"Unsilent Night is an audience participation work, an outdoor ambient music piece for an INFINITE number of boom box tape players. It's like a Christmas carolling party except that we don't sing, but rather carry boom boxes, each playing a separate tape which is part of the piece. In effect, we become a city block long stereo system! Performances in New York have been using hundreds of participants. The more people that are involved, the more joyous a sound we can create."

It's downtown, through the Gaslamp. I'm going to try and bring boy down for this one. Hopefully we'll get some pictures and sounds of it all and have time to share them here. All are invited to participate, you just have to let the folks running this thing know so they can have a cassette for your box. More information available, or call Marcos Fernandes at (619) 299-5371 or email sounds@accretions.com.

The Village Voice called it the "Best Not-Exactly-Christmas-Caroling Event". Another Voice review captures part of the event,

"Crossing against traffic to the honking of horns, dodging a phalanx of cops on Broadway, jostling around fire hydrants, Unsilent Night struggles for spirituality and purity against the distractions and neglect of the world: This carol is less sleigh ride than passion play."

And finally, if you want to hear some of what you'll be "playing" on your very own boombox (or playschool first cassette player), Cantaloupe Music's Unsilent Night CD page has a Sound Clips link (then click each individual MP3 sample...or just use my handy dandy Unsilent Night Clips Playlist to play them all continuously). Also from the Cantaloupe page, check out the about Unsilent Night link for the artists overall concept and how each tune fits in. Sounds like something fun to be a part of.
10:25:28 AM    comment []  Google It!