Singing is at the heart of Catherine Christer Hennix’s composition Blues Alif Lam Mim In The Modes Of Rag Infinity / Rag Cosmosis. The piece is based on a devotional poem written in Arabic by the Swedish-born artist, poet and philosopher herself.
It includes quotations from the Koran and aims to highlight the origins of blues in Eastern musical traditions. Hennix arranged raga-like fragments by permuting their order, creating a non-traditional work full of depth and hypnotic flow. During its 80-minute running time, the sound expands and contracts, penetrating deep into the listener’s subconscious.
Such a listening experience corresponds to anti-artist Henry Flynt’s 1978 concept of Illuminatory Sound Environments, which was inspired by Hennix’s groundbreaking work The Electric Harpsichord. Flynt’s idea is based on using sound as a psychotropic guide to increase listeners’ receptivity and transport them into states of altered consciousness.
Hennix has been exploring her fascination with such trance-like states for decades. After developing tape works at the pioneering Elektronmusikstudion (EMS) in Stockholm in the late 1960s, she moved to New York City and collaborated with many artists in the thriving avantgarde scene there.
As she was active in the circle of composers interested in just intonation, it was almost inevitable that she would meet the Hindustani raga singer Pandit Pran Nath and become his first European student.
Later, Hennix explored traditions such as Japanese Gagaku music and the vocal works of the French medieval composer Pérotin, which for many represent a shortcut to the realm of angels.
In Blues Alif Lam Mim In The Modes Of Rag Infinity/Rag Cosmosis, aspects of her insights from all such spiritual realms come together. Hennix shapes them into an immersive experience in which sound, surroundings and one’s own self merge together and convey the feeling of being in contact with infinity. It was performed live in 2014 by the Chora(s)san Time-Court Mirage ensemble during the Ultima Festival in New York City.
Find CC Hennix’ Blues Alif Lam Mim in the Mode of Rag Infinity/Rag Cosmosis in Sounds Central’s mix
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