Wednesday, February 4, 2009

By invoking the revolutionary zaum' (transrational) poetry of the Russian avant-garde—as exemplified by the great poets Velimir Khlebnikov and Alexei Kruchenykh—this evening's performance explores the link between early sound experiments and what came to be known, in the post-Word War II era, as sound poetry—a movement very much alive today.

Welcome by Nancy Perloff (3:43), Curator of Modern and Contemporary Collections, Getty Research Institute

Introduction by Gerald Janecek (9:01), Professor of Russian, University of Kentucky

PART I: RUSSIAN ZAUM'

Velimir Khlebnikov's Word Transformations (8:03)
Oleg Minin, PhD, Dept. of Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Southern California
Christian Bök, Professor of English, University of Calgary

"Bobeobi pelis' guby" (Boh-beh-o-bee is the lipsong), 1914
"Kuznechik" (Grasshopper), 1908–1909
"Nash kochen' ochen' ozabochen" (Let us all be heads of lettuce), 1914
"Zakliatie smekhom" (Incantation by laughter), 1910
Excerpt from "Propeven' o prorosli mirovoi" (Chant of universal flowering) by Pavel Filonov, 1915

Alexei Kruchenykh's Alogical Poetry (5:14)
Oleg Minin, PhD, Dept. of Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Southern California
Allison Pultz, independent scholar
Introduction by Gerald Janecek, Professor of Russian, University of Kentucky

"Akhmet," 1912
"Tyanutkoni" (Haulhorsies), 1913
"Zabyl povesitsia" (Forgot to hang myself), 1913
"Vzorval' ognia pechal' "(Explodity of fire sorrow), 1913
"Pugal' pistolet" (Scaredity pistol), 1913

Khlebnikov and Kruchenykh's "Beyonsense" (7:57)
Oleg Minin, PhD, Dept. of Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Southern California
Steve McCaffery, David Gray Chair of Poetry and Letters, University at Buffalo
Introduction by Gerald Janecek, Professor of Russian, University of Kentucky

"Rusakli poiut" (The mermaids sing), excerpt from Dereviannye idoly (Wooden idols), 1915
"Bezsmert'e" (Immortality), 1917
"Shchiusel' biuzi niabe," 1915
"Vysoty: Vselenskij yazyk" (Heights: Universal language), 1914
"Dyr bul shchyl," with the poet's introduction, 1913

INTERMISSION

PART II: MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY SOUND POETRY

Steve McCaffery, David Gray Chair of Poetry and Letters, University at Buffalo
Introduction by Nancy Perloff, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Collections, Getty Research Institute

Historic Repertoire (8:04)
"The Birds" by Aristophanes, 360 BCE
"Sound-Rel" by Raoul Hausmann, 1919
"Le bonbon" by Robert Desnos, 1923
"Epithalame" by Clement Swenssen, 1947
Excerpt from "Jappements à la lune" by Claude Gauvreau, 1982

Personal Repertoire (13:54)
"Cappucino: a Suffix Structure"
"This Face of Mine Enemy"
Zaum' Acrostic for Marjorie Perloff
Improvisation from "California Suite"
On a line of Artaud's

Christian Bök, Professor of English, University of Calgary
Introduction by Nancy Perloff, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Collections, Getty Research Institute

Historic Repertoire (17:35)
Excerpt from "Dunes" (French Version) by F. T. Marinetti, 1914
"Seepferdchen und Flugfische" by Hugo Ball, 1916
"Karawane" by Hugo Ball, 1916
"Totenklage" by Hugo Ball, 1916
Excerpt from the First Movement of Ursonate by Kurt Schwitters, 1922–1932
"Aria of the Three-Horned Enemy" from The Princess of the Stars by R. Murray Schafer, 1981

Personal Repertoire (10:25)
"Valuvula"
"Noyta CCCP"
"The Doomsday Song"
Excerpt from "Mushroom Clouds" in The Cyborg Opera
Excerpt from "Synth Loops" in The Cyborg Opera
"Ubu Hubbub"