{"id":5642,"date":"2016-05-27T15:07:34","date_gmt":"2016-05-27T15:07:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/craighavens.com\/?page_id=5642"},"modified":"2025-02-05T12:07:52","modified_gmt":"2025-02-05T12:07:52","slug":"listening-session-i-ii","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/craighavens.com\/index.php\/listening-session-i-ii\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Listening\u00a0Session\u00a0I\u00a0&\u00a0II:\u00a0Fear\u00a0of\u00a0Death,\u00a0Fear\u00a0of\u00a0Life<\/em>.
\nAudio Monitors, Amplifiers, Blankets, Dual Channel Audio, Printed Artist Publications
\nCourtesy of Nova Kultura Foundation, Sofia, Bulgaria.<\/span><\/p>\n

Listening Sessions<\/h1>\n

Part audio time-travel and\u00a0part ritual, these artist performances explore how Songs themselves can operate as Monuments without a body.<\/p>\n

Each Listening Session presents a thematic series of rare archival recordings\u00a0of unique live performances by deceased musicians.\u00a0The artist provides a commentary\u00a0for each song within a historical context while a select group of participants listen via synchronized high-fidelity in-ear studio monitors.<\/p>\n

A printed artist’s publication accompanies each performance and is provided to those participating in the sessions. The publication takes the form of a song booklet featuring transcribed lyrics,\u00a0song authorship, discography\u00a0details.<\/p>\n

Recorded music has existed for about\u00a0150 years and high-fidelity recordings for less than 75 years.\u00a0Before the advent of recording technology, the listening of a Song was perceived as a unique experience which was temporal and impermanent. The Song was then either written in musical notation or verbally passed from person to person as a memory expressed in individual performance.<\/p>\n

The Listening Sessions approach the\u00a0monument of Song by using recording technology to\u00a0re-animate\u00a0the presence of deceased musicians and collapse the perception of time to\u00a0transport the listener back to\u00a0the moment of\u00a0the original live performance. In a deeply Countermonumental way, this work seeks\u00a0to essentially reverse the decay of the aura of\u00a0recorded performance by returning the listener\u00a0to a ritualized experience of these Songs in high-fidelity and within a historical context.<\/p>\n