RUZAWI by Lee Noyes / Lance Austin Olsen

Lee Noyes (born in 1977) is a Canadian musician who lives in Sweden. Lance Austin Olsen (born in 1943) is a Canadian artist and composer. The two musicians have been collaborating for over ten years, often performing graphic scores composed by Olsen. In late autumn 2023, Noyes received two graphic scores from Olsen. After carefully considering how best to approach them, Noyes recorded both works at once, on a night in January 2024, using InputLoop sampler and percussion. Both Noyes and Olsen were very pleased with the resulting performances, from which two albums have been produced.

“RUZAWI” was composed by Olsen in 2011. Comprising one written text and one painting, the score was performed by Noyes over a period of 44 minutes and 30 seconds. The performance is documented on this CD, which includes liner notes by Noyes (in English).

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I was introduced to "RUZAWI" (2011), a score by composer and sound artist Lance Austin Olsen, in early 2014. This introduction came through Jamie Drouin, a close collaborator to Lance and co-founder of his Infrequency Editions label. At the time, Jamie had successfully assembled an international roster of musicians from the world of experimental and improvised music, myself included, for a grouprealisation of the score. Sadly, and for reasons never made apparent, the project languished after some months and eventually was abandoned. I had already recorded and submitted my contribution by this time, but, of course, outside of the context of the ensemble my part didn't really make sense, so this recording was archived and ultimately forgotten.

I have worked with Lance many times since then, both collaboratively and with solo realisations of several other of his works. In late 2023, he and I were again discussing potential projects and it occurred to me then that we were nearing a ten year anniversary of that failed attempt at "RUZAWI." I'd remembered being very pleased with my original interpretation of the score and had regretted that the project had never come to fruition. So I began toying with the idea of making a new attempt, and then, perhaps, layering it with my original version, to see if it might work to present them together.

The idea appealed to me in several ways. The score addresses the notions of memory, trauma and loss inflicted in childhood—how these are replayed, re-membered and re-embodied over time within the person who had experienced it. I was intrigued by the idea of layering a new realisation with the original performed by a version of myself from ten years previous. The score hadn't changed, but I surely had? I also wondered if a (probably false) memory of my original interpretation could affect a new reading, outside of considerations around my growing and moving on from my 2014-self ? Further, I had always been taken by the strength of the imagery embedded in Lance's description of his time at the Ruzawi School for Boys in 1950's Zimbabwe—I have spent my entire adult life as a teacher of art and music to young children and am acutely cognisant of the role adults play in the life of young people; either as mentors or tor-mentors. The instrumental setup I was focusing on at this time —feedback and electronicsprocessed
percussion—seemed well-suited to represent the harrowing experiences Lance describes in the "RUZAWI" score, as well as to interpret the large visual art piece that accompanies the work. This setup, with acoustic elements, would also sit in contrast to the pure electronics of my 2014 input-looped SP808 and mixer board.

So, without revisiting, and with only a vague memory of the original 2014 recording, I entered the studio in January of 2024, almost ten years to the day, and recorded "RUZAWI" in a single take. I then layered this recording with my original, without any edits or manipulation. This is the work presented now. (Lee Noyes)

Lee Noyes は1977年生まれ、カナダ出身で現在はスウェーデンに住む音楽家。Lance Austin Olsen は1943年生まれ、カナダの画家 / 音楽家。ふたりは10年以上にわたりコラボレーションを続ける仲であり、Olsen のグラフィック・スコアをよく演奏してきた。2023年晩秋、Noyes は Olsen から新たにグラフィック・スコアの2作品を受け取る。Noyes はどうアプローチするか熟慮の後、翌年2024年1月のある晩、InputLoop サンプラーとパーカッションを使って両作の録音を一気におこなった。こうして、演者である Noyes も作曲家の Olsen も非常に満足のいく演奏を収めた、ふたつのアルバムが生まれることとなった。

『RUZAWI』は、Lance Austin Olsen が2011年に作曲。1枚のテキストと1枚の絵から成るスコアを、Lee Noyes は44分30秒かけて演奏している。本CDにはその1曲を収録。Noyes の筆による英文ライナー・ノート付き。