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cha021: christof kurzmann "the air between"
recorded 2003
mastered by christof amann @ amann-studios/wien
graphik: philip arnold
thanks to: areski, patrick bongola, susanne brokesch, nadia cruz-plata, björn dirlack, bernhard fleischmann, marion gerth, richie hawtin, gabriel garcia marquez, wolfgang schlag, tim wright and the united colors of the anti-war movement. resist!
this recording was done on behalf of the "Donaufestival Niederösterreich 2003" and is supported by ske/austria.
als ich vom donaufestival/krems 2003 gebeten wurde, mit einem beitrag zum thema "der tiefe ton" teilzunehmen, stand mir der sinn zunächst einmal danach wieder etwas zu kreieren, das in den von mir in den letzten jahren veröffentlichten cd´s - abgesehen von wenigen beiträgen für diverse compilationen - eher ein wenig untergegangen war: eine musik, die sich mehr entlang von parametern wie melodie und rhythmus bewegt.
nachdem ich die arbeit aufgenommen und einige kleine, sehr liedhafte stücke geschaffen hatte, die, auf tiefen bässen aufgebaut, mit kurzen melodischen signaturen versehen waren, trat ein ereignis in mein leben, das alles verändern sollte: kriegszeiten!
von dem moment an, da die aggression der us-armee und ihrer zweifelhaften verbündeten gegen den irak begonnen hatte, stand ich jeden tag in der früh auf und las als allererstes die nachrichten. so "gestimmt" ging ich an meinen arbeitsplatz vor dem computer und versuchte an meiner musik weiterzuarbeiten. schon bald mußte ich feststellen, daß die leichtigkeit, die (m)ich zunächst beherrscht hatte und die für mich nötig ist um im "pop-format" zu arbeiten, dahin war.
was nun an kläng en aus meinem computer strebte, waren zwar nach wie vor die tiefen klänge, aber ihre qualität und ihr verhältnis zu ihrer umgebung hatten sich verändert.
noch einige tage lang, war ich der ansicht, dies könne sich wieder geben, werde eventuell auch noch von politischer einsicht in d as unrecht und die massiven weltweiten proteste gegen den krieg beeinflußt werden und letztlich zu einer produktion führen, die aus der tragik des geschehens in eine triumphale hymne des menschlichen willens emporsteigen würde.
doch dann mußten nicht nur die menschen im irak zermürbt aufgeben, sondern auch mein glaube an die gerechtigkeit.
so ist vorliegendes album zu einem dokument der niederlage meines musikschaffenden-ichs gegenüber dem sozialen-ich geworden, ein dokument der trauer und der tristesse.
"the air between" ist weiterhin nicht mehr das ergebnis meines willens, denn vielmehr ein stimmungsbild meiner resignation. es ist ein stimmungsbild der ersten kriegstage, in denen die angriffe der flugzeuge zwar noch selten, aber nichtsdestotrotz vehement und verheerend waren. es ist die beschreibung der luft dazwischen. zwischen den angriffen, zwischen hoffen und verzweifeln, zwischen dem abwarten und dem sich ergeben.
christof kurzmann, 2003
When the organisers of the Donaufestival/Krems invited me to contribute a piece of work on this year's theme The Deep Tone, my first thought was to once again create music that follows parameters such as melody or rhythm, something that, except for a few contributions to various compilations, I had paid little attention to on my releases over the past years.
I had set about building songlike miniatures and sketches, pieces based on low-pitched sounds interspersed with short melodic signatures, when suddenly the flow of my life was interrupted by something that was to change everything: war!
From the moment the US Army and their dubious allies started their acts of aggression against Iraq, the first thing I did every morning was to read the news. "Tuned in" as I was, I sat down in front of my computer and tried to keep working on my music. Before long, I noticed that the ease and lightness so overwhelmingly present at first, this relaxed feeling I need in order to work in a pop form, had vanished. The sounds flowing from my computer were still deep and low-pitched, but their quality and their relation to the world around them had changed.
For a few days I thought things would come right again, that the aggressors might even see political reason, either by recognising the injustice on their own or somehow being inspired by the mounting wave of world-wide protest against this war, and that this would eventually lead to a production that would rise up out of the tragic events in a triumphant hymn of human will and intention. However, not only did Iraq's war-torn population end up surrendering, but I too had to give up my faith in justice.
