For centuries musicians have tapped into mysticism, magic and alchemy, embracing ritual, spell, incantation and prayer, and experimenting with esoteric approaches to harmony, pitch and vibration. In recent decades, avant-garde musicians have rediscovered these overlaps, as occultism has reinvented itself--through Buddhist and other Asian influences, Thelema and Chaos Magic--to accommodate cultural strains from psychedelica through Punk and Industrial music. This special edition of John Zorn's much acclaimed Arcana series focuses on the magical aspects of the act of making music. Neither historical overview nor musicological study, it illuminates the sympathies between music and the esoteric tradition with the help of today's finest experimental musicians and occultists. Among these are William Breeze, Gavin Bryars, Alvin Curran, Fred Frith, Sharon Gannon, Larkin Grimm, William Kiesel, Yusef Lateef, Frank London, Meredith Monk, Mark Nauseef, Pauline Oliveros, Genesis P-Orridge, Terry Riley, David Toop, Greg Wall, Peter Lamborn Wilson and Z'ev.
STATUS: Out of stock
Temporarily out of stock pending additional inventory.
FROM THE BOOK
"Despite articulate and passionate answers to probing questions, misunderstandings persist, abound and proliferate--and the divide between musicians and the rest of the world remains largely undiminished. The outside world continues to look upon artists and musicians with a strange and complex combination of admiration, jealousy, contempt, love, suspicion, awe, anger and hero worship. The contradiction is quite understandable--creation is an unknowable act. In addition to the nuts and bolts involved in the craft of sculpting a piece of music, there is the divine spark of inspiration that gives it birth, which often is just as much of a mystery to the artists who experience it as it is to the uninitiated who have not."
FORMAT: Pbk, 6.5 x 10 in. / 464 pgs / 62 color / 52 b&w. LIST PRICE: U.S. $39.95 LIST PRICE: CANADA $53.95 GBP £35.00 ISBN: 9780978833794 PUBLISHER: Hips Road/Tzadik AVAILABLE: 7/31/2010 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Active AVAILABILITY: Out of stock TERRITORY: WORLD
Published by Hips Road/Tzadik. Edited by John Zorn.
For centuries musicians have tapped into mysticism, magic and alchemy, embracing ritual, spell, incantation and prayer, and experimenting with esoteric approaches to harmony, pitch and vibration. In recent decades, avant-garde musicians have rediscovered these overlaps, as occultism has reinvented itself--through Buddhist and other Asian influences, Thelema and Chaos Magic--to accommodate cultural strains from psychedelica through Punk and Industrial music. This special edition of John Zorn's much acclaimed Arcana series focuses on the magical aspects of the act of making music. Neither historical overview nor musicological study, it illuminates the sympathies between music and the esoteric tradition with the help of today's finest experimental musicians and occultists. Among these are William Breeze, Gavin Bryars, Alvin Curran, Fred Frith, Sharon Gannon, Larkin Grimm, William Kiesel, Yusef Lateef, Frank London, Meredith Monk, Mark Nauseef, Pauline Oliveros, Genesis P-Orridge, Terry Riley, David Toop, Greg Wall, Peter Lamborn Wilson and Z'ev.