Any Creative Person is a Criminal!
R. Murray Schafer is Canada’s most widely known and respected composer. He’s been awarded the Glenn Gould Prize, the Walter Carsen Prize and the Molson Prize. On Friday, July 18th he turns 75. On Sunday night’s show we’ll have a little birthday party for him and play four pieces: “Tapio for Alphorn with Echoing Instruments” (from Wolf Music), Threnody, and String Quartets #3 and #9. Here’s a clip about one of his site-specific pieces that includes a large children’s choir.
We’re also including an excerpt from an interview I did with Murray when he was in Winnipeg last February. Murray has always been outspoken and during that interview he talked about how creative people exist someplace outside the laws of society. (I’ll paraphrase):
“Any creative person is a criminal – outside of society. Composers are the least respected, the least paid, the most ignored people in the country.”
Murray has been active as a composer, as an educator and as an environmental activist – especially for the sound environment. Despite his success on so many levels he’s had to fight to make a go of it. Murray started his own publishing company after losing control of some early books on music education, when they were sub-published out of the country. Just because he had written the books, the law didn’t fully protect his rights.
Late on Friday night, we’ll play a piece by Steinski, who’s been both political and outside society in his work. Not much of his material is available on CD, because he sampled freely from copyright material – but never legally cleared his sources.
Brazilian sensation Gilberto Gil is another activist-artist. He was jailed by the Brazilian military dictatorship in 1969, but now sits as the country’s Minister of Culture. His new album Banda Larga Cordel celebrates broadband technology. Gilberto, who is a staunch leftist, hopes this new technology will help to liberate people. One of his goals is to establish a freely downloadable site for Brazilian music. Gilberto’s countryman, DJ Dolores titled his newest CD 1 Real – a little word play on Brazil’s currency. He just wants to get paid for his work.
I’m not sure how musicians are going to make these new technologies pay, but we should all be glad that creative people are still pushing the envelope – to bring us new ideas and great music.
Here’s the link I promised to Bel singing Echinacea:
