Music and the Shadow People is a story written by William Parker, who self published it in 1995. It takes place in a world that is “for the most part ruled, dominated, and being destroyed by HE,” a world built on lies, a world “not in tune with the reality of the universe.” It centers around two main characters: Johnson Wordless, a conscripted soldier in HIS Army, and Stockyman, a revolutionary figure trying to show people the path to the “Tone World.” The story was adapted into a radio play by Andrew O’Connor, premiering on Austrian public radio’s KunstRadio. That work has since been further adapted by William and Andrew into a live performance for musicians, actors, and multi-channel sound design, styled in the German tradition of Horspiel or live radio/sound play. Featuring original music composed by Parker, and immersive multi-channel sound design by O’Connor developed at the NAISA North Media Art Centre.
Musicians
William Parker bass, flutes, brass
Bea Labikova saxophone, fujara, vibraphone
Kayla Milmine saxophone
Anita Katakkar tabla percussion
Rosina Kazi narrator
Actors
Michael Rinaldi
Trent Pardy
Gary Kirkham live video projections
Andrew O’Connor live multi-channel sound mixing
William Parker is a bassist, improvisor, composer and educator from New York City. He has recorded over 150 albums, published six books and taught and mentored hundreds of young musicians and artists. He has been called “one of the most inventive bassists/leaders since (Charles) Mingus” and “the creative heir to Jimmy Garrison and Paul Chamber….directly influenced by 60’s avant-gardists Sirone, Henry Grimes and Alan Silva”. The Village Voice called him “the most consistently brilliant free jazz bassist of all time” and Time Out New York named him one of the “50 Greatest New York Musicians of All Time.” Parker has been a key figure in the New York and European creative music scenes since the 1970’s and has performed with Cecil Taylor, Don Cherry, Peter Brotzman, Milford Graves, Peter Kowald and David S. Ware among many others. He works all over the world but he always returns to New York’s Lower East Side, where he has lived since 1975.
Andrew O’Connor is an independent radio producer, and sound artist based in Toronto. His work reflects an interest in sound, storytelling, and transmission, and explores these ideas through formal broadcast radio as well as installation art, sound design, and pirate radio. Andrew’s work has been featured across the CBC Radio network, syndicated internationally, as well as featured at Festivals like Radiophrenia in Glasgow, and the UK International Radio Drama Festival. Andrew currently hosts and produces a weekly pirate radio show called DISCO 3000 on his long running, clandestine radio project Parkdale Pirate Radio. Andrew’s work in radio dates back some twenty years, and extends beyond standard broadcast forms. His work has been presented at festivals across North America including Megapolis in Baltimore, the Third Coast Filmless Festival at the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, the Vancouver New Music Festival, and La Grande Rencontre des arts Mediatiques en Gaspesie. Andrew has been a visiting faculty member at the Banff Centre for the Arts, received a commission from the Klondike Institute for Art and Culture for their yearly thematic series, The Natural & The Manufactured, and had his work included in the anthology “Transmission Arts: Artists and Airwaves.”
A livestream will be available free of charge at 8pm on the day of the performance and archived for future viewing. Watch below or on YouTube.
