ANTARCTICA EXPERIENCED
THROUGH MUSIC
Capsule Comments on CDs
about Antarctica
Valmar Kurol (2009)
NOTE: This valuable resource is kindly provided
by Valmar Kurol (Montreal Antarctic Society/Societe Antarctique de Montreal).
Valmar Kurol can be reached directly at mtl.ant.soc@sympatico.ca
Launched: 27 May 2004. Last Updated: 19 February 2006; 9 December 2006; 7 July 2007; 15
July 2007; 5 January 2008; 3 August 2008; 15 February 2009.
There is no other music like the toneless
music of millions of years of accumulated silence, through which come bars of
unearthly colours. There is no
need for ears to hear the fugues played on this ice organ. Here nature has set aside for man a
domain of beauty and inspiration such as he cannot know elsewhere on this planet
- Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd (The National Geographic Magazine, Oct. 1947).
In his 1986 treatise, The Ice - A Journey to
Antarctica,
American author and history professor Stephen Pyne argues that traditional
fiction could not find enough material in the Antarctic experience or the
Antarctic environment to construct typical novels. The range of potential experiences was much smaller than
elsewhere, the opportunity for surprise much less. Modernist literature was more inclined to follow Joseph Conrad
into the Heart of Darkness than to pursue Robert Scott into the Antarctics
Heart of Whiteness. Instead the
Antarctic has been largely a wasteland for imaginative literature.
If one substitutes music for fiction/literature, the above comments may be just as
appropriate. The visual and
spiritual superlatives of Antarctica are now frequently expressed through
photographs, movies and coffee table books but to a lesser extent through
music. What kinds of tunes and
rhythms does the seventh continent inspire? Is there an Antarctic sound? Whatever the answers to these questions, it seems that there
is a scarcity of Antarctic-themed music for those with an appetite for it. The classical repertoire appears to be
minimal and it is the pop artists who have been making more Antarctic musical
noises, in some cases literally.
While earlier songs may have focused on urging listeners to keep the
continent pristine, much of the current crop seems to hold Antarctica as a
mirror/metaphor for the coldness and isolation people feel in their day to day
lives.
The following is a consumers guide to recorded
music that I have found over the past fifteen years, now mainly through the
Internet. There are very few
themed discs devoted entirely to Antarctica, but there are now many CDs with
individual songs entitled Antarctica or about The Ice. While this site is meant to be a listing and not a critical
or sociological discussion of the music, there are occasional commentaries,
which stand to be corrected or debated, as well as comments by some artists
about their tracks. A few
non-music CDs have been included for their Antarctic content (theatre,
recitation, comedy routines) but CD audio books have been excluded, with one exception
where the material was considered to be noteworthy.
The amount of music being made about Antarctica
seems to be increasing in recent years due to:
1) the relative ease of visiting Antarctica,
through tourist cruises, for direct inspiration;
2) the establishment of Artists and Writers
programs by governments of countries with bases in Antarctica, which provide
financial, logistical and promotional support;
3) the increasing focus on the continent
(particularly now because of the widescale interest in global warming);
4) the ease of composing and recording music
with consumer oriented software and digital instruments and 5) the increased
possibilities of finding a worldwide audience and marketplace through the
Internet with personal web sites or download/distribution sites with digital files,
without the need of CDs.
Of course, none of this guarantees that
interesting, popular or quality music will be made. To return to the questions at the beginning of this
introduction, (What kinds of tunes and rhythms does the seventh continent inspire? Is there an Antarctic sound?), based on
this discography, the answer is, its everything and anything people bring from
their own varied backgrounds. The
music listed herein includes the beautiful, inspirational, comical, harsh and
discordant to the outright boring.
Finally, many thanks to all the composers and
performers who have taken the time to provide comments about the reasons and
inspirations for their Antarctic-themed music. This has greatly helped to animate the discography. Any additions to the music listing are
welcome. – Valmar Kurol,
Montreal, Quebec, Canada (mtl.ant.soc@sympatico.ca)
**************************************************************************************
Classical Antarctica: Ralph Vaughan Williams
SINFONIA ANTARTICA (Seventh Symphony) by Ralph Vaughan Williams.
Perhaps you have seen the vintage 1949 film Scott
of the Antarctic. The background music, by one of
Britains greatest 20th century composers, was later arranged into
his Seventh Symphony, which premiered in 1953 and is still considered to be the
mother of all recorded Antarctic music.
The scoring includes a wind machine and conveys the struggle and
desolation of Robert Scotts final journey. It is a dark, deep, dreary and depressing work, not to be played
on a Walkman or iPod on an exercise bike.
There are many recorded versions and listeners may find their individual
tastes and preferences among the various issues.
The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestras recording
of this work in 1998 with conductor Kees Bakels, on the budget-priced NAXOS
label, is a real bargain at a third of the price of some of the more expensive
ones. The booklet notes are
informative but why, oh, why feature a cover photo of Greenlanders hunting in
the ice, when this is supposed to be the South? Naxos 8.550737
The second release in 1998 of this classic
Antarctic music, performed by the Hall Orchestra, conducted by Sir John
Barbirolli, is no spring penguin. The full symphony was premired in January
1953 by Barbirolli and the present performance was recorded in June 1953. This reissue on CD is now the oldest of
the eleven performances of the Symphony currently available on disc.
The issued performances are:
1.
Sir
John Barbirolli, Hall Orchestra (Manchester), recorded June 1953; 1998 EMI 7243 5 665434 2 7
2.
Kees
Bakels, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, recorded September 1996; 1998 NAXOS
8.550737
3.
Andrew
Davis, BBC Symphony Orchestra, recorded March 1996; 1997 TELDEC 0630-13139-2
4.
Andr
Previn, London Symphony Orchestra, recorded 1968; 1995 BMG/RCA 74321 29248;
also issued as 1985 BMG 60590-2-RG
5.
Raymond
Leppard, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, recorded March 1992; 1993 KOSS
Classics KC - 2214
6.
Leonard
Slatkin, Philharmonia Orchestra, recorded June & November 1991, November
1992; 1993 BMG 09026-61195-2 (this release has been discontinued)
7.
A)
Adrian Boult, London Philharmonic Orchestra, recorded November 1969; 1991 EMI
Classics CDM 7 64020 2
B) Boults original mono recording by the same orchestra in December 1953 was reissued in a collection of Vaughan Williams symphonies in 2002; Decca 4732412. Also issued in 1989 as Decca/London 425 157-2
8.
Vernon
Handley, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, recorded April 1990; 1991 EMI
Eminence CDM 7 64034 2; the same
performance is also available on a Classics for Pleasure compilation (2002) EMI 7243 5 75313
2 0
9.
Bryden
Thomson, London Symphony Orchestra, recorded June 1989; 1989 Chandos CHAN 8796
10.
Bernard
Haitink, London Philharmonic Orchestra, recorded 1985; 1986 EMI CDC 7 47516 2
THE FILM MUSIC OF RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS
Volume I (2002)
What may be Vaughan Williams best film score,
the music for Scott of the Antarctic, released in 1949, is now presented as a whole
for the first time on CD. In the
film, less than half of the original score was used; many of the movements
played on this CD were shortened for the film and have not been heard in full,
others were not used at all.
Vaughan Williams later reworked the film score into the Sinfonia Antartica
(7th Symphony), which still remains the standard for classical
Antarctic symphonic music today.
The 41-minute suite on this CD contains all the
music composed for the film over eighteen separately titled themes, nearly as
long as the full symphony. It is a
treat to hear the never-before-heard themes and music, which has, dare we say
it, been frozen and iced over for more than 50 years. The suite was played by the BBC Philharmonic under Rumon
Gamba. Chandos Chan 10007
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS - SYMPHONY NO. 6/ FILM
MUSIC (2000)
Vaughan Williams classic 1953 Sinfonia
Antartica (7th Symphony) was developed from the soundtrack music of
the British Ealing Studios 1949 film Scott of the Antarctic. The present CD of Vaughan Williams film music may be the
first to present the original film music in disc format. The seven short pieces (totalling eight
minutes), played by The Philharmonia Orchestra in 1948, conducted by Ernest
Irving, were first issued on a 78 rpm record and represent various key scenes
from the movie and most of them are recognizable in the later full symphony
movements. Pearl GEM 0107 www.pavilionrecords.com; The same pieces were also released on
another Pearl compilation, BRITISH FILM MUSIC Volume 1 (2000), which has a cover photo of a sun blaring over a
typical Antarctic coastal scene of mountains and pack ice. Pearl GEM 0100.
**************************************************************************************
Other Classical Antarctica:
ON COURSE by Laurie Altman (2008)
Laurie Altman is an assistant professor of
music at Westminster Choir College of Rider University in Princeton, New
Jersey. He has received many
classical commissions for compositions and has performed as a jazz artist in
numerous clubs and events worldwide.
This CD is a compilation of his compositions dating from 1985 and
contains the 13-minute, 3-part Suite, Three Antarctic Songs for Baritone and
Piano, which
includes the tracks On Course, Within Limitless Space and Does an Emperor Penguin Meditate.
The baritone is Elem Eley, with Laurie Altman at the piano. The second piece is the
5½-minute On Course for Instrumental Octet, which includes flutes, clarinet,
piano vibraphone, violin, maracas and conductor. Laurie told us that the Antarctic pieces found their
inspiration from a trip that my wife and I took to Antarctica in February of
2006. The CD contains two On
Course Pieces: An instrumental Octet
and a setting of three Antarctic poems of mine for Baritone and Piano.
There were numerous other pieces that emerged as a result of that trip as well.
According to the liner notes for Three
Antarctic Songs, I
became haunted with trying to find a sound that would take me closer to the
emptiness, the vastness, the color and pristine stillness of that place. (Wide
spacings; few clusters; a joining of some – ancient and new). The two outer pieces of the set, On
Course and Does
an Emperor Penguin Meditate are short and relatively straightforward in their presentation. Within Limitless Space truly attempts to capture the
emptiness and vastness to which I alluded earlier. The three falsetto insertions were almost like a voice,
Shackletons perhaps, speaking (da lontano) from the sea, a faint ember, seemingly to
nowhere. On Course, the instrumental octet, is the
most overtly programmatic work on the CD.
It is to be heard with the breeze in your face, fourteen knots of speed
underfoot, all attended by weather, ship motion and the natural elements of
light, birds, ice and seals all around.
Structural content is almost song-like: AABCA with an intense and
dramatic ostinato mantra carrying the piece and its players forward and On
Course. It is for me a tone
painting, a work of color and vibrancy, never wavering in both its intensity
and relentlessness. The cover
photograph of misty blue-grey pancake sea ice was taken by Lauries wife,
Jeannine Hummel, on this 2006 trip with National Geographic.
Lyrics for On Course, about being in the Drake Passage:
The thrust, the push forward,Steady, Port Ten, Starboard Five, pitch and
roll, a wave, the hint of a breeze, Midships, getting there, vacuous
space. Waiting, observing, fingers
chilled, tears, the wind, frigid, unremitting, Steady, the sky, grey, painted
on, sculpted, an Albatross alone in search of, diving, drifting, Port Ten,
Seals floating, the thrust, the push breathless, surrounded all sides, water
spraying, Starboard Five, everything moving, Steady, forward, getting
there, fleeting, head wind, getting there, the thrust, the push, getting there,
forward, forever, On Course. On Course.
Lyrics for Within Limitless Space, about being in the Weddell Sea:
Within limitless space, an ice field blue, white and grey. Four a.m., a sky, textured, tufted with
light shards. Pin pricks, crystals
expanding, rolling, compressed, broken, blue, a Petrel in flight, seemingly, to
nowhere. Within limitless space,
The weight of an iceberg, below itself, rolling, calving breaking apart, the
eye sees beginning, limitless space to be filled (a music score), the
horizon. A Chinstrap Penguin,
floating sideways, seemingly, to nowhere.
In a turn a mountain broken off, something larger, before the sea,
yielding to nothing but itself. A
lone Weddell Seal, asleep, awakens to space, limitless (no less tomorrow than
today). Warmed by the sun deep in
a dive, seemingly, to nowhere.
Lyrics for Does an Emperor Penguin
Meditate?, on Booth
Island: Thirty five days, molting, tall upon snow and ice, frigid, a
promontory, wind, fifty knots, barely, a quiver. Determined, elemental proof of something so unique, a way of
being. Do you question As you
wait. Do you Dear Penguin, ever
Meditate?
Albany Records TROY1041; www.albanyrecords.com;
www.lauriealtman.com
MUSIC FROM SEVEN CONTINENTS Vol. 3 by the Cincinnati Boychoir (2008)
Founded in 1965, the Cincinnati Boychoir, directed by Randall Wolfe, gives numerous local subscription concerts and has performed with the Vienna Boys Choir, symphony orchestras, and gives concerts for community organizations as well as touring internationally. Their latest CD includes four song tracks related to the seventh continent, Southward, The Maids Lament and The Ice King by Gerald S. Doorly and Humpback Whales by Wendy Mae Chambers. The Morning was the relief ship sent to resupply Robert Scotts Discovery Expedition of 1901-04 and during its 1902 voyage to Antarctica, the third officer, Lieut. Gerald Doorly, a talented pianist and entertainer, and the chief engineer, J.D. Morrison, as lyricist, collaborated on a collection of songs that were performed during musical evenings on the ships piano, accompanied by riotous noisemaking. More in the vein of Victorian parlour songs than sea shanties, the songs were published in 1943, apparently in a very tame version of the originals. Wendy Mae Chambers is a New Jersey-based pianist and composer who travelled to the Antarctic Peninsula in 1999 and recorded a solo piano CD ANTARCTICA SUITE, which included Humpback Whales. Randall Wolfe told us that in concert The boys make sounds of whales and dolphins (and can imitate the sounds remarkably well), while some boys pour water from one plastic pitcher into another and also back and forth between plastic glasses, while other boys make bubble sounds with their lips. We ask the audience to close their eyes and imagine travelling underwater to Antarctica. The boys love this music! www.cincinnatiboychoir.org; (see also THE SONGS of the MORNING: a Musical Sketch by G. S. Doorly (2002) in this section below and also ANTARCTICA SUITE by Wendy Mae Chambers (1999) in the following Non-Classical, all or significantly Antarctic commentary.)
STRING THEORY and CINEMATIC WINGS (both 2007) by Jeffrey
Gold (Web site download only)
Gold, based in Utah, is a multi-talented film producer, composer,
playwright and university film/theatre educator. From an early start as a published physicist and
mathematician, while still an undergraduate, his films, compositions and plays
have premired in both the U.S. and Britain
and won many awards. His
collection of instrumentals on String Theory includes the tracks Shackleton (Theme) and Shackleton (South Georgia Island). Cinematic
Wings has Shackletons Return and Antarctica by Air. All of these are
beautiful, lush, majestic pieces with rich symphonic strings. Jeffrey told us that The
motivation for the tracks is the inspiration that Antarctica alone generates. There are people drawn to Antarctica
for reasons they do not understand; I am one of those people. I suppose it is the pristine serenity
and Shackletons adventure is the best survival story in existence. www.jeffreygold.com
SHADOW DANCES - GUITAR MUSIC BY NIGEL
WESTLAKE - Played
by Slava Grigoryan (2006)
Australian Grigoryan (a native of Kazakhstan)
recorded this performance of fellow Australian Nigel Westlakes Antarctica
– Suite for Guitar and Orchestra in 2004 with the Melbourne Symphony
Orchestra. The guitar concerto was
completed in 1992 and had its origin from his soundtrack to the IMAX film of
the same name. The four movements,
totalling 23 minutes on this CD, rework musical ideas from the film, as well as
developing others not included in it.
