– Woop by letherette from the album Brown Lounge, V4
this is Off Key with NinaBird
where i tell stories that make not much sense and play music.
today’s set is a Memento Mori set…
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there’s a radio station i love to listen to. i put it on and walk away. it will play for hours and hours. i’ll forget it’s even on. until i hear something strange like a bell or footsteps and remember, oh yeah i’ve got the radio on. sometimes doors open. sometimes there’s some singing. or recitations. i will hear a baby crying like it’s in a cavern. deep and very far away, off in the distance. maybe monstrous.
sometimes an old man will start speaking into a microphone and he’ll be coughing, having a hard time. clearing his throat over and over between the words he’s reciting.
it’s all in CATALAN, even the baby crying. i catch words here and there. sometimes there’s feedback humming along and I can hear someone fiddling with a mixing board of knobs, wobbling the feedback in and out, trying to get rid of it.
i hear footsteps and loud doors opening and closing a lot. but what i hear the most under all of it is just the sound of a sanctuary. the hiss of the room. i know i’m in a sanctuary. and i know it’s a big one. i can almost smell the dusty cold air, feel the drafts, see the smoke and light from the candles. they leave the broadcast on all night. i can hear the sanctuary when the monks are sleeping. gone for the day. but i’m still there. listening. to the hum. the hiss of it inside the sanctuary. it’s comforting but not for the reasons I think the monks want me to be comforted. it’s comforting to me because someone hooked up a microphone and started broadcasting nonstop, with no idea of entertaining me or keeping me on or engaging me. just with the idea that whatever happens you can feel it too with those ears of yours. and i’m not being asked for anything else. just to bear witness to the sanctuary. i highly recommend tuning in and hanging out. it does something to you.
in the spirit of the sanctuary, i hope you’ll take a moment to not feel like you are being asked to do anything with me.
every one of the songs with a few exceptions, how do you like that sentence, features someone who has died. so this is a memento mori set. let’s get started, shall we?
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Playlist:
-The Sorcerer’s Apprentice by Paul Dukas performed by the London Symphony Orchestra from the album London Symphony Orchestra Plays Classical Favorites
-Opus De Soul by Steve Cropper, Pop Staples, & Albert King from the album Jammed Together
-Full Moon by Eden Ahbez from the album Eden’s Island
-My Little Brown Book by Duke Ellington and John Coltrane from the album of the same name
-Love is Everywhere by Pharoah Sanders from the album Wisdom Through Music
-Saman Doye by Black Brothers from the album Various Artists– Those Shocking Shaking Days (Indonesian Hard, Psychedelic, Progressive Rock And Funk: 1970 – 1978)
-Come Live With Me by Dorothy Ashby from the album Afro-Harping
-Malinye by CODONA from the album CODONA 2
-Witchi Tai To by Jim Pepper from the album The Path
-Djougou Toro by Volta Jazz from the album Orchestre Volta Jazz Presents Air Volta
-Desiderata by Rosko Recites from the album Rare Preludes, Volume 2
-At The Centerline by Brian Blade from the album Mama Rosa
-Turiya & Ramakrishna by Alice Coltrane from the album Ptah The El Daoud
-Mahlalela by Letta Mbulu and Hugh Masekela from the album The Chisa Years 1965-1975
-Chant from a Holy Book by The Gurdjieff Ensemble with Levon Eskenian from the album Music of Georges I. Gurdjieff
-Kyrie by Hildegard von Bingen with Vajra Voices from the album Hildegard von Bingen: O eterne Deus
-Angel by Gavin Friday
-Facile-Batiste by Jon Batiste from the album Black Mozart
-Cry Baby by Sunny War featuring Valerie June from the album Armageddon in a Summer Dress
-Like a Ship by Pastor T.L. Barrett and the Youth for Christ Choir SINGS! from the album Like a Ship (Without a Sail)
-Memphis Soul Stew Live at Fillmore West by King Curtis from the album Live at Fillmore West
-I Believe in Music by Donny Hathaway from the album of the same name
-Bird on the Wire Live in Paris, 1972 by Leonard Cohen from the album Live Songs
-I Couldn’t Say It To Your Face words and music by Arthur Russell performed by Glen Hansard
-Naomi Chiaki
-Young Hearts Run Free, words and music by Candi Staton performed live by Glen Hansard
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Here is a transcription of the recitations in Catalan from the Montserrat Basilica. I offer this mostly so you know what he’s saying. I do not offer it as any kind of endorsement or indoctrination or weird strange thing. If you know what I mean.
The Hail Mary (repeated over and over — this makes up most of the recording):
“God save you, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among all women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.”
The Glory Be:
“Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.”
Announcing the mystery (this is the Fourth Joyful Mystery of the Rosary):
“The fourth mystery is the Presentation of the child Jesus at the temple and the Purification of the Mother of God.”
The Our Father (the portion that comes through):
“…forgive us our trespasses… and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from all evil.”
The closing invocation (the second half of the Hail Mary):
“Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.”