Thus, this album has become an account that documents the surrender of my musical and creative self to my social self, a document of mourning and sadness. Rather than being the result of my wishes, the air between is a reflection of my mood of resignation. It's a picture of the first days of war, when the air raids were still rare yet nonetheless vehement and disastrous. It's a portrayal of the air between - between the attacks, between hope and despair, between waiting and surrender.
christof kurzmann, 2003
translated by friederike kulcsar
letter to bush
from gabriel garcia marquez
(please pass on to the world)
how does it feel? how does it feel when horror strikes your patio and not in your neighbours living room?
how does it feel like, when you choke on fear, when panic is caused by deafening sound, uncontrollable flames, buildings caving in, that terrible smell nestling in your lungs, those eyes of all the innocent, who wander, covered with blood and dust?
how do you experience the uncertainty of what will be, for one day in your own home? how will you come out of that state of shock?
in a state of shock, on august the 6th 1945, the survivors of hiroshima wandered about. not a single thing stood in the city, after the north american combat pi-lot enola gay dropped the bomb. in a matter of se-conds, 80.000 men, women and children died.
in the following years, 250.000 others died due to radiation. but that was a war far away, and there was not even television back then.
how does the horror feel today, when the terrible pictures on television tell you, that the sad happenings of september 11th, were not happening in some country far away, but in your own motherland?
on another 11th september, some 28 years ago,
a president named salvador allende died resisting a putch, orchestrated by your gouverners.
those too, were times of horror, but were far away from your boarders, in an unnoticed >south-american petite-republique<. those small republics were in your back yard, and you never really cared, when your marines asserted their point of view with fire and blood.
do you know that between 1824 and 1994, your country has invaded countries in latin america on
73 occasions? the victims were puerto rico, mexico, nicaragua, panamá, haiti, colombia, cuba, honduras, the dominican republic, the virgin islands, el salvador, guatemala and granada.
it has been almost a century that your gouverners are at war. since the beginning of the 20th century, there was almost no war in which the people of your pentagon have not participated.
of course the bombs always exploded outside your territory, except pearl harbor, when the japanese aviation bombed the 7th fleet in 1941. but the horror was always far away.
as the twin towers collapsed into dust, when you saw the pictures on television, or you heard the screams, because you were in manhattan that morning, did you think for one second, what the farmers
in vietnam had felt many years ago?
in manhattan, people were falling from scyscrapers like tragic string puppets. in vietnam, people screamed because napalm burned their flesh at an endless pace and death was dreadfull, like the death of those who desperately jumped into emptiness.
your airforce spared neither a single industry, nor a single bridge in yougoslavia.
in iraq there were 500.000 deaths. half a million souls, were taken by opertion desert storm.
how many deaths in excotic places far away, such as vietnam, iraq, iran, afghanistan, lybia, angola, somalia, congo, nicaragua, the dominican republic, cambodia, yougoslavia, soudan and a never ending list of others?
in all those places, the projectiles used were produced in your homeland, they were aimed by your young men, paid by people of your state departement, only to secure the pleasure of your american way of life.
it has been a century that your country is at war with the whole world.
curiosly enough, your gouverners launch the four horsemen of the apocalypse, in the name of freedom and democracy. but you should know, that for many peoples of the world (on this planet, 24.000 inhabitants die every day through droughts or curable diseases), the united states do not represent free-dom, but a terrible enemy far away, that sows war, hun-ger, fright and destruction. for you those have
always been small conflicts far away, but for those
living there, it is a painful and close reality.a war where buildings implode under bombs and where people die a horrible death and the victims are at 90% civilians, women, elderly people, children: colateral damage.
what does one feel, when horror knocks at your door, even if it is only for a day? what does one think, when the victims in new york are secretaries, employees at the stock exchange or cleaning staff, people who pay taxes punctually and never harmed a fly?
how does fear feel like? how does it feel, >yanqui<, to know that the war finally enters your home, on september 11th?
gabriel garcia marquez
translation: patrick bongola
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