The four tracks are The Last Place on Earth, Wooden Ships, Penguin Ballet and The Ice Core – Finale. ABC Classics 476 5744; www.rimshot.com.au (Nigel
Westlakes web site)
PLANET EARTH - Music from the BBC TV Series – music composed and conducted
by George Fenton (2006)
BBCs massive 11-part television documentary
about the earths various and extreme habitats goes from pole to pole and
oceans to mountains. The ICE
WORLDS instalment
includes the following lavish symphonic themes performed by the BBC Concert
Orchestra: Discovering Antarctica, The Humpbacks Bubblenet, Everything
Leaves but the Emperors, The disappearing Sea Ice, Lost in the Storm. EMI
0946 381891 2 1; www.bbc.co.uk/nature/animals/planetearth
JOURNEYS by Young Voices of Melbourne (2005)
Young Voices of Melbourne is an Australian choir, founded in 1990, by its director, Mark OLeary. With 130 singers between 6 and 18 years of age, it has traveled internationally and is committed to the performance of new Australian music. One of the tracks on this disc is the 6½ minute Shackleton, for 3-part voices and piano, by the Sydney, Australia composer and performer Paul Jarman. The piece is from his song cycle Turn on the Open Sea, which pays tribute to the adventurers of the sea. It was commissioned for the Sydney Childrens Choir in 2001. According to the liner notes, The triumphant story of Sir Ernest Shackletons Endurance expedition to the Antarctic in 1914 has become one of the popular tales of modern exploration. Against all odds, Shackleton and his men survived a two-year ordeal, trapped without a ship, during a freezing winter in the most remote and unexplored region of the globe. Thanks to intuitive leadership and incredible persistence, Shackleton not only returned to Europe, but did so without losing a single crew member. The impossible boat journey across the great Southern Ocean in the 20-foot James Caird, and the successful navigation of South Georgia remains the greatest quest in the annals of the sea. On returning to England, several of the crew enlisted to fight on the red fields of Flanders, and within weeks, two men perished in battle. The song is a very beautiful hymn to the irony of their return – simple, elegant and one of our favourite Antarctic melodies. Lyrics are:
Old
man, looking out to the sea, This time hes leaving, Windswept hair and strong
old bones, Now gently fading no longer sailing.
Oh many
years ago, can you remember? The
haunting cry of a ship that drowned, Beneath the ice floe of the Weddell Sea.
Times
were hard, but we made it over, Made it over, they wonder why, Through the
cold, but we made it over, Made it over, theyll never know.
Two
years trapped in the southern sea, Far from our homeland, Roaring waves and
wailing winds, May well defeat us, but hopes were high. Oh please tell me why, were most
forgotten, Far away from a world at war, Who needs a hero, Who needs to know?
Times
were hard, but we made it over, Made it over, they wonder why, Through the
cold, but we made it over, Made it over, theyll never know. Why, why, did we have to come home to
war? Why, why, why? Try, try, tell
me what are we fighting for? Try, try, try.
Then,
on the red fields of Flanders, All men were fallen, A bloody war, fought on
every shore, Brought pain and sorrow to a sailing man.
But I
still hear the steam whistle blowing, Twas the day of wonders, Frozen tears
and heartfelt cheers, Never forgotten, We made it over.
Times
were hard, but we made it over, Made it over, they wonder why, Through the
cold, but we made it over, Made it over, theyll never know.
Why,
why, did we have to come home to war?
Why, why, why? Try, try,
tell me what are we fighting for?
Try, try, try.
Why,
why, did we have to come home to war?
Why, why why? Try, try tell
me what are we fighting for? Try,
try, try.
We made
it over! We made it over! YVMCD006; www.yvm.com.au
(See also NEW
LIGHT NEW HOPE by Gondwana Voices (2003), referenced below in this section.)
ANTARCTICA by Elizabeth Brown (2005)
Elizabeth Brown, a New York (Brooklyn)-based composer and
flautist, is a 2007 Guggenheim Fellowship recipient and has composed for
various commissions. One of
her pieces is Antarctica, a 7-minute
alto flute solo with prerecorded sound accompaniment. While it has not been released on CD, Elizabeth provided a
recorded copy of her performance of it.
The flute seems an ideal instrument to convey ethereal Antarctic
impressions and the background instruments, windscapes, breathing and vocalizations
provide some great atmospherics. In 2008 Elizabeth provided us with her program notes for her
composition: During the winter of 2004-05, Sara Wheelers book Terra
Incognita: Travels in Antarctica was my
bedtime reading. I started to
dream about Antarctica, and this music was born in those dreams. I chose alto flute because of its range
and timbre, and the taped portion consists of natural sounds recorded in my
Brooklyn studio. Antarctica was commissioned by Patti Monson, who premiered it
on July 16th, 2005, at the Bang on a Can Summer Institute at Mass MoCA. www.elizabethbrowncomposer.com
MARCH OF THE PENGUINS Original Score by Alex Wurman (2005)
Whether a cynical marketing ploy or a desire
for cultural adaptation, the English version of this French film has serious
narration by Morgan Freeman and a studio orchestra playing a pleasant New Age
soundtrack by composer Wurman.
There are titles such as The Harshest Place on Earth (played on not so harsh-sounding
harps, flutes and tinkling piano), and other musical excursions such as Walk
Not Alone, The
March, Walk
Through Darkness, First
Steps and Arrival
at the Sea. The soundtrack sounds great with the
film but as a self-contained listening experience is a bit too sweet to convey
convincingly the harsh Antarctic home of the Emperor penguins. The film became a huge hit,
particularly for a documentary and the English version won the Oscar for best
documentary feature film of 2005.
Milan M2-36131; www.marchofthepenguins.com; (See also LA
MARCHE DE LEMPEREUR by Emilie Simon (2005) in the following Non-Classical, all or
significantly Antarctic commentary.)
AMSTERDAM – Brass Band
Music of the Netherlands (2005)
This CD of tracks from various
composers, played by the accomplished Provinciale Brassband Groningen,
conducted by Siemen Hoekstra, includes Antarctica, by Carl Wittrock, a Dutch composer and conductor (b. 1966). The liner notes explain that Carl
Wittrock became inspired by huge ice fields surrounding the south pole. Colorful and majestic sounds provide
the composition with a fascinating view of this 6th
continent. This composition
is a free impression of the spectacular scenery in the Antarctic. Melodies are linked together to convey
the various aspects of the landscape.
These melodies together with their simple harmonic accompaniments make
this work pleasant for both the listener and the musician. Carl told us in 2007 that The main reason was the
impressive nature. It is very
beautiful, but also untouchable and dangerous. The composition was made as a sort of movie music without
movie. Gobelin Records
05.002; www.gobelinmusic.com
INTRODUCING THE FANFARE BAND - Fanfarekorps Koninklijke Landmacht (2003)
The same piece of music, Antarctica, by Carl Wittrock, is also on this Dutch compilation CD of brass band music by the Royal Netherlands Army (FKKL) Fanfare Band, conducted by Jan Nellestijn. Gobelin Records 03.001 & 03.002; www.gobelinmusic.com
ANTARCTICA - Johan Willem Friso Kapel (unknown date)
Carl Wittrocks Antarctica, also appeared on another brass band compilation
disc of the same name, now discontinued, conducted by Gert Jansen. CD not verified.
THE HAROUN SONGBOOK - CHARLES WUORINEN SERIES by Charles Wuorinen (2004)
This is a collection of excerpts
from Wuorinens opera Haroun and the Sea of Stories, which is based on author Salman Rushdies 1990
childrens book of the same name.
Rushdie wrote the book as a fable and allegory after the well publicized
fatwa that led to his life of escape underground. The story revolves around a professional story teller who
loses his gift of gab. His son
then goes on adventures to return his fathers livelihood. The music on the CD, for four singers
(soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor and bass-baritone) and piano accompaniment, was
written by Charles Wuorinen, an acclaimed modernist composer, pianist and
conductor who was the youngest composer to win the Pulitzer Prize in music in
1970. The lyrics are by English
poet and journalist James Fenton.
One of the adventures is a polar trip with the short track To
the South Pole. Sample lyrics: Its getting even colder And the waters are
losing their colour. Were going
the right way! We can tell! Before it was filthy! Now its Hell!...You can stop a
cheque. You can stop a leak or
three. You can stop traffic, but
You cant stop me. To the South
Pole. Full speed ahead to the
South PoleTo the South PoleThese are the waters of neglect. These are the seas of disgrace. Give me a year and I expect I could
clean this place. Albany Records
TROY664; www.charleswuorinen.com
MIRRORS OF FIRE - Australian Guitar
Originals - Played
by Tim Kain (2004)
Australian Kain, together with the Tasmanian
Symphony Orchestra, perform (in 1997) Nigel Westlakes Antarctica - Suite
for Guitar and Orchestra, a 22-minute guitar concerto completed in 1992 that had its origin from
his soundtrack to the IMAX film of the same name. In four movements, it reworks musical ideas from the film as
well as developing others not included in it. Tall Poppies TP169; www.tallpoppies.net
The same recording of Antarctica - Suite for
Guitar and Orchestra,
with Tim Kain, is included in OUT OF THE BLUE (2004), a compilation of three works by
Westlake, performed by the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, conducted by David
Porcelijn. ABC Classics ABC 462
017-2; www.rimshot.com.au
MUSIC FROM SEVEN CONTINENTS Vol. 2 by the Cincinnati Boychoir (2004)
Founded in 1965, the Cincinnati Boychoir,
directed by Randall Wolfe, gives numerous local subscription concerts and has
performed with the Vienna Boys Choir, symphony orchestras, and gives concerts
for community organizations as well as touring internationally. The CD includes four lively song tracks
about the seventh continent, Antarctica, Penguins, Exploring and Memories. Texts
were by Bill Manhire (a New Zealand university professor and poet), from the
Book of Job and from the writings of Antarctic explorers Apsley Cherry-Garrard
and Ernest Shackleton, with music composed by Carlton Young, an American
professor, editor and composer of sacred music. Mr. Young told us that I've been fascinated with the subject since childhood, e.g., the
explorations of Richard Byrd. My
recent interest in Antarctic explorers and explorations began in 1999 with my
visit to the Antarctic Museum in Christchurch,
New Zealand. Cincinnati Boychoir
programs had featured six of the continents, but
not Antarctica. I agreed to
compose a setting, and Mr. Randall Wolfe, Choir Director, suggested some texts,
which I supplemented with my own research online
and in the standard bibliography, particularly
the biographies. www.cincinnatiboychoir.org
NEW LIGHT NEW HOPE by Gondwana Voices (2003)
Gondwana Voices is Australias
national childrens choir, for ages 10 to 16, established in 1997 by artistic director/conductor
Lyn Williams to perform new and traditional music, which showcases the country
and its peoples. It has traveled
internationally and is committed to commissioning works from Australian composers. One of the tracks on this disc is the
5½ minute Shackleton, a very
moving, beautiful song by the Sydney, Australia composer and performer Paul
Jarman. The performance by choir
and piano is especially enriched by the accompaniment of a string section. The piece is from his song cycle Turn
on the Open Sea, which pays tribute to the
adventurers of the sea. It was
commissioned for the Sydney Childrens Choir in 2001. It is a bittersweet tale of the survival Sir Ernest
Shackletons Endurance Expeditions Antarctic expeditioners and their return to
a world still at war. On this
disc, the conductor is also Mark OLeary, who is the founder and director of
another Australian childrens choir, Young Voices of Melbourne, which performed
the same piece on one of their CDs.
Australian Broadcasting Corporation ABC 472 822-2; www.gondwanavoices.com.au
(See
also JOURNEYS by Young Voices of Melbourne (2005), referenced above in this
section.)
ANTARCTICA - NHK Television 50th Anniversary Nankyoku Project (2003)
NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation), Japans sole public broadcaster, commemorated the 50th anniversary of TV broadcasting in Japan in 2003 by establishing an HDTV broadcasting station in Antarctica in 2003. Located at Syowa Station, Japans base, this was Antarcticas first such station and the first time a film crew stayed there for more than a year. 153 live programs were made, including the showing of a solar eclipse, distributed to the Discovery Channel in North America, auroras and natural scenery. The commemorative CD (Japan Version) contains some very melodic orchestral tracks, accompanied by various exotic Oriental musical instruments plus a jazzy solo guitar track, conducted by Yoko Matsuo. Titles include Horizon, White Wind, Dry Valleys, Silence and Dawn. As we havent seen the TV programs, its not easy to relate the very pastoral-sounding CD music by itself to the Antarctic, without the visuals. Toshiba-EMI Ltd. Eastworld TOCT-25014
ICESCAPE FOR ORCHESTRA by Chris Cree Brown (2002)
Chris Cree Brown is the Director (Academic) of
the School of Music and Senior Lecturer at University of Canterbury,
Christchurch, New Zealand, as well as the composer of a variety of music. The
16-minute work resulted from a trip to Antarctica in 1999, supported by the
Artists to Antarctica programme of the New Zealand Antarctic Institute
(Antarctica New Zealand). His
first work produced under this programme was UNDER EREBUS (2000), a 15 minute electroacoustic
piece, that according to the liner notes was an attempt to create an
expressive work of sonic art that reflects my personal interpretation of the
environment of Antarctica and my experiences there. The range of sounds includes walking on snow, skuas, radio
communications, wind, seals, penguins and a whiteout. Other Antarctic compositions by Chris include Circulus
Antarcticus, a
dance commission with Bronwyn Judge, a choreographer who went down to The Ice
as part of the 2000 Artists to Antarctica programme and Antarctic Heart, music to go with a video by the
sculptor Virginia King, who was the other artist to travel to Antarctica in
1999 under the Artists to Antarctica programme. www.music.canterbury.ac.nz/CCBrownlink/chrispers.htm
MUSIC FOR THE SCOTIA CENTENARY (2002)
The 1902 Scottish National Antarctic Expedition under William Bruce was a successful, but today under heralded, two-year voyage of discovery during which Coats Land, along the Weddell Sea, was discovered. The expedition was also the first to use a motion picture camera in Antarctica as well as the first to document the use of bagpipes to serenade emperor penguins (by Gilbert Kerr). To celebrate the centenary of this expedition, The Royal Scottish Geographical Society, The Royal Scottish Country Dance Society, the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland, B.B.C. Enterprises and piper Ian MacInnes collaborated to produce this CD.
The first half of the disc
consists of seven traditional Scottish country dance tunes with titles such as Antarctica
Bound, The Ice Cap, The Piper and the Penguin played by Neil Barron and his Scottish Dance
Band. The main event, however, is
a 24-minute orchestral suite, South,
by Dundee composer Gordon McPherson, played by the National Youth Orchestra of
Scotland, conducted by Nicolae Moldoveanu. It was commissioned by the orchestra, the Royal Scottish
Geographical Society and supported by the Scottish Arts Council and has now
been performed internationally.
From an appropriately windy opening through some jangly, icy
dissonances, this performance can take a proud place amongst the very few
recorded orchestral pieces that have attempted to portray the moody, icy
seventh continent. RSCDS CD032; www.rsgs.org
THE SONGS of the MORNING: a Musical Sketch by G. S. Doorly (2002)
The Morning was the relief ship sent to resupply Robert
Scotts Discovery
Expedition of 1901-04. During the Mornings 1902 voyage to Antarctica, the
third officer, Lieut. Gerald Doorly, a talented pianist and entertainer, and
the chief engineer, J.D. Morrison, as lyricist, collaborated on a collection of
songs that were performed during musical evenings on the ships piano,
accompanied by riotous noisemaking.
More in the vein of Victorian parlour songs than sea shanties, the songs
were published in 1943, apparently in a very tame version of the
originals.
The present hearty and robust recording was
undertaken as a Discovery centennial project and the Chorus contains all the adult male
descendants of Gerald Doorly, along with professional colleagues and interested
friends. The CD booklet includes
the lyrics and words of the spoken passages between songs. All royalties from the sale are to be
divided between the Dundee Heritage Trust and the New Zealand Antarctic
Heritage Trust for their work on the original Expeditions historic artefacts. Reardon Publishing; www.reardon.co.uk
INTO UNCHARTED SEAS by John Hearne (2001)
John Hearne, a British
composer/singer/conductor based in Scotland, was commissioned by Dundee
Orchestral Society to write an overture to commemorate the centenary of the
launching in Dundee of Robert Scotts Antarctic ship RRS Discovery in 1901. The ship itself has been preserved in Dundee, whose Symphony
Orchestra premired the 13-minute piece in 2001. It is a dramatic and undulating score,
portraying the rough and tumble of the seas the ship must have sailed through
in its long voyages. Although the
piece has not apparently been released commercially on CD, we are grateful to
John Hearne and Scottish Music Centre for making it available to us. www.scottishmusiccentre.com
SEA STAR by Martin Kiszko (music) and Anne Ridler
(words) 2001
Martin Kiszko, of Polish-British origin, is a
Bristol, UK-based composer who has orchestrated scores for over 200 films and
TV productions, including works for the BBC and ITV. Anne Ridler (1912-2001) was an editor and librettist,
considered to be Britains leading female poet. Sea Star is a 27-minute choral-orchestral work, performed by
the Spiritual Sounds Festival Orchestra & Choir at Clifton Cathedral
(Bristol) and conducted by David Ogden.
