds disappeared into oblivion.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In the same metaphysical way their Mekong journey report was a captivating snapshot of hidden geographies this is an intriguing recording, as they succeed this time in unlocking beauty from unknown history primarily rather than remote places. PvdG. <\/p>\n Pierre C\u00e9cile | Le Son du Grisli<\/a><\/strong> <\/p>\n Guillermo Escudero | Loop<\/a><\/strong> <\/p>\n Los alemanes Eva P\u00f6pplein (composici\u00f3n y electr\u00f3nica) y Janko Hanushevsky (composici\u00f3n y bajo el\u00e9ctrico preparado) vienen trabajando juntos desde 2002 en la m\u00fasica de improvisaci\u00f3n y componiendo m\u00fasica para la radio, teatro y pel\u00edculas. Su anterior disco ‚Mekong Morning Glory\u2019 (Gruenrekorder, 2011) fue rese\u00f1ado en loop. Para este disco P\u00f6pplein y Hanushevsky trabajaron con grabaciones de cilindros de cera con m\u00fasica tradicional ind\u00edgena de diferentes partes del mundo y grabada por distintos expedicionarios entre 1905 y 1931 y que fueron utilizadas con permiso del Museo de Archivo Fonogr\u00e1fico, Etnol\u00f3gico de Berl\u00edn, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin – Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz. Con estas grabaciones de campo P\u00f6pplein y Hanushevsky se presentaron en vivo en el Alte Feuerwache en Colonia, en el oto\u00f1o de 2012. Al comienzo de este disco que consiste en un solo tema de 38 minutos aproximadamente alcanzo a escuchar un hombre hablando en espa\u00f1ol por que supongo se trata de las grabaciones de Martin Gusinde, sacerdote y etn\u00f3logo austr\u00edaco que trabaj\u00f3 en Chile e hizo una expedici\u00f3n en 1918 a Tierra del Fuego y que se escucha varias veces durante el desarrollo del disco. Luego se suceden entre craqueos y procesamiento electr\u00f3nico diferentes ruidos que acompa\u00f1an las otras grabaciones. Improvisados vibrantes del bajo preparado son apreciados. La atm\u00f3sfera es inquietante y oscura. El silencio y el ruido conviven al mismo tiempo.<\/p>\n link<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tina Manske | Musikmag<\/a><\/strong> <\/p>\n Zu verdanken haben wir diese archivarischen Sch\u00e4tze einem gewissen Erich Moritz von Hornbostel, einem Musikologen in Diensten des preu\u00dfischen Staates und Mitbegr\u00fcnder der vergleichen Musikwissenschaften, der sich \u2013 weil er selber aus gesundheitlichen Gr\u00fcnden nicht reisen konnte \u2013 um 1900 herum phonografische Aufnahmen in Wachszylindern aus aller Herren L\u00e4nder schicken lie\u00df. Er war sozusagen der Projektleiter eines der gr\u00f6\u00dften Field-recording-Projektes aller Zeiten, und so landeten etwa 16.000 verschiedene Aufnahmen auf seinem Schreibtisch. P\u00f6pplein und Hanushevsky, selbst erfahrene Sound-Rekorder (siehe z. B. die Ver\u00f6ffentlichungen \u201eGood Morning, Rickshaw\u201c und \u201eMekong Morning Glory\u201c) hatten die Gelegenheit, das Archiv zu sichten.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Und so kann nun auch der H\u00f6rer daheim in seinem Lehnsessel auf Weltreise gehen, nach Samoa, S\u00fcdchina oder Abbessinien, und viel sch\u00f6ner noch: auf eine Reise in die Vorvergangenheit. \u201e 52\u00b046\u2032 North 13\u00b029\u2032 East\u201c sind \u00fcbrigens die Koordinaten des Ethnologischen Museums in Berlin Dahlem. <\/p>\n Aurelio Cianciotta | Neural<\/a><\/strong> link<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Richard Allen | a closer listen<\/a><\/strong> <\/p>\n But wait ~ not everything is available on iTunes.\u00a0 The only way to encounter von Hornbostel\u2019s famous wax cylinders is through the Berlin Phonogram Archive.\u00a0 Recent access was granted to Eva P\u00f6pplein and Janko Hanushevsky (Merzouga), field recording artists in their own right.\u00a0 This dream-come true has resulted in a love letter to the format, a single-track collage of wax wonder, electronics, and electric bass.\u00a0 This is the sound of sound forgotten, left to rot, recovered and brought into the light.