XXIX • ‘Qui habitat in adjutorio altissimi’ by Josquin des Prez (Adapted)

In 2007 I worked with my dear friend and media artist John Oswald to make the audio installation QUI. QUI was an adaption of Qui habitat in adjutorio altissimi, a 24-part choral motet by French Renaissance composer Josquin des Prez (c. 1440-1521).
John envisioned the work sung by 29 Toronto-based singers from various cultural backgrounds. The singers were each asked to reset the original Latin lyrics in the language of their personal heritage, and we recorded each singer performing their new setting for the audio installation.
Then in 2010 I had the idea to revisit the work and create a video component for QUI. With John’s blessing, I brought 24 of the singers back into my studio to shoot the video, and in honour of the original 29 QUI singers, I named the video version XXIX. It premiered at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto as part of the Scotiabank Nuit Blanche Festival in 2010.
The Singers
Neema Bickersteth (Krio)
Aviva Chernick (Spanish)
Sung Chung (Korean)
Ori Dagan (Hungarian)
Narendra Datar (Hindi)
Sophia Grigoriadis (Greek)
Carla Huhtanen (Finnish)
Andrea Koziol (English)
Amélie Lefebvre (French)
Tom Lillington (Italian)
Laurel MacDonald (Latin)
Lizzy Mahashe (Zulu, Xhosa, Sesotho)
Shalva Makharashvili (Georgian)
Paul Oros (Russian)
Pat Patrick (English - Basso Profundo)
Suba Sankaran (Tamil)
Charlene Santoni (Ultra Soprano)
Mitch Smolkin (Hebrew)
Adam Solomon (Swahili)
Aki Takahashi (Japanese)
Maryem Tollar (Arabic)
In memory of the joyful and beautiful Lizzy Mahashe, who passed away March 30, 2019 - a great loss to the Toronto musical community.
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Festival Screenings
Scotiabank Nuit Blanche, Toronto • 2010
Glasgow Short Film Festival • 2011
Heart Of Gold International Film Festival, Australia • 2011
Chicago International Movies and Music Festival • 2011
Sensoria Shorts, Sheffield UK • 2011
Columbus International Film + Video Festival • 2011
BEAST (Birmingham ElectroAcoustic Sound Theatre), UK - Encounters • 2013
angelica festival international di musica, Bologna • 2015
Awards
Scotiabank People’s Choice Award, Nuit Blanche Toronto, 2010
Columbus International Film + Video Festival 2011 • Award: Experimental Shorts Category
For more info, please visit my website, www.improbablemusic.com

[@hilarybritton209]

Very beautiful music and good singing. Music brings everyone together and we enjoyed listening to this especially when we are unable to go out to a live performance.

[@JohnSmith-pv6ds]

Simply beautiful.

[@lclneto100]

Excellent idea, perfectly executed! As beautiful as the music and the voices are the singers' facial expressions. Even if we don't always understand their languages, we can feel and imagine the personal meaning of the lyrics. Thank you for sharing!

[@laurelmacdonald5081]

Thank you for your very kind words, Luiz!

[@ryanmbira3968]

fantastic idea

[@peterthillaye7041]

wonder . wonder... Wonderful Beautifully done

[@laurelmacdonald5081]

Thank you so much for your kind words, Peter Thillaye!