The composer-orchestrator, Martin Kiszko, told
us: The cantata was inspired by an Antarctic
voyage I made in 2001 as well as from the desire to write a work about
humankinds journey from the sea to space. While the words were completed first, the score remained
incomplete for several years and the liner notes explain that A turning point
for the musical birth of Sea Star came
in 2001 when I visited Antarctica.
For the first time many of the images that Anne had created in the poem
were experienced first hand: ice covered worlds, floes and hummocks, the
stillness or energy of the sea, the vast sky; the slow bubbling of ice thawing
and cracking or the sound of ice shelves calving into the sea causing waves to
break against the shore. Sea
Stars first tutti orchestral chord,
followed by the ebb and flow of gentle strings represent the first beats heard
and the aftermath of such a calving in the Antarctic panorama. Other sections of the score aim to
emulate the pattern of the landscape – the textures of snow and ice, the
sky and changing light – these images assisted the interpretation of the
text. Sea Star is a journey of even greater proportions than my Antarctic
expedition. It travels from the
depths of the oceans with its nascent aquatic life-forms, through land and sky
to the far reaches of space where other waterworlds exist in the icecaps of
Mars and ice-belts of Saturn. As
the characters in the text ascend these levels, it is as if they are on a quest
to understand their destiny.
Anne
Ridlers text for the icy, Antarctic-influenced section of the cantata,
subtitled The Earth, follows:
But
while ice covers your world, You do not wake. Cowled in darkness, Uttermost
depth of sleep. Ice built of water – water built into solids, Condensed
to crystal, unique in all the moving worlds, Yet cousin to other
constellations: Ice moons, ice planets, plunging comets. You do not wakeCowled
in darkness, Uttermost depth of sleep. On the surface, a dazzling whiteness;
Journeying inward, multiple rings of ice terrains; Floes and hummocks,
pinnacles, bastions, Fractured and folded.
Martins
web site also mentions that during his 2001 Antarctic trip, he composed,
performed and claimed a world first by for a spoof Antarctic National Anthem
(someone had to do it!) As to a
recording of it, Martin advised us that As for the Antarctic National Anthem
– this is a spoof piece recorded in Antarctica on video and not available
Im afraid. HOXA HS 2052-LE; www.martinkiszko.com
SHACKLETONS ANTARCTIC ADVENTURE –
Original Giant Motion Picture Soundtrack Composed by Sam Cardon (2001)
Cardon is an American Emmy award-winning
composer, who also worked on a 2002 Winter Olympics project. The IMAX films superb opening iceberg
panorama is not to be missed, and the juxtaposition of historic photos of the
Endurance Expedition with the present-day recreation flows seamlessly
throughout this first-class film.
The film score, played by the Northwest Sinfonia, conducted by Kurt
Bestor, provides a variety of music: majestic orchestral themes, marching band
music, melancholic Celtic pipes, fiddles, banjos and a Hovhanessque horn solo,
reflective of the era and the activities the music portrays. Musical tracks include, among others, Wintering
in the Pack, Hope
and Survival, Into
the Unknown/A Stern Night, A Grim Landfall and On to South Georgia. A more informative
liner/booklet with notes about the music, the Endurance and filming expeditions
would have been a welcome inclusion with the CD. WGBH Music (BMI)/ White Mountain Films Music JR74222
SHACKLETON – Original Score by Adrian Johnston (2001)
This was a two-part four-hour TV dramatization
of Shackletons Endurance Expedition, directed by Charles Sturridge and
featuring the prominent British actor Kenneth Branagh in the title role. Although said to be thoroughly
researched, the film received some criticism for spending too long on the
pre-Expedition details and not nearly enough time on The Ice, Elephant Island,
South Georgia or the final rescue.
The attractive orchestral sound track by British composer Johnston is
performed on CD by the Philharmonia Orchestra, conducted by Terry Davies. Track titles portray scenes such as Sighting
Ice, Locked in
the Ice, Antarctic
Night, Five
Miles a Day, Sighting
Land and Cracking
Ice. Channel 4 Music C4M00172
SIR PETER MAXWELL DAVIES
Of special interest to classicists, the British
Antarctic Survey and the London Philharmonia Orchestra commissioned prolific
British composer Sir Peter Maxwell Davies to compose an Antarctic Symphony, his 8th Symphony, for its premire in May 2001. In 1997-98 Sir Peter spent three weeks
at Britains Rothera Base on the Antarctic Peninsula experiencing life
there. The BAS said, Through this
commission we hope to raise awareness of Antarctica as a unique scientific
laboratory among people whose interests normally lie within the Arts. In turn we at BAS very much look
forward to learning more about the world of serious music. Sir Peters eloquent Antarctic diary is
available at his web site and a CD recording and/or downloading of the symphony
is also available at www.maxopus.com. The
41-minute recording by the Bremen Philharmonic Orchestra in 2003 provides a
range of sounds from dissonances to melodic passages, reflecting the composers
impressions and observations of his trip.
A stylistically similar companion piece, the
21-minute High on the Slopes of Terror, was composed in 1999 for the National
Association of Youth Orchestras and was the first musical work resulting from
Sir Peters Antarctic trip. The
title refers to the extinct volcano on Ross Island near McMurdo Sound, Mt.
Terror and the virtuoso work was recorded in 2001 by the UKs Chethams
Symphony Orchestra, the youth orchestra of Chethams School of Music. This piece is also available for
download or on CD from Sir Peters web site at www.maxopus.com (site unavailable at this
revision date).
LULIE the ICEBERG - Music by Jeffrey Stock, Story by
Her Imperial Highness Princess Hisako of Takamado of Japan (1999)
Based on the Princess childrens book, written
after she saw a lone iceberg drifting off Greenland, the magical tale centers
around a quest for the origins and destiny of life as seen through the eyes of
an innocent and very brave iceberg, Lulie, as he embarks on a courageous ocean
journey between the Arctic and the Antarctic, the two oldest living continents
on the planet. One of the
movements is entitled South Pole.
Recorded at Carnegie Hall, the performance is
narrated by Sam Waterston and the musicians include the Orchestra of St.
Lukes, Betty Baisch's Choral Associates, Yo-Yo Ma (cello), Pamela Frank
(violin) and Paul Winter (saxophone).
This CD is hard to miss with the colourful
iceberg, emperor penguins and humpback whales on the cover. Produced in co-operation with UNICEF
and Icebridge, a forum of scientists and educators dedicated to the promotion
of knowledge about the polar regions and the oceans. Sony Classical SK 61665
ON THE LAST FRONTIER by Einojuhani Rautavaara (1999)
This Finnish classical composer has become well
known to North American audiences in recent years, particularly for his
haunting 1972 Cantus Arcticus, an ode to the land of the Arctic Circle. On the Last Frontier (A Fantasy for Chorus and Orchestra,
1997) is based on
the composer's interest, going back to childhood, in Edgar Allan Poes The
Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym. Published in 1837, this
novella about Pym and a group of sailors marooned on a tropical island at the
South Pole with a race of savages is considered to be seminal in Antarctic
fiction and has spawned numerous like-minded stories. As Rautavaara approached his 70th year, he took
the book's closing plot and developed his own rich musical themes of imagined
lands not yet explored. Ondine ODE
921-2
WALKING WITH DINOSAURS - Music from the BBC
TV Series -
composed by Benjamin Bartlett (1999)
The BBC Concert Orchestra takes us back in time
to the Mesozoic era when dinosaurs ruled the land. The soundtrack includes the rather short Spirits of the
Ice Forest which
explores the exotic woodland Antarctic - mirrored by a romantic theme tinged
with Hispanic harmony and the peaceful Antarctic Spring. BBC Music 7243 523458 2 3
2000 TODAY - a World Symphony for the
Millennium -
composed and conducted by Tan Dun (1999)
An international consortium of television
broadcasters commissioned this dynamic musical mosaic for a millennium satellite
transmission. The music presents a
combination of classical western instrumentation including the BBC Concert
Orchestra, choirs, soloists, world instruments and chants to capture the
poetic spirit of the worlds regions.
Included is the percussive Antarctica.
Sony Classical SK 61529
LUBOMR BRABEC PLAYS BACH IN ANTARCTICA by Lubomr Brabec (1997)
The CD title is somewhat misleading as this
music was recorded in the Czech Republic; however, the liner notes indicate
that classical guitarist Brabec performed these works on his 1997 trip to
Antarctica on board a Greenpeace ship and at one of the bases. Just as Antarctica was unknown, not to
mention unvisited, in J. S. Bachs day, Bach himself was only known to a narrow
group of connoisseurs. I think
there are certain parallels: the grandeur, monumental beauty and power of
Bachs music, and the mysterious fascination and power of this mystic continent
that belongs to no-one and yet everyone.
In both these entities, Antarctica and Bachs oeuvre, we can sense the
presence of something transcendent, something that goes beyond us. It was to the greater glory of this
principle, God, that Bach wrote this music.
Brabec may be on to something here, as we await
someone to lug a grand piano or bring a brass band to the shores of Antarctica
for what might truly be the first professional recording of a musical
performance on the continent.
Supraphon SU 3338-2 131
FROM AUSTRALIA – John Williams, guitar (1994)
This CD of world premire recordings by
Australian composers includes Antarctica - Suite for Guitar and Orchestra by Australian Nigel Westlake. Westlake wrote the score for the IMAX
film Antarctica and
later reworked
it into this longer 1992 guitar concerto in four movements. Highlights are the stately Wooden
Ships and a
shimmering piece called Penguin Ballet, which captures emperor penguins frolicking
beneath the ice. Sony Classical
SK53 361
ANTARCTIC SYMPHONY – various composers (1993)
This CD is a compilation by the Australian
Broadcasting Corporation of existing older, non-Antarctic classical music,
interspersed with the actual sounds of Antarctic wildlife and human activities
on The Ice, in an effort to evoke a feeling of Antarctica. The music includes pieces by Vivaldi,
Durufl, Boccherini, Roussel, Sibelius and Nielsen. The non-musical interludes include a
kitchen sink of sounds of penguins, seals, petrels, skuas, katabatic winds,
huskies, ships moving in ice, helicopters and radio room/flight operation
conversations.
According to the liner notes, Antarctica is a
wilderness most people have some idea of, though very few have been there. Perhaps Australians are more aware;
Antarctica is closer to us, though still very inaccessible. We have a national responsibility for
part of it, and part is a very large area indeed. Many of us will know someone who has been there, maybe even
someone whose life was changed by spending time there. The race to the South Pole, lost to
Amundsen by Scott and his party, the drawn out suffering and human loss as they
tried to return – these are among the Australian epics, tales to children
and remembered by adults.
The makers of this record havent visited
Antarctica, though they received the sound recordings from people who
have. For us, the sound effects
were the introduction to the Antarctic world. As on the previous discs in this series, the idea is to
appeal to the aural imagination, stimulating it with music and natural sounds,
together and side by side.
The first paradox we found was that Antarctica
seemed to demand the inclusion of some human sounds. In our other wildernesses, bush and sea, music provided the
humanising element. In ANTARCTIC
SYMPHONY there are
even more bird and animal presences than in Sea Symphony, but the sounds
captured on tape constantly remind the listener that any human presence is a
struggle against the elements. We
have introduced human voices for the first time, so that we can wonder that
people are there at all.
Symphony mainly implies music from the
European tradition. The sounds,
rather than the music in this series, evoke the landscape, but it is no
accident that music which can live with Antarctica was composed close to the
northern, Arctic wastes
Paradox No. 2: the trackless wastes of ice and
snow seemed to call for a wider, not a narrower range of music and musical
emotions. A strange environment,
so that strange music is not out of place, like Boccherinis startling
eighteenth century phantasms of a Spanish city by night. Humour, from the dogs and their bluff
handlers, releases an energy and directness typical of the music of Roussel,
the ships officer turned composer.
The seasons in Antarctica, we imagine, could hardly be like those of
Vivaldis Venice, but his music, matching a poem describing an icy winter scene,
seems right as our soundscape approaches the great southernmost
continent ABC
Music/Phonogram/Polygram 514 639-2
ANTARCTICA - The Film Music, composed by Nigel Westlake (1992)
The 37-minute CD of the score of the IMAX film Antarctica has thirteen mostly short
orchestral tracks of various themes portrayed in the movie, four of which were
developed into the previously mentioned guitar concerto. The CD is well played and recorded and
the music, conducted by Carl Vine, conveys the dramatics of its theme
titles. Tall Poppies TP012; www.tallpoppies.net;
www.rimshot.com.au
TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH - Original
Soundtrack Recording
- music composed and conducted by John Scott (1988)
This is the soundtrack for the William
Kronick-produced, written and directed documentary film about The Transglobe
Expedition, led by Ranulph Fiennes.
Over a three-year period ending in 1982, the team circumnavigated the
globe along its polar axis from North to South Poles, being the first to do
so. The orchestral music is a
pleasant listening journey and the Antarctic tracks include the titles Shackleton, Reaching Antarctica, On to the
South Pole and The
Scott Tragedy. Prometheus PCD102
**************************************************************************************
Non-Classical, all Antarctic or with
significant Antarctic content:
GEEK DREAMS by the Primate Fiasco (2008)
Massachusetts-based Primate Fiasco is a
Dixieland/pop music band with clarinet, tuba, banjo and other instruments. Their fun-time CD includes a poke at
global warming with the track Global Warming. Sample
lyrics: You can blame it on your tail pipe at the end of the world, but I know
why its getting hot in here. I
blame global warming on that girlI blame global warming on the girl who gave
no warning that her smile in the morning would make the sun forget its
way. Admitting that they have a
crush, the polar caps begin to blush.
The ocean stalks her closer every day.) Another track is titled South Pole and the Pyramids. Sample lyrics: All I have is the sunrise on the beach. The South Pole and the Pyramids are all
within reach. All I have is the
history of Rome and the sense to know when Im home. I got signs to read and a brain to feed and thats all I
need. Dave DelloRusso, the bands
main composer, guitarist/banjo player and a vocalist has a great interest in
the unexplained mysteries of the world.
He told us that the cryptic lyrics have to do with my own crazy
theories about the history of humanity, past and future. Those who carry the same knowledge and
theories tend to pick up on it. www.theprimatefiasco.com
SERVE CHILLED by Medwyn Goodall and Tim Rock (2008)
Cornwall, U.K.-based Goodall is a prolific master New Age
composer, musician and producer of thematic CDs. According to the liner notes, his latest melodic work is
inspired by a unique environment under threat from global warmingthe CD also
incorporates the actual atmospheres of snowstorms, ice caves and under a frozen
sea. The sounds of penguins,
whales and seals weave in and out of the music as it takes you across a white
world. The CD liner has a great
photo of a sinister looking, weather-sculpted iceberg as well as penguins and
seals on icy shorelines. MG Music
MGCD105; www.mgmusic.ltd.uk
ANTARCTIC SONGBOOK by Ian Tamblyn (2008)
Ian Tamblyn is a veteran Ottawa-area musician,
playwright and educator/guide on nature cruise ships, who has made trips to
both the Arctic and Antarctic regions.
During the 2007-08 Students on Ice Expedition to the Antarctic
Peninsula, which included about 64 international students and 25
educators/chaperones, Tamblyn was the team minstrel. He told us that the songs were written for the most part on
the expedition, with a few from his previous CDs. These songs are a tribute to Antarctica and according to the
liner notes, added a whole new way of understanding, appreciating and
digesting everything we were experiencing. Most of the students had them memorized before we returned
to South America! And now we have
this CD as a lasting memory, gift and legacy for the International Polar Year
and our incredible journey of discovery to the bottom of the world. The tracks of melodic, acoustical
folk-rock include such titles as Paradise Bay, Albatross, Gentoo Penguin, With the Whales-Deception Island and The Emperors. Students on Ice is a Gatineau, Qubec-based award-winning
program led by Geoff Green, dedicated
to providing high school and university youth with educational expeditions
to the Arctic and Antarctic regions, accompanies by world-class teams of
scientists, environmentalists and other specialists. ITCD-2008; www.tamblyn.com; www.studentsonice.com; (See also ANGELS
SHARE (2004) and THE
BODY NEEDS TO TRAVEL (1997)
by Ian Tamblyn in the following Individual Antarctic songs commentary.)