\u00a0 The source material spans the globe: tribal chant, dusty choir, speakeasy solo.\u00a0 Lines and pieces of lines are echoed, looped, rubbed against each other like sticks used to create fire.\u00a0 And all through the recording, amplified for full effect, is the sound of the cylinders themselves: crackling, warping, popping.\u00a0 When a rainstorm arises in the fifth minute (just after a yodel!) the effect is exquisite, layer upon layer upon layer.\u00a0 One thinks of the people on the recording, long dead \u2013 then the actual cylinders and the travelers being pelted by rain \u2013 then the wide eyes of the current artists and their own additions \u2013 and finally the fact that one is playing this sonic onion in one\u2019s own home.\u00a0 Remarkable.\u00a0 In one sense, the world has gotten small enough to fit on a single disc.\u00a0 Conversely, the single disc opens up the world, from Egypt to Mexico, Switzerland to Samoa.\u00a0 One imagines this grand experiment being recorded to wax cylinder itself, stored for a hundred years, and unearthed by the next generation of musicologists, a fine fate to befall such a brave and lovely recording.<\/p>\n link<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u0141ukasz Kom\u0142a | Nowamuzyka.pl<\/a><\/strong> <\/p>\n Zdj\u0119cie wykonane w Archiwum Fonograficznym w Berlinie. W tych pude\u0142kach przechowuje si\u0119 woskowe cylindry.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Wracaj\u0105c do berli\u0144skich skarb\u00f3w zebranych przez Hornbostela, to dzi\u0119ki nim uznaje si\u0119 go za prekursora nowej dziedziny muzycznej oraz pierwszego kolekcjonera tak wielkiej ilo\u015bci nagra\u0144 terenowych. Warto wspomnie\u0107, \u017ce w roku 1979 legendarna ameryka\u0144ska firma Folkways Records wyda\u0142a p\u0142yt\u0119 \u201eMusic of the Orient\u201d z nagraniami Hornbostela. W ostatnim czasie coraz cz\u0119\u015bciej nie tylko naukowcy zagl\u0105daj\u0105 do zbior\u00f3w niemieckiego badacza, ale te\u017c i arty\u015bci odkrywaj\u0105 dla siebie znakomity materia\u0142 umieszczony na woskowych cylindrach. Najlepszym tego przyk\u0142adem jest austriacko-niemiecki duet Merzouga \u2013 Eva P\u00f6pplein (elektronika) i Janko Hanushevsky (elektronika i gitara basowa). Przygod\u0119 z muzyk\u0105 rozpocz\u0119li w 2002 roku. Kilka lat p\u00f3\u017aniej muzyk\u00f3w mo\u017cna by\u0142o ju\u017c spotka\u0107 w Polsce, gdzie zagrali wsp\u00f3lny koncert z Dominikiem Kowalczykiem (Wolfram).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Na swoim kr\u0105\u017cku \u201e52\u00b046\u2019 North 13\u00b029\u2019 East \u2013 Music for Wax-Cylinders\u201d muzycy okrywaj\u0105 na nowo historyczne nagrania z Archiwum Fonograficznego. Odkopano jedena\u015bcie pr\u00f3bek d\u017awi\u0119kowych pochodz\u0105cych z lat 1906 \u2013 1931 i z teren\u00f3w takich pa\u0144stw i wysp jak W\u0119gry, Egipt, Ziemia Ognista, Jemen, Abisynia, Bali, Samoa, Szwajcaria, Meksyk czy Chiny.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Subtelne podej\u015bcie artyst\u00f3w do tematu sprawi\u0142o, \u017ce otrzymali\u015bmy niezwyk\u0142ej urody kompozycj\u0119 \u2013 wzbogacon\u0105 elektroakustycznymi eksperymentami i \u017cywym brzmieniem gitary basowej Janko Hanushevsky\u2019ego. Szum przesz\u0142o\u015bci jaki towarzyszy tym archiwalnym nagraniom oraz zawarty w nich \u015bpiew, strz\u0119pki rozm\u00f3w i r\u00f3\u017cnych odg\u0142os\u00f3w, daj\u0105 poczucie kompletnego zagubienia w czasie. Duet w \u017caden spos\u00f3b nie zniszczy\u0142 uroku starych utwor\u00f3w, lecz wprowadzi\u0142 je do wsp\u00f3\u0142czesnego \u015bwiata eksperyment\u00f3w. W momencie kiedy pojawia si\u0119 orientalny \u015bpiew z kulturalnych obszar\u00f3w Abisynii, to dograna partia gitary basowej jedynie staje si\u0119 partnerem, a nie na odwr\u00f3t. Niekiedy tw\u00f3rcy balansuj\u0105 na granicy ciszy i delikatno\u015bci, ale za ka\u017cdym razem zwinnie prze\u0142amuj\u0105 nastr\u00f3j powracaj\u0105c do przesz\u0142o\u015bci. Nie pozwalaj\u0105 zapomnie\u0107, \u017ce ca\u0142y czas jeste\u015bmy na terenie muzycznych wykopalisk. Z kolei w pewnych fragmentach odwo\u0142uj\u0105 si\u0119 te\u017c do muzyki konkretnej. Innym razem elektronika Evy P\u00f6pplein umiej\u0119tnie towarzyszy preparowanemu brzmieniu basu, dzi\u0119ki czemu muzyka Merzouga mo\u017ce kojarzy\u0107 si\u0119 z tw\u00f3rczo\u015bci\u0105 Billa Laswella.