When reel to reels become affordable during the 1950s, poetry reaches a new level. The human voice gets enhanced with effects, contrasted with other recordings, and put in place in arrangements.

37-minute program with works by Ernst Jandl, Henri Chopin, Paul de Vree, Sten Hanson and others.

Featured cover art: Disconnected (The Dial-A-Poem Poets)

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Vibrant Spaces – Henri Chopin’s Sound Poetry

Being one of the leading protagonists of 20th century experimental art, Henri Chopin was among the first to exploit the true potential of a tape recorder. Many of his audio works are based on radical approaches, such as swallowing microphones. 43-minute documentary with memories and expertise of poet and curator Enzo Minarelli.

Playlist ‘Enhanced Poetry’

Demetrio Stratos – Flautofonie ed altro

a rite like composition (1978, Cramps Records)

Paul de Vree – Vertigo Gli

the encounter of love (erotic), during man’s passage from birth to death (1963, Alga Marghen)

Sten Hanson – Skarp dig, for fan!

shamanistic poem (1991, Alga Marghen)

Neil Mills – Gong Poem

evocation of a prayer-chant (1971, Arts Council of Great Britain)

Four Horsemen – Matthew’s Line

poetry as collective experience (1972, Holidays Records)

Bernard Heidsieck – Canal Street 19

from a series with 35 poems about communication (1976, Al Dante)

Jean-Claude Gagnon – À gaga gougou

stand up comic sound poetry with additives (1987, 3vitrepair)

Enzo Minarelli – Sinergicoral B.

sound experiment based on images (1981, 3vitre)

Henri Chopin – La Chanson du Parlement Européen

human being and a machine telling a story together (1968, Alga Marghen)

bpNichol – Dada Lama

a dada poet becomes the Buddhist Lama to free the worshipper from the limits of time (1966, New Fire Tapes)

Charles Amirkhanian – Radii

homage to radio by KPFA/Berkeley’s Music Director (1972, Giorno Poetry Systems)

Ernst Jandl – Talk

radiophonic sound poem, realized for the BBC (1966, Verlag Klaus Wagenbach)

Ladislav Novák – Ceterum Autem

based on Cato the Elder’s words in the Roman Senate about the destruction of Carthago (1969, Fylkingen Records)

Augusto De Campos – Tensão

seven word pairs start dancing (1956, Artemeios)

Bob Cobbing – ABC in Sound (t)

the letter t as it appears in Bob Cobbing’s book ABC in Sound (1965, Aisthesis Verlag)

Gerhard Rühm – Verkürzte Zeitspanne

nuanced changes of a voice during masturbation (1973, Tochnit Aleph)