ELEGI FOR ROALD AMUNDSEN by Hornorkesteret (2008)
(Web site download only)
This anniversary tribute collection
to polar hero Roald Amundsen may well be one of the most original and unusual
recorded musical portrayals of an Antarctic theme. Jonas M. Qvale is the founder and a member of Norwegian
group Hornorkesteret, formed in 1999 as an experimental art project, which has
played in concert halls, museums, in the woods, on mountaintops and contributed
to films and theatre. He told us
that I run a band called Hornorkesteret, The Norwegian Polar Orchestra,
and we play soundscapes and experimental music on stringed reindeer antlers,
stones, drums flutes, logs, ice, coffee percolators and other things. Our main musical concern is the forces
of nature, and in particular how they are expressed in the Polar Regions. We have also been very inspired by
polar exploration and the period from 1860-1920, when the last white areas on
the globe were charted and conquered.
We also find inspiration in the animals of the Polar Regions and their
struggle to survive.
By amplifying the reindeer
antlers with contact microphones, we are able to get a range of unusual sounds -
from the underwater calls of Arctic and Antarctic animals like walrus, seals,
various whales and penguins to creaking ship hulls, ice floes, ice shelves
breaking off and howling winds.
We have just released an MP3 single commemorating the 80 years since polar hero Roald Amundsen disappeared in the Arctic with the seaplane Latham 47. The title track, Elegi for Roald Amundsen features the vocals of another great Norwegian polar hero, Fridtjof Nansen, taken from his speech at Amundsens funeral. Two other tracks related to Amundsen are included on this release, Mot Sydpolen (Towards the South Pole), an imagined soundtrack to the trek towards the Pole in 1911, and Mandolin Under et Vindu (Mandolin Under a Window), which looks at Amundsens youth and his early determination to make a name for himself in the Polar regions. Finally, a live version of the title track is included, recorded at the memorial monument at Amundsens birthplace in Borge, Norway at a memorial ceremony on the 18th of June 2008, complete with birdsong and rustling leaves.
Towards the South Pole is a wonder of feral squawks, bleats and percussion, underlain by a menacing bass and as marching music might be more than adequate to encourage anyone to trek to the Pole and back. www.hornorkesteret.no; www.myspace.com/hornorkesteret
An off-shoot project began in
2001 with Hornorkesteret recordings that were inadequate due to technical and
other sound problems. These were
organized along with material from other electronical sound sources under the
cultural sharing network ORIGAMI ANTARKTIKA. According to their
website, the goal is to freeze down, time-stretch, to punctuate or blur these
sounds. To submerge everything in
the black waters of Lake Vostok, perhaps never to come back, perhaps to become
new soundscapes one day. The low
activity of this unit is due to extremely cold temperatures. When things are frozen, the atoms dont
die or stop moving, they just slow waaaay down. www.myspace.com/origamiantarktika
ANTARCTIC by Mac Lauren (undated)
(Web site download only)
Mac Lauren, from Hobart, Tasmania is an Australian singer-songwriter who has travelled his native land, designed and built green power units and been an electrical contractor. He overwintered in Antarctica and produced three songs from his experiences for his web site. Peace of Mind is a relaxing guitar/harmonica instrumental. The other two tracks are sung in a husky baritone and are very expressive of the strong emotions of beauty and longing brought out by The Ice. Lyrics to Antarctic: And the beauty of it all becomes clear, as we draw near. South of here theres an ocean as wide as any known. Grey mountains marching endlessly, the albatross above surfs the air, fortune we share. Antarctic, the beauty of silence, land of the storm. Lift off the deck into a perfect sky, perfect sky. Once around the ship and were climbing high. Around the horizon cathedrals float in a frozen sea. I recall her icy breath over me. Antarctic, the beauty of silence, land of the storm. Antarctic, the beauty of silence, land of the storm.
Lyrics to Return to Australia: : Where have you been, long lost son? Finally, spring has come. Stretch the days. Draw the life, back to this land, this
land of ice. Why does a world so
cold, bring fire to the soul? This
line on the map in the mess, reading daily, sailing south southwest. Moving an inch a day, slowly and surely
coming our way. Red ship is in the
bay. Stand by to R.T.A. Ill never leave you cold. Ill warm your heart and soul. Im tired of loving over the
phone. Im meant to hold you. Im coming home. Red ship is in the bay. Im on for R.T.A. Ill never leave you cold. Ill warm your heart and soul, your
heart and soul. Red ship is in the
bay. Stand by to R.T.A. Were coming home. www.maclaurenmusic.com
ANTARCTICA SUITE by Hunter Johnson
(2007) (Web site download only)
Hunter Johnson is a
California-based musician who grew up in Southeast Asia and moved to Portland,
Oregon for his high school years.
He has worked independently as an artist and producer for musical
projects and for television. This
downloadable suite of 13 melodic, instrumental synthesizer pieces began as musical
impressions for the paintings and photographs of the visual artist, J. J.
LHeureux, also based in California.
LHeureux has visited the continent five times and has been an Antarctic
expedition artist with Quark Expeditions.
The themed track titles will be familiar to any Antarctic visitor and
include Wilderness Theme, Encounter with Sea & Ice, All Ice Melts, Penguins in
Paradise Bay, Frozen Rivers, Walk to the Rookery, Dawn Down Iceberg Alley, White Wilderness, Lemaire Passage, Ice Caps Melting, Crossing the Circle and Zodiac
Exploration. In late 2007, Johnson
accompanied LHeureux and a Swiss filmmaker on board the Golden Fleece, a
65-foot motor sloop, which circumnavigated South Georgia, and is composing
background music for the video adventure.
www.hunterjohnsonmusic.com;
www.jjlheureux.com; www.penguinspirit.com
ANTARCTICA by Gill de la tourette (2007) (Web site
download only)
De la tourette (Steven Tevels) is a Belgian
native and electronica artist. His
39-minute, 6-track Antarctica is a bleak, minimalist ambient work and according to the web site is a concept CD dedicated to the experimental pioneers who
discovered and explored Antarctica...The first impressions of an untouched
mighty new land. Extreme circumstances,
never ending icy winds, random noisy silence, white absolute monochrome
landscapes, hunger, cold, no daylight in winter, the suffering, tiredness and
isolation...An audiosonic story, a melodic journey through a world of dissected
and strangely reassembled tones. On
first listen, these soundscapes could easily sound like a stuttering mess, but
give it time and the stutters become a string orchestra and the glitches become
the delicate sound of a glockenspiel
ca080; www.clinicalarchives.blogspot.com;
www.myspace.com/gilldelatourette
ANTARCTICA by Metamorfrozen (2007) (Web site download only)
This
dynamic 80-minute ambient work, containing 10 instrumental tracks, on a Polish
net label dedicated to industrial, dark ambient, power electronica and
experimental music, is especially for all explorers of Polar landscapes. Titles include Metamorformation, Polar Plateau, Snow
Petrels Over the Pole, Diamond Dust, Dark Days Under Mount Terror, Aurora Australis,
Subglacial Lakes, Winds Over the
Cold Emptiness, Ice-o-lation and Mountains of Madness. No
information on the artist in the Web site. KEMn53; www.kaos-ex-machina.pl/promotions
ENDURANCE by Irezumi (2007)
Irezumi is a former techno artist, based in
France, who has created an album of richly desolate ambient music based on
Shackletons Endurance Expedition.
Haunting voiceovers on several of the tracks add to the imagined reality
of the drama on ice, water and land, as portrayed in the music. A six panel digipak of bleak black and
white photos, of what looks like Frank Hurleys photographs of South Georgian
mountains and glaciers, adds to the listening experience. As to the reason for the CD, a
representative of the record label told us that, Irezumi read some
stuff about Shackleton, I think he also saw some documentaries. And it was enough for him to make an
album. Snowblood Snow01; www.myspace.com/irezumimusic
TILL ANTARCTICA by Elisa Korenne (2007)
Till Antarctica may well be the catchiest, upbeat, cant-get-it-out-of-your-head Antarctic tune weve come across. Its the theme song for the play Antarctica, which was written by Carolyn Raship and premired at the New York City Fringe Festival in 2007. The play is about two schoolgirls who meet at school and plan to go to Antarctica to find the magnetic South Pole. Elisa Korenne is a New York-based singer/composer with numerous songwriting awards to her credit. While the song has not yet been commercially issued on a CD, we are eager to see take its rightful place as one of the greats of recorded Antarctic tunes. A song sample may be heard on the myspace website listed below. Sample lyrics: Blue ice may freeze our feet, Blubbers all there is to eat, Im with youNo matter where you want to go, Ill stay by your side, you know, Ill see it through, Ill stay with you, Till Antarctica. If penguins steal our sleeping bags, You break your legs on the icy crags, Im with you. The wind could wail loud and cold, Snow blindness could take hold, Im with you, Im with you. Elisa told us that I haven't been to Antarctica (the only continent I haven't been to!) and I hear it's incredible. My images of Antarctica come from a variety of sources. Mainly, they come from the text of the play itself. The song was almost an accident. I was at a writing retreat trying to write a musical, and I was procrastinating. I read the play, and figured I ought to at least write a song based on it as a fun exercise if I wasn't going to be writing my musical. The other places my images come from are photographs I've seen of my friend kayaking the Arctic and photographs of the Endurance journey in Antarctica. www.elisakorenne.com; www.myspace.com/antarcticatheplay
ANTARCTICA
- Nature Recordings by Global Journey
(2007)
Global
Journey is a music, audio and video programming and distribution firm,
dedicated to many and various lifestyle and nature themes, with offices in the
U.K. and U.S. Its CDs are composed
and performed by professional musicians and artists and the firm specializes in
non mainstream markets. The Antarctica CD is a 51-minute presentation of wind, pounding water,
storms and various wildlife sounds.
According to the liner notes Antarctica is a place of such raw beauty and
unspoilt landscapes, a stunning wilderness of great importance. The polar experience is one of awe
inspiring imagery from the Southern Lights (Aurora Australis) and
whale-watching to the amazing penguin colonies and the glacial configurations. Global Journey CD GJ3715;
www.global-journey.com
ANTARCTICA - A Portrait in Wildlife and
Natural Sound
(2007)
Originally released on LP in 1971, this
48-minute British CD is a collection of 16 tracks of natural Antarctic sounds,
including penguins, seals, birds, ice movement, blizzard, spring, rough seas
and huskies. It was recorded over
1969-70 and produced by the then British Antarctic Survey
meteorologist/filmmaker and later author, Edwin Mickleburgh. He has provided an extensive liner
booklet with copious notes about the nature and wildlife of each recorded
scene. Saydisc CD-SDL219; www.saydisc.com
ICE – PIANO SLIGHTLY CHILLED (2007) by Fiona Joy Hawkins; ANGEL
ABOVE MY PIANO by Fiona
Joy Hawkins (2006)
Fiona Joy is an Australian painter and pianist
whose 2006 CD of romantic New Age piano presents a suite of Antarctic
Interludes, which
includes Crystal Desert, Dance of the Penguins, Flight of the Albatross and Angel Above My Piano. Her 2007 CD, with added percussion and accompaniment,
contains Antarctic Wings, a perkier sounding reprise of Flight of the Albatross from her 2006 disc, as well as Snow
Bird, a vocal
version of the same piece. She told us, I went out of New
Zealand and into Hobart, Australia on an Orion Expedition Cruise (2005) -
we went to the Antarctic Continent – most boats only go from South
America to the Peninsula. I
believe that less than six boats go there each year – we went to the
lowest latitude you can sail to. The
boat was fantastic and had two pianos on board – thus I could write as I
looked out the window. As I am a conceptual writer, I need subject
matter, and Antarctica is perfect to write music about. In my mind I captured what it is like,
I hope other people agree – I guess its always something personal. I have to be
honest, there were several places I went that I could hear no music whatsoever
– it was simply too desolate and there was too much hardship (Scotts
Hut) – but the beauty of the ocean, the glaciers, the sunset, the
mountains and the wildlife were irresistible to write about. Fionas Antarctic video clips,
including scenes of her playing the piano on the ship, have appeared on www.youtube.com (use Penguin Whisperer in the
search box). Little Hartley Music
FJH002 (2006 disc) and FJH003 (2007 disc); www.fionajoyhawkins.com;
www.littlehartleymusic.com
ANTARCTICA SONGS by The Aquatic Ape Theory (2006) (Web site
download only)
TAAT is the alter ego of San Diego-based Jim
Behrens. This collection of folksy
roots rock was recorded at the Australian Antarctic base, Davis Station and
mixed onboard the supply ship RSV Aurora Australis. Tracks include White White (sample lyrics: White white, everywhere you
look is white, Sunlight comin up from below. My face is turning red, its time for me to go to bed and
dream of dreams of home. Ive been
puttin in my time of workin on the line, and in this strange empty place
filled with snow, day turns to night, someone forgot to turn off the lights.),
Sun Dogs, Amery, Vegemite and In a Tent (In a blizzard).
We asked Jim in 2008 about the background of
his music and he provided the following remarkable biography: I am a
geophysicist, and was fortunate enough to spend two summer seasons working in
Antarctica as a post-doc at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. I made a website during my second
season (2006-07) where you can learn about the project and day-to-day life in
the Antarctic: http://loose-tooth.ucsd.edu. At the top of the science page there
is a link to a YouTube video I put together that gives a good summary as
well. On the links page there is
a link to photographs from the 2005-06 season, when the songs were written and
recorded.
I brought my guitar and harmonicas, along with a bare-bones recording rig, during that first season, 2005-06. I spent two solid months living in tents on the Amery Ice Shelf as part of a 6-person field team, which is when I wrote the songs and lyrics. We were collecting seismic data by laying out geophone arrays and setting off small charges of dynamite, to measure the thickness of the ice and the depth of the seawater beneath us. One of the women in the team (Marianne Okal) was a classically-trained violinist, she brought a mandolin which she played wonderfully, and we wrote the music to Amery together, and she wrote her part for Sun Dogs. The album cover photo is a timed self-portrait of us posing in front of the midnight sun out on the ice shelf. We spent the final month of the season based back at Davis Station, where I stayed up late many nights to record the tracks in an empty room in the science building. The hard walls and high ceiling created a nice natural reverb. There is a band hut at Davis as well, and there were a surprising number of musicians down there that season. I set up and recorded the drum tracks in the hut one afternoon, after most everything else had been recorded to a click track. I played all the instruments except for some of the mandolin parts. I mixed the songs during the two-week icebreaker transit back to Hobart, Tasmania, and sent them off to get mastered once I returned to California.
The lyrics for White White, Sun Dogs, and Amery are my interpretations of and meditations on life on the ice shelf: being so far from home and spending the holidays with a small group of relative strangers; the overwhelming beauty, remoteness, and hostility of the environment; the interpersonal conflicts as well as the camaraderie; the mental and physical strain that accumulated over two months out there. I came up with the bridge for White White while on a long snowmobile transit one fine morning. The line sun dogs, halos, iridescent rainbows refers to the unusual atmospheric optical effects that occur in the cold, clean air down there. One night when I got out of my tent around 2 am and a low fog had settled on the ice shelf, there were sun dogs projected into the fog that looked to be about 10 meters away from my face. Astonishing. Vegemite is about me learning to love the stuff. The expedition was run by the Australian Antarctic Division, and so there was an endless supply of Vegemite. I wrote that one in about 10 minutes, and recorded the guitar and vocals on the first take. In aTent (In a Blizzard) is actually two overlapping ambient sound recordings, made with the internal mic on my laptop, in two different tents on successive nights during a week-long blizzard. I had intended to record some spare, simple guitar to go with it, but ran out of time. I brought gear down again for the second season, but it was shorter, and when I was at Davis Station I had many more opportunities to get out on long multi-day hikes in the local area, which I couldnt pass up. I made time for music as well, but was mostly jamming with the other musicians at the base, and never really got any substantial recording done.