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Album \u201e52\u00b046\u2019 North 13\u00b029\u2019 East \u2013 Music for Wax-Cylinders\u201d to bez w\u0105tpienia jeden z najciekawszych eksperyment\u00f3w jakie zosta\u0142y wydane w 2013 roku. Arty\u015bci po raz kolejny obalaj\u0105 mit, \u017ce to lata 70. i 80. XX wieku s\u0105 jedynym okresem inspiruj\u0105cym wsp\u00f3\u0142czesnych artyst\u00f3w. <\/p>\n Brian Olewnick | Just outside<\/a><\/strong> link<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Frans de Waard | VITAL WEEKLY<\/a><\/strong> <\/p>\n 52\u00b046\u2019 North 13\u00b029\u2019 East\u00a0\u2013 Music for Wax-Cylinders | Merzouga<\/strong><\/a> <\/p>\n MERZOUGA IM WIRE TAPPER<\/strong> 52\u00b046\u2019 North 13\u00b029\u2019 East\u00a0\u2013 Music for Wax-Cylinders | Merzouga Gruen 124 | Audio CD > [order] Reviews The World\u2019s Most Moveable Armchair Erich Moritz von Hornbostel was an \u201earmchair ethnologist\u201c. Due to his bad health the musicologist was unable to travel to faraway countries. Instead he sat at his desk in the Dorotheenstra\u00dfe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-11006","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gruenrekorder.de\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gruenrekorder.de\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gruenrekorder.de\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gruenrekorder.de\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gruenrekorder.de\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11006"}],"version-history":[{"count":52,"href":"https:\/\/www.gruenrekorder.de\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11006\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17316,"href":"https:\/\/www.gruenrekorder.de\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11006\/revisions\/17316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gruenrekorder.de\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nGruen 124 | Audio CD > [order<\/a>]<\/p>\n
\nErich Moritz von Hornbostel was an \u201earmchair ethnologist\u201c. Due to his bad health the musicologist was unable to travel to faraway countries. Instead he sat at his desk in the Dorotheenstra\u00dfe in Berlin and received the world through his phonograph. On from 1900 the world\u2019s music arrived at his office in the form of more than 16.000 wax-cylinder recordings from all over the planet. Due to an edict by the Prussian Emperor all German trading as well as scientific expeditors were bound to travel with a phonograph and send their recordings to Berlin. Today we might put it that way: Hornbostel was in charge of the biggest field-recording project of all times.
\nIn his case being a stay-at-home was definitely an achievement. His immobility gave Hornbostel the chance to develop a completely new perspective, an unprecedented acoustical bird\u2019s eye view, and made him the founder of a new discipline: comparative musicology\u2019s aim was to \u201cunveil the dark and distant past (\u2026) and to extract the timeless and the general from the abundance of our present; in other words: We want to get to know the historic and the basic esthetic principles of musical art.\u201d (1)
\nApproximately 100 years later Hornbostel\u2019s acoustic present has itself become a dark and distant past. To our ears the 16.000 wax-cylinder recordings of the Berlin Phonogram-Archive sound like treasures from a long lost world. These treasures are not only raised by researchers but increasingly also by artists. The current archive\u2019s management is generously granting them access to the recordings that have been digitalized over the past fifteen years.
