The Shaman & Antler Face by John Terriak The Shaman Ascending evokes the imagery of a traditional shaman figure chanting in the quest for spiritual ecstasy. However, in this case, the listener is placed inside of a circle of loudspeakers with the vocal utterances swirling around at high rates of speed and timbral development. The work proceeds in increasing stages of complexity as the shaman ascends towards a higher spiritual state.
The work and its title are inspired by a pair of Canadian Inuit sculptures by John Terriak with collectively the same name, as well as Inuit throat singing. All of the vocal material heard in the piece is derived from recording of the Vancouver bass singer Derrick Christian.
The Shaman Ascending was commissioned by the ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany and premiered there in February 2005.
Note: the 8-channel version of this work was created with Richmond Sound Design's AudioBox computer-controlled diffusion system.
The Shaman Ascending is available on the Cambridge Street Records CD, Spirit Journies (CSR-CD 0701) www.sfu.ca/~truax/cd9.html.
Materials
Technical noteThe work was realized using Tom Erbe's SoundHack convolution program, with additional material provided by the composer's PODX system which incorporates the DMX-1000 Digital Signal Processor controlled by a PDP Micro-11 computer with software for real-time granular synthesis and signal processing developed by the composer in the School for the Contemporary Arts at Simon Fraser University. The sounds were recorded on 8-track digital tape and the AudioBox, and mixed in the Sonic Research Studio at SFU. Original impulse response file provided by Worldwide Soundspace website, some of which are available in Peak for OSX.
