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Kiva
21054-2,  2 CDs, $21.00
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Kiva
(1975-1991)

CD 1: 11 April 1991 (Track 1): Keith Humble, piano, Jean-Charles Francois, percussion, John Silber, trombone, violin, Mary Oliver, violin, viola

11 April 1991 (Track 2): Keith Humble, piano, Jean-Charles Francois, percussion, John Silber, trombone, violin

CD 2: June 1985 (Track 1): Keith Humble, DX7, electronics, Jean-Charles Francois, percussion, electronics, John Silber, trombone, violin, electronics

Two Poems of the Absurd & Two Poems on the Absurd (tape collage by John Silber of KIVA performances) (Track 2): Keith Humble, DX7, voice, electronics, Jean-Charles Francois, percussion, voice, electronics, John Silber, trombone, violin, voice, electronics, Mary Oliver, violin Eric Lyon, computer vocoder manipulations of John Silber's sounds.

The research/performance group KIVA was created in 1975 by the American trombonist John Silber and the French percussionist Jean-Charles François as part of a research project at the Center for Music Experiment at the University of California San Diego. During the period of its existence (1975-91) various members (often graduate students from UCSD) joined the two permanent musicians, John Silber and Jean-Charles François, to contribute to the group's artistic production. Two personalities had an important impact on the development of the KIVA aesthetical posture: the Korean dancer Hi-ah Park between 1978 and 1985, and the Australian pianist and composer Keith Humble between 1984 and 1991.

The important contribution of the KIVA project to the artistic field can be defined as an emancipation of the classical performer from the role of interpreter of written music to one that involved being fully an actor of artistic creation through the direct production of sounds on instruments and related objects. This has been often characterized in the musical world as "improvisation". But the group would not adhere to the overtones associated with this word, implying spontaneous behavior or social interactions without specified aesthetical content. For KIVA the refusal to use any notation on paper was the occasion to access the complex and chaotic nature of sound objects. Through an everyday work in progress, the group was able to elaborate an original language constituted directly from working on sound matter. KIVA described itself as an experimental group dedicated to notationless music, mixed media, extended instrumental techniques.

The group KIVA has always refused to publish its work through recordings. Every working session of KIVA was recorded on audio format, but this only constituted a tool for the reflection of its members. The real artistic object was always considered to be the contextual circumstances of a given performance, the reenactment, always different, of the working out of already elaborated sound materials. In this sense no particular instant can be regarded as constituting a work object of the KIVA experience. But the context today has changed, since two of the main important members have died (Keith Humble and John Silber), the other protagonists are getting old, and so are the few who have been fortunate to listen to KIVA's performances. The publication of a CD of selected performances of KIVA today makes sense, in that it documents an important historical moment and provides the artistic community with sonic references of this ephemeral type of work.

Review Reviews

Cat.# :: Composer(s)
21090
:: Enzo Minarelli
21089
:: Aliona Yurtsevich
21088
:: Yiorgis Sakellariou
21087
:: id m theft able
21086
:: Kasper T. Toeplitz
21085
:: Tom Hamilton
21084
:: David First
21083
:: Tomomi Adachi / Jaap Blonk / Owen F. Smith / Duane Ingalls
21082
:: Marta Sainz &
If, Bwana
21081 :: Aliona Yurtsevich
21080
:: If, Bwana
21079
:: Ulrich Krieger
21078
:: Triple Point
21077
:: Robin Hayward
21076
:: Ron Nagorcka
21075
:: Secluded Bronte
21074
:: David Rosenboom
21073
:: Peter Batchelor
21072 :: Alvin Lucier
21071 :: Lou Cohen
21070 :: Brian Chase
21069 :: Jerry Hunt
21068 :: If, Bwana
21067 :: Jorge Antunes
21066 :: Enzo Minarelli
21065 :: Tensions At The Vanguard
21064 :: Frances White
21063 :: Noah Creshevsky
21062 :: If,Bwana/Trio Scordatura
21061 :: Nate Wooley
21060 :: Leo Kupper
21059 :: Pauline Oliveros/ Francisco López/Doug Van Nort/Jonas Braasch
21058 :: Philip Corner
21057 :: Alvin Lucier
21056 :: Dimitri Voudouris
21055 :: Birds + Machines
21054 :: Kiva
21053 :: César Bolaños
21052 :: Lionel Marchetti & Olivier Capparos
21051 :: Tom Hamilton/
Bruce Eisenbeil
21050 :: Source Records 1-6
21049 :: Noah Creshevsky/ If,Bwana
21048 :: Simon Wickham-Smith
21047 :: Kenneth Gaburo
21046 :: If, Bwana (Al Margolis)
21045 :: Annea Lockwood
21044 :: Felix Werder
21043 :: Dimitri Voudouris
21042 :: Nick Didkovsky
21041 :: Montreal Sound Matter
21040 :: Anla Courtis
21039 :: Crawling with Tarts
21038 :: If, Bwana (Al Margolis)
21037 :: Hans Otte
21036 :: DIY Canons
21035 :: Band/Myers
21034 :: Chris Brown
21033 :: Tom Johnson
21032 :: Roger Reynolds
21031 :: Trios - Collaboration
21030 :: Beth Anderson
21029 :: Hamilton, Silverton, Margolis
21028 :: Warren Burt
21027 :: Jorge Antunes
21026 :: David Dunn
21025 :: Roger Reynolds
21024 :: If, Bwana (Al Margolis)
21023 :: Pauline Oliveros
21022 :: David Rosenboom
21021 :: Ross Bolleter
21020 :: Kenneth Gaburo
21019 :: If, Bwana (Al Margolis)
21018 :: Leo Kupper
21017 :: Robert Rutman
21016 :: Matthew Ostrowski
21015 :: various
21014 :: Rune Linblad
21013 :: If, Bwana (Al Margolis)
21012 :: Pauline Oliveros
21011 :: Rune Linblad
21010 :: If, Bwana (Al Margolis)
21009 :: Leo Kupper
21008 :: various
21007 :: If, Bwana (Al Margolis)
21006 :: Trigger
21005 :: Big City Orchestra
IB :: If,Bwana
FPM :: Frog Peak Music
CUE :: C.U.E. Records
SOP :: Sound of Pig Cassettes
ANTS :: Ants (Italian Label)
ANIMUL :: Ned Rothenberg
HOMLER :: Anna Homler
OAKSMUS :: oaksmus (German Label)
GD STEREO :: Geoff Dugan
ANOMALOUS :: Anomalous Records
NONSEQUITUR :: Nonsequitur
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