\nThus Eva P\u00f6pplein and Janko Hanushevsky (aka Merzouga) have become fellow armchair-travelers. They bring along a lot of experience, which they collected as heavy-duty field-recordists on intensive sound-expeditions through India and South-East-Asia. (\u201eGood Morning, Rickshaw\u201c \u2013 Deutschlandradio Kultur 2008; \u201eMekong Morning Glory\u201c \u2013 Deutschlandradio Kultur 2009 \/ Gruenrekorder 2011). Now they encompass the sonic landscape of the Phonogram-Archive with the same musical sensitiveness that can be found in their previous works. Just like Hornbostel the two are genuinely interested in something timeless, something general: the uniquely beautiful human ability to play with sounds and structures. Janko Hanushevsky integrates his electric-bass improvisations into the historic wax-cylinders\u2019 cracks and scratches. And Eva P\u00f6pplein sparingly applies electronic effects in order to distill precious essences from the sonic material.
\nThe result is a musical position-reckoning between the past and the future of sound-recording: Located at 52\u00b046\u2019 North and 13\u00b029\u2019 East, in the Ethnologisches Museum Dahlem, is the world\u2019s most moveable armchair.<\/p>\n
\n
\nCollector: Hornbostel, Erich M. v.
\nPlaces of recording: Berlin
\nYear: 1905
\nRegion: Hungary<\/p>\n
\nCollector: Berner, Alfred
\nPlaces of recording: Delta, Gize, Kairo
\nYear: 1931
\nRegion: Egypt<\/p>\n
\nCollector: Gusinde, Martin
\nPlaces of recording: Canal Smith, Mejillones, Munoz Gamero, Remolino
\nYear: 1923
\nRegion: Tierra del Fuego<\/p>\n
\nCollector: Helfritz, Hans
\nPlaces of recording: unknown
\nYear: 1930-1931
\nRegion: Hadhramaut (Yemen)<\/p>\n
\nCollector: Kaschke, Erich
\nPlaces of recording: Axum
\nYear: 1906
\nRegion: Abyssinia<\/p>\n
\nCollector: Kunst, Jaap
\nPlaces of recording: Oeboed, Siekawati
\nYear: 1925
\nRegion: Southern Bali<\/p>\n
\nCollector: Leber, Alfred
\nPlaces of recording: Amoa, Fagamalo, Mulinu
\nYear: 1911
\nRegion: Samoa<\/p>\n
\nCollector: Meier, John
\nPlaces of recording: unknown
\nYear: 1906
\nRegion: Central Switzerland<\/p>\n
\nCollector: Preuss, Konrad Theodor
\nPlaces of recording: Jesus Maria, a small village in the Sierra Madre
\nYear: 1906
\nRegion: Mexico<\/p>\n
\nCollector: Weiss, Fritz
\nPlaces of recording: unknown
\nYear: 1913-1914
\nRegion: Southern China<\/p>\n
\nCollector: Weiss, Fritz
\nPlaces of recording: Chengtu, Sezchuan
\nYear: 1912
\nRegion: Western China<\/p>\n
\nCD (500 copies)<\/p>\n
\n
\nEva P\u00f6pplein (composition & electronics) &
\nJanko Hanushevsky (composition & prepared electric bass)
\nwww.merzougamusic.com<\/a><\/p>\n
\nAll electro-acoustic music was composed, produced and performed
\nby Eva P\u00f6pplein & Janko Hanushevsky.
\nThe historic wax-cylinder recordings of traditional indigenous music were used with kind permission of the Berlin Phonogram-Archive, Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin \u2013 Stiftung Preu\u00dfischer Kulturbesitz.<\/p>\n
\nEpilogue by Albrecht Wiedmann (Berlin Phonogram-Archive).
\nTranslations by Janko Hanushevsky.
\nMixed and mastered by Eva P\u00f6pplein.
\nAudio-CD released by Gruenrekorder.
\nDesign by Sebastian Ristow, FLATLAB.
\nPhotos by Merzouga.
