Thomas Kessler: Voice Control

The ‘Control’ compositions are a series of live electronic studies in which an instrument is closely linked to electronic devices (synthesizers, computers). These pieces are primarily concerned with expanding the traditional articulation possibilities of an instrument. For this reason, the instrumentalist no longer plays his instrument alone, but also transfers his playing technique and responsiveness to the electronic instruments without the help of an additional assistant. The word ‘control’ comes from the field of analogue synthesiser technology, but is also used in computer language and means ‘steering’. Here, this control takes place on various levels between the performer, the instrument and the electronics.

 

Voice Control was created in 1993/94 for the then well-known drum trio ‘Le Cercle’ with the great drummers Jean-Pierre Drouet, Willy Coquillat and Gaston Sylvestre. In the course of our close collaboration, we reduced the percussion instruments more and more until, with one hidden exception, only the body and the human voice remained as instruments.

(Thomas Kessler)

 

The text used refers to the book by Kalila and Dimna, a collection of Indian fables from the 3rd century, as handed down by Ibn Al-Muqaffa (11th century) and translated into French by André Miquel. I have selected the following fables from this collection:

 

THE LION AND THE OX
On his way to Mathur, a merchant had to cross an extremely marshy area with his team of oxen. One of the oxen, named Chanzaba, got hopelessly stuck in the mud. So the merchant untied the nearly dead animal and left it to its fate. The next day, however, when the merchant had disappeared, the ox dragged itself with its last ounce of strength to a green meadow full of lush grass. Chanzaba quickly grew big and fat and began to bellow loudly.
Now there lived nearby a lion named Bankala, a king with his court of many wild animals, full of pride and of towering stature. When he heard the bellowing of the ox, he, who had never heard anything like it before, became afraid and did not move from the spot. He said to his advisor, the jackal Dimna, ‘The roar that is spreading here is unknown to me, but it is likely that the one who utters it is as large as his voice, and if that is the case, then our days here are numbered.’

 

THE FOX AND THE DRUM
It is said that a hungry fox was passing by a grove where a drum hung from a tree. The wind began to blow and the branches of the tree struck the drum with a loud sound. Hearing this noise, the fox turned in that direction and came to the drum. When he saw how big it was, he thought that it must contain a lot of fat and meat. He began to turn and twist the drum so violently that it broke. When he saw that it was hollow, he said: ‘I don’t know if the shabbiest things are the ones that are the biggest and make the most noise.’

 

THE CAT AND THE RAT
It is said that in the land of Sarandib there was a large tree at the foot of which there were two holes in the ground: in one lived a rat, Faridun, and in the other a cat, Rumi. Hunters often passed by in search of game, and one day the cat was caught in one of their nets. The rat, always on the lookout for food, was very pleased to see that the cat was trapped. However, it was also being pursued by a weasel, and an owl was lurking behind it in a tree.
Our rat was very frightened. It could neither go forward nor backward and thought that in this hopeless situation, the best thing to do would be to make peace with the cat. It could be salvation for both of them… They talked to each other like friends, and when the rat began to gnaw through the cat’s net, the cat took the rat in its paws and hugged it. When the owl and the weasel saw this spectacle, they withdrew, very disappointed.
The rat, however, did not hurry, but left one mesh intact at the end and waited, as it did not trust the friendship with its mortal enemy. The cat was very desperate, but when the hunter returned, the rat bit through the last mesh, so that both could escape to their burrow at the last moment.

 

THE MONKEYS AND THE GLOWING GLASS
It is said that a group of monkeys living in the mountains discovered a glittering glass on a cold night, which they mistook for a fire and piled a heap of wood on top of. Then they began to blow on it and fan the wood with their hands. A bird was sitting nearby in a tree. ‘Don’t bother,’ he said to the monkeys, ‘what you saw is not a fire.’ But the monkeys turned a deaf ear and refused to listen. After a while, the bird flew down from the tree. A man passing by warned him, ‘Do not try to teach someone who has a twisted mind or open the eyes of someone who understands nothing.’ But the bird approached the monkeys to enlighten them. Then one of them grabbed the bird and killed it by smashing it on the ground.

 

THE MERCHANT AND THE HARP PLAYER
…as the story goes, there was once a merchant who owned a large quantity of pearls. To process them, he hired a man for a wage of 100 dinars per day. As they sat down, the man noticed a harp standing there and took an interest in it. The merchant asked him if he could play it reasonably well. The man said yes, and the merchant allowed him to play it. The man took the instrument, which he was very skilled at playing, and played and sang with a beautiful voice without interruption. He left the open basket of pearls and devoted himself to the music. But when evening came, he asked for his wages. ‘Have you worked?’ asked the merchant. ‘Yes, I did what you asked me to do.’ The merchant paid the wages and the work remained undone.

(freely translated by Thomas Kessler)