pop_and_all2

FO A RM Projects, in collaboration with and/OAR and Alluvial
Recordings, is pleased to present this 80 minute collection of
sound works, newly remastered and accompanied by
extensive notes by the composer.

Over the last 40 years, Serbian radio-art composer and film
director Arsenije Jovanović has developed a deeply personal
style of sound art for radio broadcast. His compositions are
imbued with natural environments and human-centered
activities. They feel rooted in place - whether real, imaginary,
remembered or dreamed. Weaving voices, instruments, field
recordings and manipulated sound, Jovanović creates vivid
narratives without a story. He takes full advantage of sound’s
capability for seamless morphing and far-flung association.

1. Prayer For One Galiola (1967)
2. Tombstones Along The Roadside (1967)
3. Prophecy Of The Village Kremna* (1990)
4. Les Vents Du Camargu (2000)

*Portions of this piece were used in "The Thin Red Line",
a film directed by Terrence Malick.

Comes packaged in a digipak with 12 page booklet.

Read more at the a/O blog.

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BIO:

Theatre, radio and television director, born in Belgrade, Serbia
1932.

Writer and audio-art author, university professor - he taught
acting at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade until the start
of the war in ex-Yugoslavia.

Fulbright scholar and visiting professor at State University of
New York at Albany.

For eleven years, he was theatre director in The National
Theatre in Belgrade, later artistic director of The Bitef Theatre
(Theatre in the Church), directing plays for theatres both in
former-Yugoslavia and abroad (Sheffield in England, Sofia in
Bulgaria, Albany in USA).

Author of different sound installations - was in Berlin as a part
of SFB participation at Sonambiente event.

Initiator of a sound workshop at Kunstradio (ÖRF, Wien).

Initiator of a sound workshop at Media Arts Center at the
University of Sydney 1999, participating sound workshops in
Finland (Oulu and Helsinki), and Denmark (Faeroe Islands).

Founder of the Adriatic Sound Factory, a moving sound
laboratory settled for the time being in Rovinj in Istria, Croatia.

AWARDS:

Apart from awards in his home country (formerly Yugoslavia,
now Serbia), Arsa Jovanovic received the following:

- Prix Italia in the category of stereo work for "Tombstones
Along The Roadside" (Venice, 1971)

- Prix Italia For "Resava Cave" (Venice, 1977)

- Premio Ondas for "Resava cave" (Barcelona, Spain, 1978)

- Premio Ondas for "Along The Long Long Street" together with
Ms. Neda Depolo (Barcelona, SPAIN)

- WDR Acustica International for "Faunophonia Balcanica"
(Cologne, 1990.)

- Finalist award for "Homo Politikus Vulgaris" with P. Siren and
A. Walligorska at New York Radio Art Festival (New York, 1992.)

- First prize for "Concerto Grosso Balcanico", International
Radio Festival in Rust (Austria)

- Grand prix Radio France International with Ilinka Colic for "La
parata" (Palmares, France, 1997)

VITAL WEEKLY (NUMBER 631 JUNE, 2008)

The name Arsenije Jovanovic I heard before and perhaps even
his music - vaguely I remember a CD for La Legende Des Voix
- but somehow, somewhere it didn't really stick in my mind. He
creates music, film and writes books. I have no idea which is
his most well-known side, but the four pieces on this CD might
serve as an introduction to his work with music, through pieces
composed for radio. That previous La Legende Des Voix CD is
no longer available, so this may bring new interest to his work,
like me, I guess. Two old works from 1967, one from 1990 and
one from 2000. There is of course a slight problem with this,
which is that the texts are sung or spoken in Serbian or
Croatian (is there a difference?), which makes it hard to follow
what it is about, and that seems to be a bit of a problem with
pieces of music in which texts are important. I thought that
'Tombstones Along The Roadside' sounded like a religious
work, with the chanting of monks, but then I read in the booklet
that its about the tombstones of soldiers who died in the Balkan
wars in the 19th century (this is a 1967 piece). However
listening to this I'd say it's hardly a problem, since sound-wise
this is all great stuff. Jovanovic creates very imaginative pieces
of sound - that transports the listener to another world - using
field recordings and lots of voices in the older pieces. The later
pieces are instrumental and have still a great power. Here the
mind wanders out further and can freely make associations
with the music on offer. Like I said, I heard of this composer
before, but never could pin him down to something - now I can
think and I think its great. (Frans De Waard)