\nArtists portrait by Markus Gradwohl.<\/p>\n
\nRoland Etzin, Lasse-Marc Riek, the Berlin Phonogram-Archive and SKE-Fonds.<\/p>\n
\nMarcus Gammel for the liner notes, Albrecht Wiedmann for his words and his invaluable support at the Phonogram-Archive over the years, Markus Gradwohl, Maike M\u00fcller, Franziska Seeberg and Oper Dynamo West for getting us started with the wax-cylinders, Sabine K\u00fcchler for inspiring us to continue working with the material, Sonja Harth for being Merzouga\u2019s third ear, Peter Herbert for his friendship and his continuous inspiration, our families for their love and support, and last but not least our two children who have been very patient with us.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.gruenrekorder.de\/Photos\/ske_aume_logo_4c.jpg\" "\\"\\""){kind=logo}
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.gruenrekorder.de\/Photos\/SMB_EM_sRGB.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\n
\nGermany \/ 2013 \/ Gruen 124 \/ LC 09488 \/ GEMA \/ EAN: 4050486098356<\/p>\n
\n
\n[…<\/a>] The most radical of the remaining four comes courtesy of Merzouga\u2019s trawl through the 16,000 wax cylinders as belonging to the Berlin Phonogram Archive. Since the early 20th century \u2018\u2026 trading as well as scientific expeditions were bound to travel with a phonograph and send their recordings to Berlin\u2019. More than a hundred years later the duo of Eva P\u00f6pplein [electronics] and Janko Hanushevsky [prepared electric bass] have taken elements from what I presume is but a small selection of the archive and transformed them into one 38 minute whole.<\/p>\n
\nlink<\/a><\/p>\n
\nGruenrekorder presents 52\u00b046\u2019 North and 13\u00b029\u2019 East – Music for Wax Cylinders by Merzouga. The duo of Eva Poplin and Janko Hanushevsky offer a single track CD utilizing historic wax-cylinders from the Ethnologisches Museum Dahlem in Berlin. Gruenrekorder, an imprint with a penchant for field-recordings, always seems to have an interesting story behind the making of each of their releases. This disc is no exception.<\/p>\n
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\n[…<\/a>] Weiter geht\u2019s mit MERZOURGA, einem Duo bestehend aus Janko Hanushevsky und Eva P\u00f6pplein, das aus dem Berliner Phonogram Archiv Wachszylinder benutzen durfte, um die darauf enthalten Aufnahmen zu digitalisieren und zu einer elektro-akustischen Komposition zu verschmelzen. Mit wissenschaftlicher Akribie ist diese Zeitreise in die phonographische Vormoderne im Booklet festgehalten. Die Aufnahmen aus den Jahren von 1905 bis 1931 stammen aus allen Ecken der Welt, aus der Schweiz, Samoa, Ungarn, \u00c4gypten, China etc. … Verzeichnet ist, soweit bekannt, wo sie aufgenommen wurden und wann, aber nicht von wem. Dass Janko Hanushevsky und Eva P\u00f6pplein im Booklet den anonymen Urheber_innen der T\u00f6ne, die sie verwendet haben, danken, kann nicht hoch genug bewertet werden. Es ist vor dem Hintergrund vieler Reissues mit so genannter ethnischer Musik, deren Urheber_innen nie gedankt wird, geschweige denn, dass sie daf\u00fcr entlohnt wurden oder werden, mehr als eine forschungs-ethische Geste, zumindest zu bemerken, dass man sich Musik nur ausleiht und daf\u00fcr bedankt, sie benutzen zu d\u00fcrfen. Das Ergebnis auf 52\u00b046\u2019 North 13\u00b029\u2019 East. Music For Waxcylinders (die Koordinaten sind die des Museums, in dem die Zylinder aufbewahrt werden) ist die Aufnahme eines Live-Konzertes von Merzouga aus dem Jahr 2012, zu dem die Wachszylinder-Aufnahmen zusammen mit elektronischen Elementen (Eva P\u00f6pplein) und dem elektrischem Bass von Janko Hanushevsky zu Auff\u00fchrung kamen. Eine wundersam \u00fcberzeitliche Aufnahme. […<\/a>]
\nlink<\/a><\/p>\n
\nHappiness in the Homeland
\n[…] Unusual and inventive piece of sampling work is 52\u00ba 46\u2032 North 13\u00ba 29\u2032 East \u2013 Music For Wax-Cylinders (GRUENREKORDER GRUEN 124) by Merzouga. This is the pairing of Eva Popplein and Janko Hanushevsky, who between them sampled various pieces of ethnological recordings captured on wax cylinders since 1900. These cylinders represent the collection of Erich Moritz von Hornbostel, the Austrian scholar who (according to Marcus Gammel\u2019s notes) was unable to travel much himself, but co-ordinated the gathering of field recordings on a grand scale, in the pursuit of what was then called \u201ccomparative musicology\u201d. There are now over 16,000 recordings stored at the Berlin Phonogram Archive, an institution which happens to be situated at the map reference given in