CD Feature: Fred Frith/Joelle Leandre/Jonathan Segel: "Tempted to Smile"

Some bizarre spider dance

Lonely prisoners trapped in the Bastille used to find comfort in calling spiders from the corners of their cells and making "pets" of them. Using the principle of a spider calling its babies to its web by way of tapping messages out on a tightly-wound piece of web, these prisoners would wrap sinew around the bars of their cells and pluck them, ever so gently, until the spider, drawing on that memory of being a baby spider, would come creeping across the wall to the familiar sound.

Intentional or not, the aforementioned trio have reproduced perhaps what an orchestra of these prisoners might sound like, bowing and plucking and caressing a variety of stringed instruments. One can almost see the summoned spiders running from one end of the room to another while this is being played, perhaps stopping occasionally to puff out and flatten in some bizarre spider dance.

By Holly Day

Homepage: Fred Frith
Homepage: Joelle Leandre
Homepage: Jonathan Segel
Label: Spool