Well thats probably more that
you wanted to know, but its not often that someone asks me about the music I
make, which is my true passion in life. I always travel with at least a guitar,
and am always writing songs as I go. I got about halfway through a proper
album earlier this year, but had to put it on hold – Ive been at sea in
the Arctic now since May, but all the background noise on a ship makes it a bad
place to record. Anyway, Ill be back home soon, and back to my studio
with new songs in my head. www.jimbo.cc
HELLO ANTARCTICA by Max Marlow and Ma5kin3 (2006)
(Web site download only)
Max Marlow is a German electronic musician
whose 26-minute Hello Antarctica suite of five ambient tracks contains some
appropriately sinister, icy themes that would be ideal background soundtracks
for a creepy movie involving escapes through deep glaciers, crevasses and
underground caverns. Metro024; www.retropublik.net;
www.myspace.com/maxmarlow
THE COLDEST PLACE ON EARTH by Green Bean Music (2006)
Green Bean, based in Evanston, Illinois was
formed in 2002 by teacher Bill Corrough and songwriter/producer Ryan Bassler to
create enjoyable musical productions for students, teachers and parents. Their web sites says that, Kids want
to hear and sing songs that their big brothers and sisters listen to, not songs
that sound like what adults think they like. There are twelve musicals in their CD catalogue and this is
a great one, about Antarctica, with the tracks The Coldest Place on Earth, Race to the Pole, Ice Formations, Antarctic Penguins, and Which Way is North. The up-beat songs are in three sets, with the first
performed by Green Bean, the second has vocals by a group of children and the
third has instrumentals only, for a sing along. The performance package also includes a data disc with the lyrics,
music, spoken parts for the musical presentation and additional information
about Antarctica with Web site references. Ryan told us that, Our music company has been writing
2-3 musicals a year, and one of the recurring themes has been the Continents,
so Antarctica was bound to happen sometime. Probably one of the only times you'll hear 200 kids singing
about Ernest Shackleton. Polyholiday Records phcdr206; www.greenbeanmusic.com
BLOODY SEA by Merzbow (2006)
Merzbow is a Japanese experimental electronic
music project begun by Masami Akita in 1979. Alone or with numerous collaborators, he has released
numerous CDs as well as books and articles about subcultures and recently,
animal rights. Music may be a
generous description of his abstract synthesizer mosaics, which might otherwise
be described as noise. The present
CD is a three-part Anti-Whaling Song, which may take more than three listenings to
absorb. The sound is harsh and
difficult to listen to, in keeping with the harsh, bloody and unpleasant topic.
The CD cover notes present a strident polemic
against so-called Japanese scientific whaling in the Antarctic, which begins: In November, 2006, the Japanese whaling fleet will set sail
for the icy waters of Antarctica.
Their target - 50 Humpback Whales, 50 Fin Whales and almost l000 Minke
Whales. In the next l6 years,
unless this obscene scientific whaling program, known as JARPA 2, is stopped,
the Japanese whaling fleet will slaughter l7,000 Minke Whales, 800 Humpbacks
and 800 Fin Whales. The murder of
these beautiful creatures spells the end of the global moratorium on the
killing of whales as Japans so-called scientific whaling is nothing more
than a commercial killing operation.
The Japanese Government subsidises its whaling industry with thousands
of dollars each year. Japanese
warehouses are piled high with mountains of unused whale meat. School children are given whale
hamburgers and sausages in an attempt to turn them on to eating whale meat. The truth is that the market for whale
meat in Japan is almost non-existent.
Yet still the Japanese Government pursues its deadly agenda of turning
the worlds oceans into a slaughterhouse for whales. Old whalers who worked in Antarctica in the fifties, when
thousands and thousands of whales were killed, cannot wipe the memories of the
hideous slaughter from their minds..
Tell
your family, friends, workmates that the whales will die unless we, the people
act. There is legal action which
can be taken to stop the slaughter.
There is hope. Miracles can
happen, but we must create the magic.
The whales demand no less.
The great mind in the waters is calling on caring humans to ensure their
survival. This call is nothing
less than the crossroads of our humanity, our survival. Do it! VIVO2006022CD; www.merzbow.net
DARK ADVENTURE RADIO THEATRE PRESENTS H. P.
LOVECRAFTS AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS (2006)
The H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society (of
Glendale, California) has adapted one of Lovecrafts best regarded stories in
the form of a spooky 75 minute radio play in the way it might have been
produced in the 1930s. If you ever
thought that early life oozed out of a tropical Antarctica, then this is for
you. The story, originally written
in 1931, appeared as a serialized edition in Astounding Stories in 1936 and was published as a
novella in 1939. Byrd-era
Antarctic technology is combined with unbounded sci-fi imagination in a
university Antarctic expedition gone wrong. Despite the exaggerated imagery, this classic story asks a
good question – how far should science go for the sake of curiosity? It concludes that some things are
better left unsaid. www.cthulhulives.org
HP LOVECRAFT was also the name of a 1960s
eclectic Chicago and later Marin County, California folk rock/ psychedelic
band, which issued two records in 1967 and 1968. Both were issued as a CD package in 2000 and the second, HP
LOVECRAFT II (1968)
contains the track At the Mountains of Madness.
Apparently about a bad acid trip, no Antarctic content is discernible,
despite the notable title.
Collectors Choice Music 314542821-2; www.collectorschoicemusic.com
HAPPY FEET - Music from the Motion Picture (2006)
The Warner Bros. film about Mumbles, the
Antarctic penguin who cant sing but can tap dance up a storm became an early
box office success and won the Oscar for best animated feature film of
2006. The recycled dance music of
the soundtrack is sung by many currently hip singers but unfortunately there
was no apparent attempt here to create fresh music that would be Antarctic in
lyrics or mood. Warner
Sunset/Atlantic CD83998; www.happyfeetmovie.com
ANTARCTIC JOURNAL – Original
Soundtrack composed
by Kenji Kawai (2005)
South Korean director Yim Pil-Sung has made an
Antarctic mystery and psychological thriller about six expeditioners crossing
the continent. After they find a
journal from another expedition that disappeared 80 years ago, turmoil and
terror abound. The soundtrack is
pretty bleak and bare, likely matching the mood of the film, which has not yet
caught any publicity in North America.
Sony Music Direct (Japan) Inc. MHCP 840
ANTARCTICA - Musical Images from the Frozen
Continent by Craig
Vear (2005)
Vear, a British electro-acoustic composer and
musician, won an Arts Council England Fellowship, in conjunction with the
British Antarctic Surveys Artists and Writers Programme, to spend three months
over 2003/04 on British bases in the Antarctic Peninsula area. The result was the multi-media Antarctica, which includes a small book of his
diaries and other commentaries, a CD of recorded Antarctic wildlife sounds, ice
breaking and glacial melting, and a DVD.
The DVD includes an electro-acoustic composition comprised of original
field recordings of wildlife, mechanical and human sounds, portraying the
interactions of the people with their environments. Enlighten Entertainment Ltd.; www.ev2.co.uk
LA MARCHE DE LEMPEREUR by Emilie Simon (2005)
This is the soundtrack for the French film of
the same name by Luc Jacquet (English title: March of the Penguins), a soaring
flockumentary about the harsh frozen world of Emperor penguins. The original French version of the film
has actors cutely voicing penguins while the English version has narration by
Morgan Freeman and a different soundtrack. The original French film music, by Simon, a French singer
and instrumentalist, is in an electropop New Age style with English vocals,
reminiscent of Icelandic singer Bjrk.
Some of the song titles include The Frozen World, Antarctic, Baby Penguins, Aurora Australis. All is White, Footprints in the Snow. Barclay 9827008.
There is also a version of this disc with the English title MARCH OF
THE EMPRESS (2005) Milan
M2-36276; (See also
MARCH OF THE PENGUINS Original Score by Alex Wurman (2005) in the preceding Classical Antarctica
commentary.)
VOICES OF HISTORY 2 - Arts, Science &
Exploration (2005)
In this second set of vocal recordings of
famous people from the British Library Sound Archive, there is a 3.48 minute
recitation by Ernest Shackleton titled A description of the dash for the
South Pole,
originally recorded on June 23, 1909 according to the liner notes. Another source has listed a recording
date of March 30, 1910; however, this may be a release date. Shackleton very briefly outlines the
British Antarctic (Nimrod) Expedition of 1907-09, which he led and which was
the first to scale Mount Erebus and send men to the South Magnetic Pole. Shackleton and three others came within
112 miles of the South Pole itself, before conditions made them turn back. He ends with a quote from the Canadian
northern poet, Robert Service. The
recitation was originally recorded on Edison Amberol Record cylinder 473,
reportedly later also released as Victor Record 55096B, Victor 70014 and
Gramophone Co. D377. British
Library NSACD 19-20; www.bl.uk/soundarchive
HIDDEN LANDSCAPE: LAKE VOSTOK by various artists (2004)
Eight Australian musicians have each
contributed a track of ambient music in this disc dedicated to Antarcticas
largest subglacial lake. It is
located under more than two miles of ice and believed to be up to 15 million
years old. The water in the lake,
from the melting of the underside of the ice sheet, may be up to one million
years old. The dark toned music on
the disc, while not a bubbly listening experience, captures well, the timeless
and languid nature of water hidden over frozen eons of time. These would be great soundtracks for
cinema. Track titles include some
very descriptive themes: Silent Voices of the Extremophiles-Bright Steel
Blind Waters, Under
a Blue Sun, Atlantis
Blueprints and Beneath
the Lake-Subatomic Movements. The 72-minute CD was
compiled by Australian ambient musician and promoter Zac Keiller and includes
one of his own pieces, Beyond the Ice-Submergence-Exploration. He told us in 2008 that I was watching a documentary
on Lake Vostok one day and the idea of the lake inspired my imagination. I thought that the premise would lend
itself to some fascinating sound pieces, and luckily it all worked out. Dreamland Recordings (no record #
given); www.dreamlandrecordings.com
LAKE VOSTOK by Sternenspringer (2004) (Web site download
only)
Sternenspringer is the musical project of two
Frankfurt, Germany-based ambient/techno electronic musicians, Jrgen Rieger and
Gerd Neusser. This 23-minute,
4-track work, Lake Vostok, named for Antarcticas mysterious subsurface lake, has the following
description in the Web site: icy
textures and tricky rhythmic elements fill the range, that sternenspringer span
in each track - a movie for the big screen in four aural scenes. The duo told us in 2008 that for
the sternenspringer music we are looking always for a kind of topic. In this case we read an article in a
newspaper (journal) and were
fascinated about this natural phenomenon and decided to create some
techno/electro tracks. We hope the
music mirrored this unique natural
spectacle. Tonatom.038; www.tonatom.net;
www.sternenspringer.de
BIRD SONGS IN THE ANTARCTIC INCLUDING SOUTH
GEORGIA & FALKLAND ISLANDS (2004)
Recorded from the Explorer II, this 31-minute
British CD has tracks of 24 birds and penguins recorded from the Antarctic
Peninsula area, South Georgia, Falkland Islands and Ushuaia. Mandarin Productions MP CD5; www.mandarinproductions.com
MUSIC FROM CHRISTOPHER KULIKOWSKIs
RETROGADE by
Stephen Melillo (2004)
Quickly shot in a short time with a low budget,
this sci-fi film stars Dolph Lundgren.
Its about a group of scientists, travelling back from the future to the
present time, who land on the Antarctic pack ice, where the polar research
vessel, Nathaniel Palmer, is chasing a comet and has itself become trapped in
the same ice. Throw in some deadly
extraterrestrial bacteria and mutinous space travellers, and things are not
looking good on board the ship.
Unfortunately, the film has had no exposure in North America and may
have limited distribution/availability on DVD. Although the CD package is bare bones with only a track
listing, Stephen Mellilos entire score, including the track Antarctica, is suitably spooky and may be
better than the film. Mellilo, an
American conductor, educator and composer, has scored over 950 works for films,
ensembles and symphonies and his work has been nominated for Academy and Emmy
awards. Stormworks; www.cdbaby.com
ANTARCTINA by YNEY (2004)
This CD of instrumental tracks related to
Antarctica was recorded in Moscow by a trio of established avant-garde Russian
musicians (Yuri Orlov, Andrei Kireev & Igor Shaposhnikov). The bouncy, though repetitive, percussive
electronic music has titles such as Appearance from Above, Stroll, Flight over the Continent, Fly Out, Return to Bosom and Light of the Antarctina Star. While the CD booklet is in Russian, the track titles are
also listed in English.
Electroshock Records ELCD 041; www.electroshock.ru
T & Ts REAL TRAVELS IN ANTARCTICA -
Original Soundtrack Music composed and recorded by Thomas Downie (2004)
A 23-minute disc containing 12 themes with
titles from numerous places along the Antarctic Peninsula, such as King
George Island, Deception
Island and Lemaire
Channel. The short melodic orchestral sounding
pieces are from T & Ts Antarctica DVD of a 2004 Peninsula trip on board
the M/V Orlova. TTRT004;
www.ttrealtravels.com
ALIEN VS. PREDATOR - Original Motion Picture
Soundtrack, music
by Harald Kloser (2004)
As much we always look forward to the very rare
movie set in Antarctica, this one could have just as easily been based in a
desert or in a jungle. The
Antarctic became irrelevant to the theme of aliens fighting it out in a pyramid
built deep in the ice by three ancient cultures. The eerie instrumental soundtrack music, similar to that of
another spooky Antarctic movie, The Thing, contains a tune entitled Antarctica and likely the first and only
musical track ever to be named Bouvetya Island, the most isolated island on the planet, in
the Southern Ocean. Varse
Sarabande 302 066 605 2; www.avp-movie.com
SEA OF GLORY Americas Voyage of Discovery -
The U.S. Exploring Expedition 1838-1842 by Nathaniel Philbrick, read by Dennis
Boutsikaris (2003)
While CD audio books are otherwise not being
listed in this music Discography, this 5-CD, 6-hour package is the exception,
and is a superb invitation/teaser for reading the book by Philbrick. According to the cover notes, The U.S.
Exploring Expedition of 1838-1842 was one of the most ambitious undertakings of
the nineteenth century. They
discovered a new southern continent, which Wilkes would name Antarctica. They were the first Americans to reach
the treacherous Columbia River; the first to chart dozens of newly discovered
islands all across the Pacific.
The story pivots around Charles Wilkes – a self-destructive dynamo
who undermined his own prodigious feats by alienating his crew and officers,
fighting battles with his sponsors, and jealously guarding what should have
been a proud national legacy.
Polar historian Laurence Kirwan described the
U.S. Ex Ex as the worst prepared and most controversial expedition to sail the
Antarctic seas (ref. Lonely Planet Antarctica). Although Antarctic exploration was only part of its mandate,
it managed to follow 1250 miles of East Antarctic coastline, later known as
Terre Adlie and Wilkes Land, making, arguably, the first east continental sighting just days before
the French Expedition under Dumont dUrville. CDs 2 & 3 cover the voyages to the South Shetland
Islands and along the Adlie Coast, respectively. Penguin Audiobooks 80023-6; www.penguin.com; (See also FAIR WINDS
AND A FOLLOWING SEA by
The Boarding Party (2003) - The Old Peacock - in the following Individual Antarctic songs
commentary.)
ANTARCTIC MOSAIC by Maurizio Bianchi (2003)
Italian composer of sonic dissonance, Bianchi
has produced a 74-minute two-part collage and pastiche of electronic sounds and
noises. According to the English
translation of his Italian liner notes, Being eager for immaculate spaces and
for spheres of pure sentiment, I felt need to take inspiration from the
so-called frozen continent, the unique place in which the human presence
doesnt completely contaminate the habitat yet. The hostile surroundings and the prohibitive temperatures
rendered possible the perpetuation of the most uncontaminated and stimulating
frozen paradise. Yes, this is the
most appropriate term as probably, in the beginning, Antarctica was an immense
park or paradise; but after the post-Flood upsetting events (from the autumn of
2370 BC onwards), when unexpectedly and suddenly the temperatures fell many
centigrade degrees, all at once this continent became cold, turning into the
present Antarctica. All of this is
well emphasized in the first track called Antarctic, while in the second one,
Mosaic, the listeners mind is projected into the immediate future, when,
after the decontamination process of human presence on the Earth, the
temperatures will return milder.