the title of this work, and it was here that the Merzouga duo \u2013 fresh from their Indian and SE Asian travels, as documented on the releases Mekong Morning Glory and Good Morning Rickshaw \u2013 were invited to make their selections. There\u2019s a list of 11 headings to help us orient this part of the process; from it, we can work out that the dates of the recordings range from 1905 to 1931, and the countries represented include Hungary, Egypt, Abyssinia, Southern Bali, Samoa, Mexico, China, and Tierre del Fuego. This aside, I don\u2019t know if there was any underlying structure or theme to their sampling procedures. Having assembled their quilt of ethnological sounds, the duo used them as the basis for a concert performance in Cologne in 2012, where they added live electronics and a prepared bass, interpolating their instrumental contributions into the ever-changing fabric of alien voices, bizarre singing, and crackling wax surfaces. The resulting 38 minute piece is very striking, and when it really takes off we hear the voices of the past flickering into life in a very dream-like fashion. It\u2019s also very nice when Merzouga are able to play along in sympathy with an ancient voice from a vanished world, accompanying their song with a gently appropriate chord or two, but such moments are few in the overall fabric. There are a few lulls; at times it does seem to sink into an uncertain miasma of \u201cprocess crackling\u201d, letting the sample process itself dominate, and the actual playing they perform is extremely dour, brittle, and melancholic. At one level we can respond to the contrast between the modern, digital, ultra-clean sound of their playing and the crackly, faint, impressions left by the old recordings. A unique and fascinating release. […]
\nlink<\/a><\/p>\n
\nThere are two predominant forms of field recording releases I get sent here at Wonderful Wooden Reasons. The first is of the collector variety; a compendium of noises often on a particular theme (usually location) meant to represent, reproduce or chronicle. The second is the field recording as instrument, or perhaps more correctly sound source, to be manipulated and processed often until it’s unrecognisable and a thick soupy grey murk.<\/p>\n
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\nThe coordinates in the title are referring to the precise location of Berlins Ethnologisches Museum Dahlem. This place stores over 16000 wax cylinders, a lot of them collected by Erich Moritz von Hornbostel, an Austrian 19th century born ethnomusicologist, who was collecting sounds from all corners of the world that came to him via pre-colonisation explorations from scientists discovering unknown places.<\/p>\n
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\nEva P\u00f6pplein (electronics) et Janko Hanushevsky (basse \u00e9lectrique pr\u00e9par\u00e9e) forment Merzouga. Il y a peu, ils all\u00e8rent \u00ab piocher \u00bb dans le fond d\u2019ethnomusicologie de la Berlin Phonogram Archive et, \u00e0 l\u2019automne 2012, donn\u00e8rent un concert en se servant de leurs d\u00e9couvertes.
\nLes fruits de l\u2019exp\u00e9rience, \u00e9tonnante, versent dans une ambient folkloriste ou des chants de la Terre de Feu, de Hongrie ou du Yemen (etc., of course), croisent l\u2019\u00e9lectronique et la basse \u00e9lectrique dans un ballet qui m\u00eale futur et traditions. Dommage tout de m\u00eame qu\u2019il faille forc\u00e9ment un vainqueur : car en effet c’est le futur qui finit par l’emporter, quand la basse parle trop et que l\u2019\u00e9lectronique cr\u00e9pite avant d\u2019oser une petite m\u00e9lodie orientale d\u2019une facilit\u00e9\u2026 appauvrissante. Deux fois dommage.
\nlink<\/a><\/p>\n
\nThe Germans artists Eva P\u00f6pplein (composition and electronics) and Janko Hanushevsky (composition and prepared electric bass) have been working together since 2002 in music improvisation and writing music for radio, theater and films. Their previous album ‚Mekong Morning Glory‘ (Gruenrekorder, 2011) was reviewed on loop.
\nIn our composition P\u00f6pplein y Hanushevsky worked with historic wax-cylinder recordings of traditional indigenous music of differente parts of the world which were recorded by different expeditioners between 1905 and 1931 and were used by permission of Berlin Phonogram Archive, Ethnologicsches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin – Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz.
\nWith these field recordings P\u00f6pplein and Hanushevsky performed live at the Alte Feuerwache, Cologne, in Autumn 2012.
