Tara's Room:
Two Meditations on Transition and Change
by Pauline Oliveiros
Deep Listening, New York, 2004 (1987)
Audio CD-ROM, 2 tracks, 52'33", $16.00
DL CD 22-2004
Distributors website: http://www.deeplistening.org/.
Reviewed by Stefaan Van Ryssen
Hogeschool Gent
Jan Delvinlaan 115, 9000 Gent, Belgium
stefaan.vanryssen@pandora.be
Pauline Oliveiros is a composer and performer
of international renown who has devoted
her life to opening her own and others'
sensibilities to the many faces of music
and sound. As a composer, teacher, and
mentor, she has deeply influenced American
music since the 1960's, leading the way
for what one might call 'meditative music'.
As a performer, she has given the accordion
a new status and shown the way for at
least two generations of improvising musicians.
Her work emphasizes subtlety and attention
to the sound as such, whatever the source
or the overall structure of a piece. She
is founder of Deep Listening.
With their definite New Age-like atmosphere,
it is worth mentioning that "Tara's
Room" and "The Beauty of Sorrow",
the two tracks on this CD, were composed
and performed by Oliveiros and recorded
in May 1987 already. (They were previously
only available as a cassette and long
out of print.)
According to the composer, 'The Beauty
of Sorrow is intended to assist the listener
in connecting and relaxing with deep feelings.'
It was played by the composer on a small
accordion tuned in just intonation and
using Lexico delay processors in a version
of her Expanded Instrument System (EIS).
Tara's Room 'is an
invocation for wisdom especially during
an unfamiliar journey'. It is a multi-track
recording with all materials played and
sung by the composer. Oliveiros dedicates
the pieces 'to all who have lost loved
ones whose lives were taken by war'.
As an example of Oliveiros' art and craftswomanship,
this is definitely an important release,
and for people with a bend towards meditative
moods, the repeat button on their CD player
should be pressed when listening to The
Beauty of Sorrow. Being a down-to-earth
pragmatist myself, I enjoy the purity
of the accordion sound and the unpresumptuous
feeling of 'being there'. I suppose that,
if anyone would ask what it feels like
to be an accordion, I would suggest listening
to this piece.