C.J. Davis
Concerning the prints: The top and both sides are heavily cropped. A shame. Cannot frame this now. The piece is ruined. Change description, please. Thank you.
CHAPTERS:
I. Asking For Help
II. Lament On What We Have Lost
III. Extension
IV. Composing For Interruption
V. To Be Held
VI. Earth, catch me
Asking for help, asking to be held.
Submission into intermission.
Lamenting over what we’ve lost.
We ask you to read this score and follow it in your rhythm.
Lie down on your back. Rub your hands flat against each other until they become warm.
Place them on your closed eyelids.
Massage your scalp, as gently and as slowly as you like it. You can pull your hair, if you’re into it, comb them with your fingers.
Wrap your arms around yourself.
(Hold yourself precious in your arms, close to your heart.)
When you are ready, put the headphones on.
Stay with us.
We will hold you. (You are being held.)
Even though
we are all on our own in grief
we listen to this together.
about
Released on the spring equinox, "Community of Grieving" should be considered an EP, with several interconnected parts, yet at the same time the work flows so seamlessly that it has not been divided into tracks.
Originally commissioned for Unsound 2020 online as a shared collective listening piece, "Community of Grieving" is an audio ritual by Julia Giertz and Zosia Hołubowska that draws on traditions of vesper and lament and merges sonic meditation, narration and audio essay.
Sung in Polish by Hołubowska, the opening lines translate as, "How false everything is in this wretched world". The bleakness is balanced by the intention of "Community of Grieving", a powerful testament to the way that music and sound can unite people, both in joy and mourning – during stringent pandemic lockdowns around the world, the initial online broadcast connected with an audience discussion on Discord, led by Giertz and Hołubowska.
At Unsound Krakow 2021, the work was recreated as a live performance.
CHAPTERS:
I. Asking For Help
II. Lament On What We Have Lost
III. Extension
IV. Composing For Interruption
V. To Be Held
VI. Earth, Catch Me
credits
released March 20, 2022
Sales until 27th March will be donated to Salam Lab, a Krakow organisation supporting Ukrainian refugees.
Composed and recorded by: Zosia Hołubowska and Julia Giertz
Commissioned by: Unsound
Mastered by: Stefan Betke / scape mastering
Cover art: Elena Biner aka Moirae Moirae
Supported by: Adam Mickiewicz Institute and Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland, Austriackie Forum Kultury, nadaLokal Vienna, Federal Ministry of Arts and Culture, Civil Service and Sport of Republic of Austria, City of Krakow
supported by 18 fans who also own “Community of Grieving”
Magical sounds with the occasional mystical opera voice coming through like a creature from some other planet <3 (Shout out to Wabi Sabi and Liis Ring for playing this!)
Also love the original artwork by Lera Dubitskaya, enlightening the floating sounds. TwinTrash
supported by 14 fans who also own “Community of Grieving”
A recording that touches something ancient in us and brings a shift to places not yet discovered. It's hard to describe in any sensible way something that definitely mixes the spirit of Palestrina with the legacy of minimalism, reductionism and improvisation, although that's not really important here. A deeply emotional thing that doesn't talk about humanity, but speaks directly to it. jiristepan
A gorgeous journey through a kaleidoscopic array of sonic approaches melted together that feels old and new at the same time. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 5, 2024