Sonolith #1 - Universal Declaration of Human Rights - [ excerpt ]

Sonolith is an ongoing project which takes as its subject the significant texts in human history and through a compositional process translates them into music. Sonolith, the title of which was inspired by the sculptural monuments, sets out to record human language as sonic impressions vibrating in the air rather than letters engraved on stone.
For its first sequence, the chosen text is "Universal Declaration of Human Rights." After an analysis of the text - conceptually, musically and semantically - certain pitches are assigned to certain letters, certain chords are assigned to certain words and certain melodic phrases to key words or word groups.
Sonolith No. I, Universal Declaration of Human Rights is constructed on five heptatonic scales: five scales for five continents that are permanently inhabited by humans yet seven tones in a scale to include Arctica and Antarctica as the other two masses of land and ice where humans can be present. Since the declaration is universal it should apply to all human beings wherever they may be; from east to west, from one pole to the other, even in the outer space...
In Sonolith, the pianist becomes a typist, a scribe; only to inscribe human language as sonic impressions rather than visual alphabetic ones. Performance unfolds as the normally private ritual of a scribe is now placed on a stage. A video projection accompanies the performances revealing the text as it is typed by the pianist.
•
This live performance by Roland Peelman was filmed at Ken Unsworth's Studio in Sydney on 23 August 2014
CREDITS :
pianist: Roland PEELMAN
composer & director : Ekrem Eli PHOENIX
cinematographer & main camera : Meg WHITE
video editor : Tamara GULIC PHOENIX
projection design : Oğuz MÜLAYİM & Ekrem Eli PHOENIX
lighting design : Verity HAMPSON
set design : Ekrem Eli PHOENIX
set design consultant : Jasmine CHRISTIE
assistant camera : Rebecca CROWE
director's assistant : Seth DEVENISH-HAMMOND
technical assistant : Chris AXELSEN
with special thanks to Ken UNSWORTH
•
All rights reserved @ Ekrem Eli Phoenix, 2014