Maybe even the ex-frozen continent will be colonized in a peaceful and
rational manner by the New Earths members, a new human society which will
transform the whole planet into a wonderful Paradise, to eternal glory of He
Who from the beginning proposed that this is how it must be. To all of you, current members of that
future New Earth, a warm and enthusiastic Have a good listening! EEsT Records 15MB015
VOSTOK by Craig Padilla (2002)
Padilla is a northern California-based
electronic musician and performer with a preference for older analog
synthesizers. Vostok is a relaxing, 51-minute
single-track ambient instrumental.
As with Antarctica, nothing much changes for long stretches of time, but
also nothing stays the same.
According to the liner notes, Inspired by the mysterious depths of the
hidden lake under Antarctica, VOSTOK is a haunting voyage into an unknown space
filled with wonder and awe. Padilla masterfully crafts a subterranean soundworld,
transforming electronic instruments into subtle abstract beauty that feels no
less organic than inorganic, in this visionary longform ambient work. Padillas own liner notes describe it
as music realized in contemplation of the inner stillness reflected by a
distant, sub-glacial lake beneath Antarctica. Jewel-like and crystalline, yet dark, cool, and ancient the
muse of Lake Vostok flowed through me like a resonant glacier. Now this unique, vibrant soundscape
flows to you. I hope that you find
the vision and sonic space as riveting and transforming as I have. Peace.
Craig told us in 2007 that I hope you
are enjoying the musical atmosphere.
I remember when I recorded that piece: I had just read a
fascinating article in WIRED Magazine about how satellites had discovered an
unknown lake underneath a lot of ice.
According to the article, once it was discovered, scientists theorized
that the hidden lake may contain many keys to the origins of life since the
water was uncontaminated by our atmosphere for millions of years! So, they began to drill a hole down to
the water when they suddenly realized that by doing so theyd expose the lake
to our atmosphere, and so they stopped the drilling by a few meters of hitting
the water!
It was a very interesting story, to say the least! (Also during that time, I had been listening to some long-form ambient music that was nice, but not too terribly interesting from a musical/long song stand-point.) So, a day or so later, I went into the recording studio to create a long-form ambient piece that could be heard during sleep, but it also had to hold the interest of the listener. In other words, I didnt want to create wallpaper ambient music. I wanted to make music that wasnt distracting so somebody could study or sleep with it on in the background, and at the same time it had to be interesting so that somebody could sit down and just listen to it from beginning to end and enjoy the experience (and I think I was quite successful!)
I recorded the track live in one
take! The light wind sounds and heavy slow-moving glacial bass lines
made me think of the article I had just read; and the rest is history!
This track was unlike anything I was recording at the time, but I really
enjoyed it and still do! (And thankfully, so does my wife!) Spotted Peccary Music SPM-1401; www.craigpadilla.com
ANTARCTICA REVISITED by Mr. I, Gary Huntbatch and Anise
Abdulla (2002)
British Columbia-based teacher and
musician-entertainer Mr I. (Yurgen Ilaender) has produced many CDs about
geography and science for kids. He
told us, I have worked in Montessori pre-schools for nearly twenty years now. Antarctica is a popular Montessori
theme. The children can study an
environment not spoiled by man.
Lots of wonderful things happen in the classroom. The songs came from several years of
teaching the young children about Antarctica. The CD includes 17 tracks with titles such as Land So Far
Away, Antarctica Song,
Seals, McMurdo Station, Food Chain, Crusty Krill and An Ice Rap. The
CD was completely redone is 2007 and reissued in 2008 with new vocals and
instrumental tracks under the title of ANTARCTICA. ANT-6 and ANT-7; www.childmusicmri.com
ELEPHANT ISLAND by Adam Schabtach (2002)
There is an eye-catching cover photo of the
bleak ice-coated island of Shackletons legendary 1914-16 Endurance Expedition,
taken by a retired Rear Admiral of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration. The musical
content comprises a single 66-minute synthesizer piece composed and recorded in
a continuous improvisation. Its
pretty much just a long drawn out monotonic ambient dirge - not an awful lot
going on there, which in its way may well be echoing the survival routine of
much of the Expedition. ATOM CD
17; www.atomiccity.com
TIME TRAVEL IS LONELY by John Vanderslice (2001)
Vanderslice is a San Francisco-based indie
folk-rock artist/story teller and producer. His second CD is a concept album about his apparently
fictional brother, who is a snow-trapped programmer at an Antarctic geology
field camp. The nine diary entries
in the liner notes reveal the mental decline of the brother, particularly after
he loses his computers E-mail connection and hard drive to a virus. The songs, while not Antarctic in
content, echo this state of regression, which ends with visions of Tiananmen
Square and the sinking of the Kursk submarine. At first, the diarist is lucid: I am not going to say its
cold here, and I wont tell you about the vast, infinite emptiness that draws
every sad lonely feeling out of your breathless soul and drops it on the bluish
snow, right at your polypropylene boots.
Later on, his mind wanders: I am going crazy. I crawl out of my hut to scrape my windows, I cant bear to
be stuck in a white frosted box with nothing but the shortwave. The sun crests up around 9 pm and fades
after an hour or so. Have I told
you about whiteouts? USGS survival
manual: a polar hazard where all horizon definition between land and sky, solid
ground & coast, vanishes. We
are in a whiteout. A little girl
has been coming by at night, she lives at McMurdo Base, (which seems far) but
she comes to talk she tells me my station is an ECHELON relay base. I need to look into this. She said I should smash it up! Ahh youth. I need to talk to you soon. The CD cover has a striking but spooky drawing of a blue,
black, white ocean frozen ocean scene with reddish sky with a silhouetted
Endurance crushed in the ice. The
CD itself is embossed with a crevassed modern van superimposed over the wreck
of the Endurance. Barsuk Records
bark17; www.johnvanderslice.com
WHALE CHASING MEN - Songs of Whaling in Ice
and Sun by Harry
Robertson (2001)
Harry Robertson (1923-1995) was a native
Glaswegian who immigrated to Australia in 1952, worked during 1950-51 as an
engineer with the Norwegian whaling fleet in the Antarctic and wintered over at
South Georgia. He became a seminal
influence in the Australian folk movement of the 1960s and made the
above-titled LP in 1971. Through the efforts of his widow and
friends, the LP was released on CD in 2001 by Australias National Screen &
Sound Archive as its first folk reissue.
Through spoken introductions and instrumental accompaniments, the songs
and chanteys mince no words about the gruesome, hard scenes of the whaling
experience and Antarctic references abound. The lyrics of the Antarctic track, The Antarctic Fleet, are:
I went down south a-whaling, to the
land of ice and snow, And eight-and-twenty pounds a month, was all I had to
show, For being on a little ship like sardine in a can, And eating salty pork
and beef, they stewed up in a pan.
Chorus: Heigh-ho!
Whale-oh, Wi the Antarctic fleet, Ive got a drip upon me nose and Im frozen
in the feet.
South Georgia is an island, it is a Whaling Base, And only men in search of
whales, would go to such a place, No entertainment does exist unless you make
home brew, Then we would have some singing and, wed have some fighting too.
Our gunner came from Norway, like
many of the crew, And others spoke wi Scottish tongues, as Whalers often do,
But when the ship was closing in to make the bloody kill, The Scotsmen and
Norwegians worked together with a will.
We sailed down to the Weddell Sea
where the big Blues can be found, We chased between the icebergs and, we chased
them round and round, And when they couldnt run no more, and fought to draw
their breath, Our gunners shot harpoons in them, till they floated still in
death.
For months we sailed the ocean,
and wearied with the toil, Of slaughter and of killing just to get that smelly
oil, And when the savage storms blew and snow kept falling down, I often wished
that I was back, in dear old Glasgow town.
Its twenty years since Ive been
there, and I wont go there again, I didnt like the climate but, I liked the
Whaling Men, And even in the sunshine now, when I walk along the street, Ive
got a drip upon me nose, and Ive still got frozen feet. ScreenSound Australia CD/SSA/WC0022; www.nfsa.afc.gov.au; (See also FOLKLORIC RECORDING: Folk Songs
Sung by Harry Robertson and Don Henderson (1967) in the Individual Songs category
below.)
THE ICESTOCK 2001 PROJECT (2001)
The first music compilation disc from
Antarctica includes live performances at the Coffee House and the Womens
Soire at the U.S. McMurdo Station.
Organized by G.W. Krauss, the project was a labour of love, undertaken
and completed by volunteers. While
the cold weather and dry air may cause numb fingers and warped musical
instruments, Icestock has now become an annual musical festival on New Years
Day. The inaugural CD manages to
cover a lot of ground, or should we say, icy terrain, through various styles
over the 24 tracks. Information
available at: kuwona@bigfoot.com
BLUE SUBMARINE NO. 6 - AONOROKUGO - Original
Soundtrack by the
Thrill (2000)
Originally the name of a Japanese manga print
comic book series, Blue Submarine No. 6 became a four part video animation TV
program in 1998 and was reported to be in planning for a live-action
movie. Based in the near future
when the oceans have flooded most of the earths coastlines, the series
villain/ rogue scientist has a base of operations at the South Pole and is
trying to induce a polar switch with the aid of the South Poles geothermal
energy, in order to teach his brand of humanity to mankind. War later ensues on Antarctica, with
the good guys on Blue Submarine No. 6, part of a peacekeeping force, leading
the way to confront the enemy.
Antarctica, meanwhile, has been transformed into the tropics. The series finally ends with the pole
shift stopped and an uneasy truce for the sake of humanity. Japanese big band/rock group the
Thrill, formed in 1990, provides some very energetic music for the series. Toshiba-EMI Futureland TYVY-10036; www.thethrill.info
PENGUINS ON THE MOON by Sack Trick (2000)
The British Sack Trick is a revolving group of
comedic musicians, in the vein of the late 1960s Bonzo Dog Band. This CD is a heavy metal/music
hall/rock musical about a group of penguins in Antarctica who take a spaceship
to the moon. However, the moon is
not the tropical paradise they imagined and tiring of moon dust cheese and
anxious for a meal of fish, our intrepid explorers returned to the only place
they ever truly called home, having proved themselves to be real lunar chicks.
An entertaining and well played musical trip, with illustrated cartoon lyrics,
from a group of crazies. ORG 212; www.sacktrick.fsnet.co.uk;
www.organart.com
VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY Dedicated To The Memory
Of Robert Falcon Scott by D. E. Farmer/Soulspace Music (2000)
Arizona-based composer and musician Farmer has
recently issued this CD of contemporary, romantic instrumental synthesizer music
as his score to an imagined movie about Scott's 1911-12 tragic South Pole
journey. What a marvellous story,
and what a testament to the indomitable human spirit! I hope that the music somehow can act as a memorial of sorts
to Robert and Kathleen Scott. The
11 tracks include titles such as Entering the Ice Pack, Winter at McMurdo Sound, Tea at Mabel Beardsley's, Beat the Norwegians: The Race
is On!, Arrival at the South Pole: January
1912, Kathleen
Scott's Theme. mp3.com 39391
and 167618; www.soundclic.com
WHITE OUT by Johannes Schmoelling (2000)
Schmoelling is a former member of Tangerine
Dream, an internationally successful German recording and touring
synthesizer/electronic music group formed in the late 1960s. The current CD is a remixed and expanded
version of the 1990 original. The
10 melodic instrumental tracks include titles such as White Out, Navigators
Chatter, Icewalk, A Great Continent, A long Way Home. In
his web site, Schmoelling explains his idealistic intuition that electronic music
can create a spacious open landscape via the detour of the Antarctic.
The sounds that I have used and changed will
in no way deny their origin. They
are noises; the sound of a sonar, the crackling and squeaking of radio sets,
machines, the far-away screeching of birds – and if we close our eyes,
then with each noise we immediately connect to some image of a landscape or
surroundings. For me, this was a
reason to compose entire noise passages – a kind of foundation out of
which the music actually is born.
In a scientific book on the Antarctic, I read
of an optical phenomenon, which occurs under certain conditions of temperature
and of the air: WHITE OUT. It is a
loss of space sensation. The white
erases space, sky and earth flow into each other, a space without depth and
without horizon is created.
Maybe a concept album is nothing else but a
voyage, a departure to another place, which slowly uncovers itself, a shore
that comes closer and piles up as a mountain of ice. Arrival, first announced over the radio, the whirr of
machine noises, entertainment music filling up the crewmens room.
Suddenly (where on the map appeared just an
immense white spot), there is firm ground under your feet and you see: garbage,
food throwouts, tin cans, as if to be preserved for eternity, discarded oil
residue and a tire rut leading to the horizon, where an industrial complex
arises, and then unconsciously, the feeling that here, at the very end of the
world, a war announces itself, that the machines are already in position, that
the fronts are lined up, and when you look around, there is the oldest
landscape in the world (a war with the purpose of eradicating the history of
nature: WHITE OUT.)
As I finalized the work on the album, Reinhold
Messner and Arved Fuchs departed for the Antarctic. Not like before (as was still done in the last century) to
remove the white spots from the map nor with the aim (as at the turn of the
century) to hoist the flag of every which country, but solely because of the
landscape itself, purely because of its being such and nothing else (at the
present time).
And I thought that as a child, even in my
wildest dreams, it never occurred to me that just taking a walk could one day
become a political act.
Viktoriapark VP 00-1; www.johannesschmoelling.de
This CD is a solo project of Briton Kev Fox, who explains in his web site: The three titles on A Distant Memory of Home were composed specifically for an event that took place in June 2000. Adelie Penguin 1993:207 is now a permanent exhibit in Cheltenham Museum as an interesting piece of Antarctic history. It was brought to England as a stuffed specimen by Edward Wilson, returning from his first Antarctic Expedition in 1904, but for many years he stood on a window ledge in Shurdington Village School. He was donated by the Wilson family, as a memento of the local hero, when he failed to return from the fatal attempt on the South Pole with Captain Scott in 1912.
Between June 2nd and June 4th 2000 the Penguin revisited the Village for a weekend of celebrations and over the three days I performed the tracks on A Distant Memory of Home under the watchful eye of the penguin himself, in the 14th century village church.
Intending to portray a longing for the far-off icy wilderness of Antarctica the title piece was recorded live on Saturday 3rd June. The two remaining tracks were written to represent the penguin in his element (On the Ice Floe) and in his display case (In the Museum Case) and were recorded live in Jaguar Sound Studios, using only sources and themes from the title track.
The three pieces move through the freezing winds and seas of the South Polar regions and as the memories fade into the dusty solitude of a glass case, the sounds of the white continent still echoing in the distance.