\nAt the beginning of this disc which is one track only of approximately 38 minutes I can hear a man talking in Spanish therefore I guess that these are the recordings of Martin Gusinde, Austrian priest and anthropologist who worked in Chile and made an expedition in 1918 to Tierra del Fuego that also is repeated several times during the development of the disk. Between crackels and other recordings unfold electronic processing deploying several noises. Then follow between crackels and electronic processing different noises that accompany the other recordings. Improv and twang prepared electric bass are appreciate. The atmosphere is disturbing and dark. Silence and noise silence coexist simultaneously.<\/p>\n
\nLange vergangen
\nMerzouga, das sind Eva P\u00f6pplein und Janko Hanushevsky. Im Herbst 2012 traten die beiden in der Alten Feuerwache in K\u00f6ln auf und pr\u00e4sentierten ihre Kompositionen, die sie mit Hilfe von alten phonografischen Aufnahmen aus dem Berlinischen Archiv des Ethologischen Museums versahen. Die Veranstaltung ist nun als CD erschienen, und es ist sehr interessant sich vor allem in die uralten Aufnahmen zu vertiefen, die hier zu h\u00f6ren sind, umrahmt von sp\u00e4rlichen Spielereien mit elektronischen Instrumenten und Bass.<\/p>\n
\nlink<\/a><\/p>\n
\nOperating since 2002 as Merzouga, Eva P\u00f6pplein and Janko Hanushevsky are two musicians familiar with performing laptop and instrumental improvisation \u2013 but their repertoire is not limited only to this: they have composed music for radio, cinema and theatre, mixing audio captures and materials of different origins. This is the case in their latest work, a project based on the recordings on wax cylinders at the Berlin Phonogram-Archive. The digitalized recordings of the last 15 years of the institution\u2019s archive are free to use. In 52\u00b046\u2032 North 13\u00b029\u2032 East and Music For Wax-Cylinders we can find some unprecedented time sequences \u2013 the result of a unique collection. The collection was managed by Erich Moritz von Hornbostel, an ethnomusicologist who was pivotal in selecting and analysing the field recordings collected, creating a catalogue of more than 16,000 different documents from all over the world. Traders abroad and scientific expeditions were ordered by a Prussian edict to travel with a phonograph and send the recordings to Berlin. The recordings didn\u2019t receive any specific support and can be considered to have similarities with the oral tradition, the main means of diffusion of Western popular music. The duo focuses their attention on something outside time that is difficult to define accurately. The work is the expression of audio concatenations playing on different levels, between crackles, shocks and winces: it\u2019s a creative showdown between the past and the future, entirely aesthetic and happily citationist.<\/p>\n
\nBerlin\u2019s Erich Moritz von Hornbostel was one lucky musicologist.\u00a0 Unable to travel, he was aided by a Prussian emperor\u2019s edict that required all wax cylinder music passing through the country to be brought to him.\u00a0 During the early 20th century, he accumulated over 16,000 of these treasures.\u00a0 One can only imagine what he might make of the modern era, in which one might accumulate 16,000 albums by clicking a simple button ~ no camels, tariffs or passports involved.<\/p>\n
\nJak wykopaliska muzyczne, to tylko z Merzouga.
