Meredith Monk:

Meredith Monk bubbles with creative energy. Courtesy photo.

Opera of the senses

(Budapest) The contemporary « opera » of multi-disciplinary American performer Meredith Monk, whose company will perform « Magic Frequencies » at the Trafo for a two day run starting March 23rd, promises an experience of dissonant, temperate, and a strangely melodic poetry of the senses.

While her work may be a way out there concept that shoots beyond the classical operatic traditions that this country knows all too well, her world has nevertheless connected with Hungary in a fascination for some of this country’s most important 20th century figures.

« I have a strange but very passionate connection with Hungary, » said Ms. Monk in an interview, just two hours before leaving on a tour that has taken the artist to Russia, Estonia, the Czech Republic, and Budapest.

« Bartok lives in every pore of my body in a kind of intuitive sense, and I also remember a strange affinity that I will never forget feeling when watching a beautiful film by the Hungarian film-maker Miklos Jancso. »

Meredith Monks memories of Jancso go back to a lengthy ten-minute opening scene of one of the directors early films. Playing with a moment, and forming it out over time, is also very much a part of Monks’ own work. »It has a lot to do with quieting down the mind to know that the reality of the mind that is not the chatter of our every day existence, » says Monk, « for Magic frequencies, you have to slow down your own mind. »

While her vocal works have been performed in Hungary before, the premiere of « Magic Frequencies » will be the first time that Central European audiences will see one of her neo-operatic works, in a performance that she describes as an « inter-galactic odyssey of sound, space and movement. »

Defining Meredith Monks’ quirky world of sound and space would be tantamount to trying to annotate an experimental inner journey. Words would sound as queer and fuzzy as her vocal works may sound on first hearing.

With her meandering tones ranging from wonder to absurdity, from the extraordinary to the elemental, as she delves into the capabilities of the human voice. Attempts at definition lose meaning quickly in such a context.

« I once met an astronomer who said the stars are actually singing, » recalled Ms. Monk, « but we just can’t hear them. It’s only through the cracks of reality that we can find other realities. It’s very much about the wonder of seeing under and around what seems like very ordinary things. »

Composer, singer, creator of new opera and theatrical works, films and installations, Meredith Monk began her multi-disciplinary experimentation over thirty five years ago. And the array of awards that she has been bestowed throughout her career have come as easily from the areas of music, dance, theater, as well as for her basic ability to sustain her creative achievements.

« Its very hard for me to figure out what category to put myself into, » she says, « You could call it a chamber musical piece and an opera, but the line is very thin between the two. In my case, what I am not doing a linear or narrative form, it’s more like a mosaic. »

Ms. Monk, however, has been noted for having pioneered what has come to be known as « extended vocal technique » and interdisciplinary performance.

Her exploration of the human voice began through a series of solo performances beginning as early as 1965, when she explored the premise of working with voice as a multi-faceted instrument. Along with other like-minded artists like Laurie Anderson and Philip Glass, Monk pioneered a multi-disciplinary approach to performance.

Ms Monk later formed the Meredith Monk and Vocal Ensemble, where she continued her work with a group of performers, resulting in numerous recordings.

The creative process for Ms. Monk consists of hours of solitary work in the studio, building up sketches of what will become the final work. She describes the process as a kind of tabula rasa, where as opposed to building on her previous works, she tries to re-create the « beginners mind », in order, she says, not to lose the genuineness of the creative process.

« As time goes on the harder this process gets because of the history behind me, » said Ms. Monk, « I feel as if every time I make a new piece, I’m starting from zero. This can sometimes be quite painful. »