The point where to rest being known, then the object of pursuit is then determined and that being determined, a calm unpertubedness may be attained to. To that calmness there will succeed a tranquil repose in that repose there may be careful deliberation, and that deliberation will be followed by the attainment (of the desired end).
For the 2004 HOWL Festival, ISSUE Project Room will be presenting an interpretation of seminal British avant-garde composer Cornelius Cardew’s 1969 experimental music piece The Great Learning from Paragraph Two. Highly influenced by Confucian philosophy, Paragraph Two is an utterly exhilarating, significant opus written for percussion and voice, at which the mass choir of voices and rhythmic drumming create a hair-raising cadence.
The Great Learning is based on the first seven paragraphs of the Da Xue (or the Ta Hseuh), written by Confucius and his pupils between the fifth and second centuries B.C. and translated by the poet Ezra Pound. Cardew dedicated The Great Learning to the Scratch Orchestra (a London-based ensemble he helped to found) whose members included professional and student musicians, actors, dancers, and people with no previous experience of the arts.
Jim Pugliese, a percussionist who has worked with artists such as Phillip Glass and John Zorn, will be the Musical Director of the Performance.
Vocalists asked to participate include: Joan LaBarbara, Eric Mingus, Mary Cleere Haran, Rebecca Moore, Marc Anthony Thompson, Shelley Hirsch, Allyssa Lamb, Liz Bougatsos, Fay Victor, Jonathan Bepler and more…
Percussionists to perform include: Jim Black, Tim Barnes, Kenny Wollesen, Gerald Cleaver, Susie Ibarra, Roberto Rodriquez, Raz Mesinai, Christine Bard, Dougie Bowne and more…