\nWszystko zacz\u0119\u0142o si\u0119 na pocz\u0105tku XX wieku, dok\u0142adnie w 1900 roku, kiedy niemiecki etnomuzykolog Erich Moritz von Hornbostel za\u0142o\u017cy\u0142 w Berlinie pierwsze Archiwum Fonograficznej. Sta\u0142o si\u0119 ono zacz\u0105tkiem wsp\u00f3\u0142czesnej etnografii muzycznej. Tego wybitnego badacza nazywano niegdy\u015b \u201efotelowym etnologiem\u201d ze wzgl\u0119du na jego z\u0142y stan zdrowia, kt\u00f3ry uniemo\u017cliwia\u0142 mu podr\u00f3\u017cowanie do dalekich kraj\u00f3w. Poznawa\u0142 odleg\u0142e kultury za spraw\u0105 nagra\u0144 jakie otrzymywa\u0142 z ca\u0142ego \u015bwiata. Ju\u017c w 1900 roku w jego berli\u0144skim biurze mo\u017cna by\u0142o doliczy\u0107 si\u0119 16 tys. woskowych cylindr\u00f3w. W\u00f3wczas \u015bwi\u0119ci\u0142 swoje triumfy grafofon powsta\u0142y z fonografu, a w niedalekiej przysz\u0142o\u015bci urz\u0105dzenie wesz\u0142o do obiegu znane jako gramofon. Pocz\u0105tkowo woskowe cylindry, na kt\u00f3rych umieszczano nagrania, okaza\u0142y si\u0119 by\u0107 bardzo nietrwa\u0142ym no\u015bnikiem, ale w roku 1890 Charles Tainter opatentowa\u0142 u\u017cycie innej struktury wosku tzw. carnauba. Nowa receptura wp\u0142yn\u0119\u0142a na popraw\u0119 \u017cywotno\u015bci wspomnianych no\u015bnik\u00f3w, cho\u0107 masowa produkcja cylindr\u00f3w zako\u0144czy\u0142a si\u0119 w 1929 roku.<\/p>\n
\nlink<\/a><\/p>\n
\nIn addition to being a small village in southern Morocco, Merzouga is the duo of Eva P\u00f6pplein (composition, electronics) and Janko Hanushevsky (composition and prepared electric bass). I’d previously heard their „Mekong Morning Glory“ a couple of years ago, which I liked pretty well though thought it was a little too picturesque. Here, they’ve conducted excavations into the wax cylinder collection of the Berlin Phonograph Archive, unearthing eleven samples recorded from 1906 to 1931in Hungary, Egypt, Tierra del Fuego, Yemen, Abyssinia, Bali, Samoa, Switzerland, Mexico and China, weaving them into a kind of variegated rug augmented by subtle additions of their own. The recordings have inherent interest of their own, of course, and are presented more or less sequentially, always accompanied by varying degrees of cylinder hiss and scratch. Sometimes the contemporary additions (or, at least, what I perceive them to be; I’m not always sure) fit in beautifully, other times, I’d have preferred to hear the old recordings unaccompanied. But those ancient sounds, all of which are music-realted, are so fascinating–there’s an example of the well-known Ramayana Monkey Chant, but all else was unknown territory for me–that it’s quite easy to simply listen to the steady flow of them amidst the rapid, material „noise“ of the wax and have a grand time doing so.<\/p>\n
\nThe location mentioned in the title, 52 degrees 46′ North and 13 desgrees 29′ East is where you find the Ethnologisches Museum Dahlem, where they keep 16000 wax cylinders, recorded a century ago. The German emperor at the time wanted every trading and scientific mission to carry a machine to do recordings and send them to Berlin. A true source of early field recordings, so perhaps it’s not strange that these ended up in the hands the people at Gruenrekorder. Or rather, the musical duo of Merzouga, Eva P\u00f6pplein (composition, electronics) and Janko Hanushevsky (composition and prepared electric bass). They used the recordings of the cylinders in a concert and that’s what has been documented on this CD. I must admit I quite enjoyed the idea of a whole bunch of wax cylinders at one’s disposal to use them. I could easily imagine a whole narrative being created from this, a trip around the world in 80 minutes, crossing Africa in 40, but here we seem to be dealing with a bunch of recordings and on top of that there is the improvised music of Merzouga, carefully and not always demanding, but you could wonder about this. Why are things as they are? I somehow fail to see a relation between these wax cylinder recordings and the music produced by Merzouga, unless of course there is some dialogue going on between the two of them. But it’s a dialogue that didn’t reach me. I don’t think this is a ‚bad‘ release, but somehow I fail to see the relevance of this.
\nlink<\/a><\/p>\n
\n@ Curt Cuisine | skug \u2013 Journal f\u00fcr Musik<\/a><\/strong>
\nHail to the Sound!
\nEine kurze W\u00fcrdigung des deutschen Gruenrekorder-Labels.<\/p>\n
\nDas renommierte Fachmagazin WIRE, das monatlich in London erscheint, bringt in seiner neuesten Ausgabe den 50. WIRE-Tapper heraus. Diese Compilation CD stellt viermal j\u00e4hrlich aktuelle Positionen experimenteller Musik aus der ganzen Welt vor. Der Jubil\u00e4ums-Tapper enth\u00e4lt eine „Best of“-Bonus-CD, und unter den 18 ausgew\u00e4hlten Titel ist auch ein St\u00fcck von Merzouga, „Fragment #2“ von unserer 2012 „Music for Wax-Cylinder“ Ver\u00f6ffentlichung (Gruenrekorder, GRUEN 124).
\nwww.thewire.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"