[Fuusm-l] Watch "Steve Reich - Come Out (Original Ver.)" on YouTube

[Randall Kidder]

https://youtu.be/g0WVh1D0N50

Hello all. On this, the first day of Black History Month, I remember first
hearing this piece, "Come Out" in 1972, six years after Steve Reich "wrote"
it, during a course I took in 20th Century Techniques of Composition when I
was a freshman at Heidelberg University (the one in Ohio, not Germany). So
I decided to send out the link, as I think some of you may be interested in
listening to it.
Reich had been asked to write something in response to the Harlem riots of
1964, related to the Little Fruit Stand Riot and the Harlem Six.
What happens during the musical process of composition is profoundly weird,
and almost supernaturally appropriate. Daniel Hamm's voice, through tape
manipulation, gradually metamorphoses into a conjuration or invocation of
dozens, then thousands of ghosts of angry protesting tribal ancestral
voices from centuries past; one can almost hear the drumming and percussive
gourd shakers of tribal battle dances preparing for war. Eerie.
Hypnotically horrifying.
There is a YouTube link to a brief discussion of this piece and the
background, which I'll also send.
"Come Out" appeared over 50 years ago, and seems as relevant now as it did
back then, perhaps more so.

Randall Kidder
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