AAR002; www.ochre.co.uk/90south
THE BARRIER SILENCE by 90 South (1999)
The CD title was taken from Dr. Edward Wilsons
poem of the same name, written during Scotts Terra Nova South Pole Antarctic
Expedition of 1910-13. The CD was
recorded in a studio at Cheltenham, U.K., home of Dr. Wilson and has as its
cover a Wilson painting of Hut Point, headquarters of Scotts first Antarctic
Expedition of 1901-04. The back
cover has a photo of one of the motor sledges used on the Terra Nova
Expedition. A final Antarctic
reference is included in the liner notes with a photo of Admiral Byrds
airplane, Floyd Bennett, landing at his base, Little America at the Bay of
Whales. The two instrumental
Antarctic tracks on the CD include Hut Point and Cape Crozier, the latter a reference to the
destination of the 1911 mid-winter polar journey described by Apsley
Cherry-Garrard in his famous book, The Worst Journey in the World. The music, by Kev Fox, is a
guitar/synthesizer/percussion-based ambient sound. Ochre Records OCH014LCD; www.ochre.co.uk/90south
ANTARTICA by Gale Revilla (1999)
Gale Revilla is a prolific Nevada-based
composer and synthesizer artist with over 20 spiritual New Age CDs in her
catalogue. This one includes
titles such as Horizons, Crystal Storms, The Lost City, Ice Goddess, Antartica,
Aurora Australis,
Adelie Coast and
Leviathan Temple. Her
assistant informed us that Gale had studied about Ancient Civilizations from many
books for decades. One of her
favorite topics was Atlantis and the Ancient land of Lemuria. Those were the foundations that
motivated her to compose the Antartica, Lost Continents and the Mystic
Lands albums. Another of her
favorites in Ancient Civilizations and Empires was, Ancient Egypt. This brought on her motivation to
compose her award winning album Series, Pharaohs. Another album that deals with the Dark Age Empires and
Dragons is her album, Draconis. Her
Native American albums deal with her ancestors and their dying ancient
language. So three were composed
in dedication to her ancestors of centuries past: Day of the Wolf, Liquid
Visions and Whispering Winds on the Red Road. Morning Star Records; www.galerevilla.com
ANTARCTICA SUITE by Wendy Mae Chambers (1999)
Wendy Mae Chambers is a New
Jersey-based musician who visited the Antarctic Peninsula in 1999 as a tourist
and subsequently recorded a CD of piano solo compositions inspired by her
trip. The 13 instrumental tracks, which
Wendy Mae said were modelled after Mussorgskys Pictures at an Exhibition, include titles
descriptive of the wildlife and sights she saw, such as Blue Ice, Penguin Rookery,
Albatross,
Waltz of the Krill, Chinstrap Penguins, Humpback Whales, Weddell Seals and Skua. The chiming chordal and percussive
sounds of her piano are very evocative of the various images she sets out to
portray. www.wendymae.com
ANTARCTIC ARRIVAL - a Tribute to a Frozen
Land by Valmar
Kurol and Marc-Andr Bourbonnais (1999)
This Montreal-produced CD contains ten thematic
instrumental pieces in New Age/light rock/classical styles, based on Kurols
three visits to Antarctica in the 1990s.
Titles include Antarctic Arrival, Never Mind the Icebergs, Flight of the
Albatross, Antarctica
World Beat Theme, Underwater
Waltz, Penguin
Stroll, Seekers
of the Pole, Aurora
Australis, March of the Glaciers, White Winter Curtain. There are also bonus tracks with vocal renditions of two of
the instrumentals. The CD is
available from mtl.ant.soc@sympatico.ca or www.antarcticarrival.com
ANTARCTICA by Douglas Quin (1998)
This is a CD of natural sounds from the field
produced by Douglas Quin for the Wild Sanctuary series of wildlife recordings. Stereo/surround microphones were
used to record Weddell and leopard seals, orcas, and emperor and Adlie
penguins. Of special note are the
creaks and groans heard from the Canada Glacier and Wind Harps from the Taylor
Valley. The liner notes say that
To create this kind of magic with natural sound takes time, enormous patience,
perseverance, and a keen compositional sense to make lyrical the material heard
on this album. Sounds from the
Antarctic present the ultimate test. Miramar 09006-23113-2
ANTARCTIC by Mnica X (1998) (Vinyl LP only)
Mnica X is a veteran Spanish DJ and music
promoter/performer who has garnered European and international success with her
touring. This is one of her
earliest singles records and has the three tracks, Antarctic, No Frost (Extreme Cold Version) and Antarctic Melody. Beginning with frosty winds and chants of cold, the
electronic disco music is surprisingly subdued for the genre. The record cover has a catchy
purple/blue hue with a photo of icebergs, overseen by a pair of staring, icy
eyes. Monica X told us in 2008
that the reason for the Antarctic
record was that this place is so far from Spain and we thought about this concept
one summer with hot weather, so we did it to refresh our lives. Dixland Records MX DIX 012;
www.djmonicax.com
TRAVELLERS TALES FROM ANTARCTICA by David & Phil Massey
(1998/1996)
This British CD of instrumental synthesizer New
Age music is part of a collection of Relaxation, Ambient and World Music. The liner notes explain: Perhaps the most
awe inspiring region on earth – Antarctica. Her beauty, mystery, and presence has called to adventurers
for eons and yet she still remains the most unexplored continent on or planet. This spiritually expansive Travellers
Tale will unfold visions of space, grandeur and virgin beauty through a
magnificent season of superb musical observation. Some of the track titles include, Ice Bergs, Vinson Massif, Alone at the Pole, Glacier, Penguin, The Coldest Place on Earth. Northstar Music NSMCD 146; www.northstarmusic.co.uk
ANTARTIDA by John Cale (1995)
This is a musical soundtrack to a
Spanish-American film by Manuel Huerga, not so much about Antarctica as a place
but rather, as a state of mind.
Cale is a former member of the rock group Velvet Underground. The music consists of short, sparse,
haunting, melodic themes - Antarctica seems perfectly suited to be a source of
inspiration for minimalist composition.
Les Diques du Crpuscule TWI-1008
The theme song for this soundtrack has its
origin in a Cale song, Antarctica Starts Here found on his 1973 solo recording PARIS 1919. Reprise/Warner Bros. Records Inc. 2131-2
A newer version of this song is also found on
Cales PARIS SEVEILLE (1992), a collection of his soundtracks and music for ballet. MASO CD 90042
The same song, Antarctica Starts Here, was covered in a 1992 mini CD, CANDY
ON THE CROSS, by
David J. MCA Records MCADM-54424
ANTARCTICA by Ian Tamblyn (1994)
Tamblyn is an Ottawa-area Canadian pop-folk
artist and currently an Arctic tour lecturer. This recording is associated with the CBC radio documentary,
Notes from the Bottom of the World, based on his trip to McMurdo Sound. The
instrumental music is a combination of New Age/folk-rock/jazz influences played
with crystalline, vibrant instrumentation, at times including penguin brays and
Weddell seal squeals. Titles
include The Weddell Planet, Erebus Ice Caves, Out on the Ice Fields, Eds Still Diving. One especially
memorable song is The Penguin came from Pittsburgh. Attractive emperor penguin cover picture. North Track Records NTCD3. In the U.S. this CD is available as
NorthSound NSCD 29532; www.tamblyn.com
ANTARCTICA by Richie Beirach (recorded 1985, issued 1994)
Beirach is an American jazz artist who
improvises on elements of eclectic modern music. This solo piano Antarctica Suite, according to the liner notes,
unlike the musical pablum that assaults us daily, isnt programmed to make you
consume or conform. Only
feel. Titles include The Ice
Shelf, Deception
Island, and
Neptune's Bellows. ECD 22086-2
ANTARCTICA - The Last Wilderness by Medwyn Goodall (1993)
Goodall, who lives in Cornwall, England, has
recorded many CDs for the Dutch New Age music label, Oreade Music. Its a pleasure to hear one of the few
all-Antarctic CDs we have come across.
There are six extended synthesizer and other instrumental pieces with
titles such as All White, Endless Emptiness and Snow Kingdom Forever.
Dreamy, peaceful music and gentle to the
ears but were not entirely convinced we've been transported to Antarctica
through the music. Mar 3812
POLAR SHIFT - A Benefit for Antarctica by various artists (1991)
A compilation of New Age instrumental and vocal
music dedicated to the conservation of Antarctica. Performers include a number of single-name artists such as
Vangelis, Yanni, Enya and Kitaro, along with ET's John Tesh. A very enjoyable, soothing palette of
sounds. Informative liner notes
give references for further reading though some of the addresses are now out of
date. Private Music BMG2083-2-P
DEVOTION - THE BEST OF YANNI by Yanni (1997)
The instrumental Song for Antarctica, specially recorded for the
previously-mentioned Polar Shift CD, is also found on several of Yanni's discs,
including this hits compilation.
Private Music 01005-82153-2
NUNATAK GONGAMUR by Thomas Kner (1990)
Kner is an internationally active
award-winning German audio-visual media artist/electronic composer. His first CD, out of print and
unavailable commercially, was an ambient collection of 11 untitled pieces that
were based on Robert Scotts tragic South Pole Expedition of 1911-12. The CD cover has an old photo of a
sledge team with their dogs and ponies and a copy of a few of Scotts last
written words. According to
reviewer Ned Raggett in the Web-based All Music Guide, Kner's
composition falls somewhere between a requiem for the loss and waste of the
expedition and a haunting, extremely inhuman evocation of the endless snow and
ice fields of Antarctica that the core members of the expedition struggled
through and died in. The swathes
of deep echo and occasional crumbling rhythm create an aura of paranoid
fascination, at once weirdly soothing and increasing the nervous tension every
chance it gets. When Kner adds
variety to the music, the effect can almost be shocking - consider the sudden
distorted whines on the third and fifth tracks, which with its slight echo
treatment and the rumbling background moans could almost be a disturbing cry
for help. Other times, tones
barely lurk in the mix, only on the edge of hearing, like being caught in an
endless cavern where something curious hides in the dim distance. The killer touch is the use of space
throughout the album - silences of various lengths maintaining the air of
mysterious threat. This is
a powerful description of music that consists of electronically treated gongs
and cymbals, but the CD is a captivating soundtrack for desolation. BAR 002; www.koener.de; www.thomaskoner.com
ANTARCTICA by Vangelis (1983)
Synthesizer music from Koreyoshi Kuraharas
film of the same name. It told the
story of the 1958 first Japanese Antarctic Expedition, which ended up stranding
a pack of 15 sled dogs on the continent over a winter season. Best song is the title track, Theme
from Antarctica,
which still remains the definitive Antarctic mood music. Nothing else from the eight tracks on
the disc matches this magnificent throbbing and pulsating piece which is the
perfect accompaniment for sailing down the pristine Lemaire Channel or Gerlache
Strait. Many amateur videos of the
Antarctic have probably borrowed this theme for background music. Polygram/Polydor 815732-2. The original Japanese issue of the CD
(Polydor 3112-22) has the classic photo of two dogs on the cover while newer
issues have small silver or blue outlines of Antarctica. A rare and pricey limited-edition promo
CD that may occasionally appear for sale on Web auction sites contains the full
score of 24 tracks. These include
further variations of the main theme, as well as shorter soundscape interludes
and a few longer pieces.
THE THING by Ennio Morricone
(1982)
The soundtrack to the popular Antarctic sci-fi
movie of the same name. Morricone
has composed many highly regarded film themes but this electronic noodling,
appropriate in the film, is less interesting as stand-alone CD music. Varse Sarabande VSD-5278
IO SONO MURPLE by Murple (Vinyl LP - 1974) (CD reissues - 1992
& 2002)
Italian prog-rock group Murples only recording
(I am Murple) was a concept album of largely keyboard-led instrumentals, with a
few vocal tracks, that tells the tale of an Antarctic penguin who leaves home
looking for paradise and winds up, apparently happily, in a zoo. The colourful CD booklet features
drawings of icebergs and a mass of penguins. Mellow Records MMP 121 (1992 reissue) and Akarma AK 1035
(2002 reissue); www.murple.it
**************************************************************************************
Individual songs entitled Antarctica or about The Ice also appear on the
following commercially or privately available discs. The styles range from New Age to thrash/heavy metal:
UTOPIA DELETED by Trimetrick (2008)
This Antwerp, Belgium-based industrial
electronic music duo, consisting of Catherine Jane Robinson and Michael
Mampaey, describes itself as a non-profit freeware audio music project. Their current CD has the spooky,
arpeggiated and propulsive track Antarctica.
Lyrics: Frozen in, Im left behind, Im the origin, taken from
you. Strapped in the back of your mind,
For in here I am, Hiding the truth.
Aeons of sleep in the ice, For desiring is, My will seeping
through. Fallen I am, For the
idle, And I might be, Looking for you.
You drew down my borders, Set foot on my shore. You drilled in my layers, Walked up to
my core. No place for disorder,
Survival and nothing more. No God
for your prayers, Too cold for a throne.
For historys waves I am blind, No loss within, My icing so blue. Michael told us that I always wanted to
make a song about this fascinating continent, so I started to create a sound
base with cold, harsh synths and rhythmic layers. The lyrics are written as if it were a person that is given
voice. In the booklet of the CD,
the lyrics are written on a satellite photo of this huge glacier of Antarctica. I dedicated the song to my grandfather;
it was played at his funeral. Sex
Elite Recordings SER001; www.trimetrick.be
THE HOUSE OF ILL REPUTE by Mary Coughlan (2008)
An Irish music veteran with 14 albums, this one
is a forceful musical and emotional epic that follows the end of a long
personal relationship. With
musical styles ranging from music hall to heavier folk/rock, the songs cover
the psyche from bitterness to almost a celebration of losing ones way. Included is the dirge-like track Antarctica, which may be the one of the
bleakest personal references in this discography to the coldest of
continents. Lyrics: My heart is
in Antarctica, Ice water chills my veins, My disembodied voice calls you, A hundred
thousand names. You lying
bastard, whoring fraud, you rotten stinking cheat, I thought you were my haven,
Now I drown in your deceit. Im
cast adrift to wander, Through the memories of that life, Recalling a game, In
which I was your wife. Now I am
tossed and battered, By the Katabic wind, And constantly reminded, Youre no
more my next of kin. My heart it
is Antarctica, So deep beneath the snow, And under miles of crushing white,
Where no mortal man can go.
Beating once in every year, Sending shock waves through the ice, An
occasional reminder, Of my suspended life. And in the still of evening, Of an everlasting day, A parade
of icebergs goes on its way. And
as I gaze upon them, They retreat into the blue, And paint a pretty picture, I
no longer think of you. Rubyworks
RWXCD69; www.marycoughlan.com;
www.myspace.com/marycoughlanmusic
CRYOGENIC CLEANSING// FOUR ELABORATIONS OF
COLD by Orb of
Torture (2008)
The
Brussels, Belgium-based death metal band has included the track Antarctic
Frequency Catharsis
on its debut 4-track extended play CD.
Sample heavyweight lyrics hint of uncontrollable gale forces to thoughts
of muon particle physics: Thunderous low-frequency arguing, only to prevent
unconscionable deeds, ventilate to prevent, unbearable stress must be released
in throe sonancy, how powerful must it be, enough to free stuck souls, enough
to touch, antarctic frequency catharsis.
transforming sounds into matter, into actual deeds, surrendering feeling
catches you and dissects your troubles, crystal clear solution that was always
there now makes sense to you, antarctic frequency catharsis. let the sound waves throb and you may
try to sieve, fail you will, you never felt intense powers like these,
sandblasting feeling only created with infiltrating frequencies, it will
cleanse your soul, sanding the filth, sanding uselessit will cleanse your
soul, sanding the filth, sanding useless memories. small movement with an immense force, sent out to clear you
from all the stress particles, bound with your karma, sounds reprogram your
soul. fluffy small particles,
enter they will, decompress your thoughts, distress you, travel through
anything, leave nothing unchanged.
why would you persist through a heavenly rite such as this? maybe its
unknown to you, hard to comply with standard thinking, that doesnt mean its
wrong, let the sound kiss you. let
the sound waves throb and you may try to sieve, fail you will, you never felt
intense powers like these antarctic feelings. We asked Tristan Van Dorsselaer, the bands guitarist, about
the reason for the track. He told
us that the lyrics of that song are about cold emotions and the
releasing effect they can have on a person. We tried to bring a cold vastness in our music for this CD
and the Antarctic theme fitted that quite well. www.myspace.com/orbof torture
OVERFLOW by Tom Prayne (2008)
Prayne is a Hamburg, Germany-based electronica
artist. His CD of instrumentals
contains the gurgling, throbbing bass-heavy synthesizer/guitar track Antarctica. www.myspace.com/tomprayne
7 CONTINENTS – Global Jams by Maurice Gainen (2008)
Maurice Gainen is a multi-faceted Los Angeles,
U.S.A.-based jazz musician, producer and arranger with his own studio. In particular, he has worked for 12
years as music director, performer and sound engineer with the Hues
Corporation, who had a #1 hit in the 1970s and who appear on one of the tracks
on this CD. The music here
represents a journey to the continents and is played and sung by various
musicians from their homelands, in collaboration with Maurice on a variety of
flutes and saxophones. The
continent of Antarctica is represented by Antarctic Sunrise, a track with Maurices tranquil
flute melody superimposed over real recorded sounds of penguins, skuas, seals,
cracking glaciers and winds. The
natural soundscapes were recorded by Douglas Quin, who has spent many seasons
in Antarctica. Empyrean EM-754-5; www.mauricegainen.com;
(See also ANTARCTICA by Douglas Quin (1998) in the above Non-Classical, all or
significantly Antarctic commentary.)
