Kenneth Gaburo: An influential Thinker awaits posthumous Breakthrough

Pogus are paying tribute to a man some call “an undersung hero with a profound influence on a generation of musical thinkers”: Kenneth Gaburo. The upcoming “LINGUA II: MALEDETTO / ANTIPHONY VIII” captures Kennth Gaburo in two different phases of his career and on strikingly contrasting musical grounds. “Maledetto” was written and first realised in 1967/1968, only shortly after he had founded the New Music Choral Ensemble (NMCE) – an early avant-garde choir. While he excelled in public performances of the works of Nono, Kagel, and Messiaen among others on the one hand, he also used the NMCE’s creative force for his own music. “Maledetto” is therefore a powerful vocal piece for seven speakers, working on several layers of meaning with regards to the word “screw” “in all its connotations, from the sexual to the mechanical, from the mildly obscene to the boisterous, with diversions along the way into topics such as perfume manufacture, printing, classical design, and structural linguistics, all of which connect with the small ridged, groovy object of attention.”, according to Pogus.

“Antiphony VII”, from a series of compositions widely regarded as one of his acmes, also employs singers, but this time the context is more grim and serious, the work a wake-up call to the dangers of nuclear proliferation. In a way, it sprang forth from the Anti-Nuclear movement at the early 80s and was written only months before Kenneth Gaburo would take on the position of Director of the Experimental Music Studio at the University of Iowa in 1983. “Gaburo the deep analyst of phenomena is still here, but now his analytical mind is dissecting not just a problem, but the wide variety of people's responses to that problem”, Warren Burt writes in the liner notes, “Both as a structural resource, and as a means perhaps of intuiting the way forward.”

There is every chance that “LINGUA II: MALEDETTO / ANTIPHONY VIII” could sound in a phase of wider interest in the oeuvre of Kenneth Gaburo. Not only has his music inspired enthusiastic reponses in the few exposed to it (follow the link below, to an extremely ressourceful webpage dedicated to him, for example), but thanks to its Jazz-connotations (a result of Gaburo’s early interest in the genre), it has a decidedly contemporary feel to it.

“LINGUA II: MALEDETTO / ANTIPHONY VIII” is out in May.

Homepage: Pogus Records
Homepage: Kenneth Gaburo Fanpage
By Tobias Fischer, published 2008-04-23

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