KILLING THE PAST by Knockout Theory (2008)
Up and coming New Jersey, U.SA.-based Knockout
Theory is an accomplished young punk band with unbounded energy and melodic
hooks. Their debut CD includes the
track Miss Antarctica. Sample lyrics: Im the best of the
best but my social lifes a wreck, I got a Ph.D. in cosmetology and Im about
to crack from the stress. I see fifty
beauty queens on the screen and Im really quite perplexed cause Im throwing
up twenty-four-seven and I still dont look like thatI said, I wanna be, I
wanna be Miss Antarctica...I could want world peace, I wanna be Miss America,
sorry, Antarctica We asked
Brian Strelko, vocalist/ bassist about the unusual Antarctic references. The gracious punker and social critic
told us, Firstly, Im sorry if you accidentally purchased our CD for
the sole reason that the track might be actually about Antarctica! The motivation for the tracks title
stems from how outrageous and degrading beauty pageants like Miss America
really are, so much that they might as well be named Miss Antarctica for
their obscurity. Also, I believe
the phrase Miss Antarctica was used in a commercial from the 90s in which
John OHurley sings for a penguin walking down a runway.
Antarctica – beauty pageants – runways – sounds like a
great Antarctic cultural theme worthy of further field research! www.knockouttheory.com; www.myspace.com/knockouttheory
DAN-O Guitar, Lyrics and Cutups by Dan OConnor (2008)
Dan OConnor is a New York City-based
singer/songwriter who has performed in the Northeast U.S., following
educational degrees in Music and Music Business. His debut CD of various rock & pop songs includes the
track Antarctic Moon, a bluesy song about a voodoo girl cooking soup in a broth of hearts
And her potions came over me like the sea, Under an Antarctic Moon. Yeah that voodoo girl was blind, But
she could see right through me every time. Since Antarctica and voodoo are unusual pairings, we asked
Dan about it and he said, its about the stories of voodoo death
brought on by supernatural powers in New Zealand and how maybe its more than
coincidence that the tides in the Ross Sea are one of the few places in the
world that have no relationship to the Moon and the tide can even vanish. www.danosongs.com
SECRETS OF THE NEW EXPLORERS by Glen Phillips (2008)
Glen Phillips is a Santa Barbara,
California-based veteran musician and a founder, in the late 1980s, of the
alternative rock band Toad the Wet Sprocket, which found commercial success
with two platinum CDs and movie soundtracks and TV programs that included their
songs. Since 1998, Glen has
recorded and performed in a solo career as well as in periodic reunions of the
band. The present six-track
concept EP, inspired by private space travel, includes the cryptic, melodic
track The Spirit of Shackleton, which hints at Shackleton as space explorer. We asked Glen about the background for the track and he told
us, I love the story of Shackleton and the Endurance. In my song, the spacecraft is named The
Spirit of Shackleton. Unfortunately, my small crew seems to have had a few
issues with either manslaughter or murder (Im not entirely sure, as I wasnt
there and there were no 3rd party accounts of what took place), which is
entirely un-Shackleton in its nature, aside from extreme cold and a very remote
location. The lyrics are: This
is no exaggeration, I truly am alone a hundred million clicks and eight long
months from home.
But Im holding to my promise, Ill land and plant the flag for God and
corporation and the greater good of man.
Theres no law that can touch me, my sins are mine to keep, Im a
rocket, Im an island and on my shore she sleeps. Im not coming back from here, Ive been too far now, Im
cold but Im not scared, in the Spirit of Shackleton. Pretty droplets of crimson surround me as they drift,
bonding together or bursting into mist, so I open up my mouth to them and offer
out my tongue. They are salty and
sweet like the memory of love. Im
not coming back from here, Ive been too far, Im cold but Im not scared and Im
unshackled. Im not coming back
from here, Ive been too far, Im cold but Im not scared in the Spirit of Shackleton. Umami
Music; www.glenphillips.com;
www.myspace.com/glenphillips
THE NAVY LARK Series Four Volume 2 (2008)
The Navy Lark, the longest
running comedy program in British radio history, was a concoction about the
antics of the crew of HMS Troutbridge, on the BBC airwaves from March 1959 to
July 1977 with 15 series. This box
set of six CDs from Dec. 1961 to March 1962 includes the bonus item Calling
the Antarctic, recorded on Dec. 4, 1962 and
broadcast on Dec. 25 1962. This
was a special Christmas Overseas Service Broadcast for their frozen friends
in the Antarctic, the 85 members of the British Antarctic Survey serving in
seven bases along the Antarctic Peninsula. It was heartening news that the British Royal Navy patrol
vessel HMS Protector was on its way from Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands
with 16 turkeys, 45,320 tots (2.5 ounces) of rum, 38,000 cans of beer, 30,000
packets of sweets and 12,000 ice creams, to brighten the lives of the chaps
on 2 years service in a mans world with no feminine touch. BBC Audio; www.bbcshop.com; (See also NAVY LARK Volume 18 (2006) and NAVY LARK Series Two Volume
1 (2004) in the
following commentary.)
SONGS FOR EXISTENCE by Houston Davis Jones (2008) (Web site download only)
Houston Davis is a West Palm Beach,
Florida-based singer/songwriter, sounding at times remarkably like the
1970s-era British folk artist Nick Drake.
According to Houstons myspace.com commentary, Music is deeply rooted in mathematics. All concepts of harmony, melody and
rhythm are represented by ratios and patterns. Mathematics is the language of the universe. No matter what societal language you
may speak, a mathematical law will ring true in any country or known part of
space. Music is the auditory
manifestation of the language of mathematics, and is a powerful communicative
device that can convey many different ideas and emotions to individuals of any
background. The world is a
beautiful, terrifying, and complex place, but when framed inside of a piece of
music, reality becomes a little easier to handle. His debut album contains the track Antarctica/The
End of a Great Cycle. Lyrics are: I can see no shelter, I
cant see no place to hide from the storm, Shoreline slowly rising, Dry land
getting hard to find, There were these clues, Warnings written on the wall for
us to find, Left behind by a people time forgot, What did they know? How could they see what we were blind
to, with all our research and technology?
Now the times come to dance in this great ballet, to play our part in
this play, the cosmic orchestra is nearing the coda. Lets pray.
We asked Houston Davis about the Antarctic theme of the lyrics and he explained: There are three layers of meaning in the song: Level one is just about global warming and the melting of the polar ice caps. Level two treats many of the lyrics metaphorically in reference to human emotions. The third and primary reason is more complicated... there is a book called Fingerprints of the Gods by Graham Hancock, which is about the forgotten knowledge of the Egyptians and South American civilizations such as the Olmecs and Mayans. One of the bodies of evidence used to support the presence of advanced technology in these cultures is a set of maps from the 1500s (including the Turkish Admiral Piri Reis map) that accurately chart Antarctica and its surrounding waters, despite the fact that Antarctica was not known of until 1773 and unexplored and unmapped until the mid 1800s. The cartographers of these 16th century maps claim to have merely transcribed the maps from even earlier copies, which were supposedly recovered from the Egyptian libraries from Greeks. Accurate cartography wasnt developed until well after the rise of western European culture and wasnt even perfected until around the time of Columbus and the invention of the chronograph. The book suggests that due to these maps existence, we can assume that ancient cultures were mathematically savvy and able to achieve things that took our own culture thousands of years to accomplish. Of course the subject is very controversial and like much of history, is hotly debatable and indefinite. I do not necessarily believe that the maps are truly evidence of ancient technology but I do find the subject fascinating. The rest of the book talks about ancient mythology, the Noah flood, sunken cities, etc., and all those silly New Age things. It then proposes that the ancients are attempting to warn of us of impending disaster, which they then relate to 2012 and all that. I hope that helped you out, though I can understand if it just obfuscated the song titles theme even more. www.houstondavisjones.com
LUNETTES
NOIRES POUR NUITS BLANCHES/ ANTARCTICA by
Rock City Sixteen (2008) (Vinyl
45 rpm single only)
Rock City Sixteen is a five-member London,
U.K.-based indie group (ex Havana Guns), which has been playing together since
2004. The flip side of this
500-issue 45 rpm single is Antarctica, a guitar-driven, edgy pop tune. According to the Internet-based music
site, Von Pip Musical Express, The singles stark black and white art work is, as with previous releases
under the Havana Guns moniker, stylish, cinematic, and cooler than Marlon
Brando in an ice cream parlour in Antarctica, discussing the weather with
Martin Scorsese in a snow storm – a description sure to be a strong
candidate for ranking highly in any list of classic Antarctic phraseology. Cigarette Music (no record # issued); www.myspace.com/rockcitysixteen
PIANO MANO by the Drill Feat, Firetruck
& Antarctica (2008) (Vinyl LP only)
Matt Schwartz is a London-U.K-based
composer and producer of dance music who uses various group names, both alone
and with collaborators, including Antarctica, a co-project with Mark
Gilbert. The swinging piano/synth
track on this single-track LP has become an international club favourite. DESTO33DJC1; www.destined-records.com
REINVENTING THE HEARTBEAT by E For Explosion (2008)
Led by California/Kentucky-based Jamison
Covington, the groups CD of strong, big sounding melodic rock has the
depressive track Antarctica. Lyrics: Arent we leaving today?
Abandoning the world, No more cities, Well kill technology, No more boys, No
more girls. Id prefer the snow,
You and I, drown in the blue and cold, Well fall, So alone, Teach me how to
whisper. Arent we leaving today?
Were learning to die, Learning to solve everything through beautiful
goodbyes. Id prefer the snow,
Well fall, So alone, Teach me how to whisper. Eyeball Records EYE20089; www.myspace.com/eforexplosion
HIDEAWAY by the Weepies (2008)
The Weepies are a Topanga, California-based
married duo who have garnered acclaim with their brand of melodic folk-rock/pop
tunes, a number of which have appeared on mainstream TV drama programs. Their current third CD includes the
wistful song Antarctica. Lyrics: Left behind everything I
knew, All the colors but bone-white and sky-blue, Hit the continent running,
Engines were humming just to break through. Antarctica, my only living relative. Antarctica, I cant wait anymore. Under ice theres a world moving slow,
Carnelian stars and the bars down below, Serve only vodka and gin, I try to
stay drunk so nobody knows. And
then theres morning, Each one feels like the first one. Ah morning, so clean, so pure, Nothing
so clear, now that Im here. When
I get back to the city, Everythings cluttered and pretty. I wont regret my return, Ill just
remember the wind and snow, And the howling so loud, That it alone drowns out
the inside of me. Nettwerk
Records 0 6700 30777 2 9; www.theweepies.com
ANTARCTICA by Tactile, Spinline, Munk + Naibu/BREAK by Liveevil (2008) (Vinyl LP only)
The 7-minute drums & bass track Antarctica, a collaboration between a trio from Budapest,
Hungary and a Parisian, has some icy chants and floating musical effects. Levitated Recordings LVTD 009; www.myspace.com/spinlinekru;
www.levitated.org
THE FRED ALLEN SHOW- Life at the South Pole
Fred Allen was a vaudeville comedian who
appeared on Broadway and became one of Americas most popular humorists in the
classic radio era in the 1930s and 1940s.
During that time he hosted and starred in long running half or hour-long
topical satire radio comedy shows.
The program of Feb. 28, 1940, Life at the South Pole, had an 11-minute Admiral Byrd spoof
about Admiral Allen at Little Brooklyn Base at the South Pole. Being very cold and running out of
food, the camp managed to get a radio transmission to Irvings delicatessen in
New York, which offered to deliver cold cuts to the base. Many of the Fred Allen programs have
been digitally preserved and are available for purchase from the Web sites
listed below. We obtained this CD
in 2008. FA-014; www.originaloldradio.com;
www.radioshowcds.com; www.oldclassicradio.com; www.otrstreet.com
BOB & RAY: The Soap Operas, Volume 6 (2007)
Bob Elliott and Ray Goulding were Boston
broadcasters who became American national radio comedy icons over the late
1940s to the 1980s. Their deadpan
form of interviewing spoofed the medium in which they worked. This box set of 4 CDs contains the
5-minute track Bob visits Harold Haskells home in Antarctica, in which a member of Admiral
Byrds last expedition decided to remain and had made Antarctica his home for
30 years and was just adding some weather-stripping as the interview
began. No information given on the
date of the sketch. RadioArt RACD
5031-4; www.bobandray.com
TAGAP - Original Soundtrack of The
Apocalyptic Game About Penguins by Petja Heiskanen (2007) (Web site download only)
This is the musical soundtrack to a computer
game developed by Jouni Lahtinen and is available for free on the games
Website. The two collaborators are
based in Finland. The soundtrack has
33 battle-oriented musical selections of various lengths, largely rock oriented
with a few novelty scenic interludes.
In addition to some penguin-themed tracks (Funky Penguin, Penguins Retirement, Penguinator, Rogue Penguin), it includes the 3-minute Antarctic
Suite. In the Web site, in response to the
question, Are you trying to ride on Hollywoods penguin boom or
something?, the composer said
that My penguin boom has been going on for over 15 years and I love
those waddling birds more than life itself. I just adore them, theyre the supreme beings! But its nice to notice big masses are
finally realizing the same thing and have rewarded these flightless birds with
Oscars two years in a row! www.tagap.net
ZILLION CD15 – OBSCURITY by various artists (2007)
This Dutch three-CD compilation of various
electronic instrumental dance tracks includes Antartica by Aqua Nova, which alternates
between pounding beats and quiet interludes, much like the nature of the
Continent itself. Digidance
DIGI 226-2; www.digidance.cc
LEGENDS NEVER DIE by the Dreadnoughts (2007)
Vancouver, B.C.s Dreadnoughts are a superbly
talented quintet playing a mixture of loud, punkish, modern Celtic-flavoured
pub rock, laced with sea shanty influences, fiddles and other traditional
instruments. One of the tracks is Antarctica, about a ship off to the Southern
Ocean, likely on a whaling expedition - but its hard to make out the lyrics
from the loud music and tough vocals.
www.thedreadnoughts.com;
www.myspace.com/vancitydreadnoughts
POP.VOX.CHRISTMAS Volume 2 by various artists (2007)
This is a compilation of traditional Christmas
carols and a few original novelty songs, played in wondrous and quirky
arrangements by indie rock bands or folk artists. Pop.vox bills itself on its Website as a California-based
label for a community of artists to
integrate their feelings, beliefs and faith into their work in an innovative
way...we hope to see artists who are Christians, rather than Christian artists. Included is The Antarctic Circle by Racing at Nineteen, the only
instrumental on the disc. Its a
stately churchlike organ/synth track, underlain by a resonant cathedral bass
but is the only one without a Christmas title or evident seasonal connection. A representative of the record label
told us that We included the song because we thought it was beautiful
and a perfect conclusion to our compilation. Christopher Bright, the composer, told us in 2008 that the
song was initially based on pictures Id seen of different parts of Antarctica. I was really interested by them and
wondered how landscapes like that would translate into music. I wanted something that would feel cold
and fairly isolated, but would have a little bit of mystery and adventure to
it. VOX 7; www.popvoxmusic.com; www.myspace.com/popvoxmusic
HYPNOTICA Compilation 2007 by various artists (2007)
This Swiss compilation CD of electronic
dance/trance music contains the forceful, percussive track Antarctica by Tux-Edo, which starts with the
ominous spoken introduction, Antarctica is the one continent where humans may
forever be strangers. Room31
Records R31001; www.arabesque.co.uk
THE LESS THAT WE ARE by Patient Patient (2007)
The Seattle, Washington indie
band has the hard rocking track Antarctica,
with no apparent connection to The Ice.
The lyrics nevertheless leave some food for Antarctic thought: Those
things you cant contain, love, just let them outWe are all rational people,
dont you push us to the edge. www.patientpatientband.com;
www.myspace.com/patientpatientband
EXPANSE by Graham Elks and Phil Crewe (2007)
Elks and Crewe are veterans of various British
bands and studio veterans. Since
1999 they have collaborated as a guitar duo and multi-instrumentalists on six
instrumental CDs of atmospheric progressive rock. Their latest disc includes Antarctica, a sublime 13-minute searing
cauldron, rather than bottomless crevasse, of a guitar blowout. www.grahamelks-philcrewe.com
GRYNINGSFOLK I SKYMNINGSLAND by Biljardakademien (2007)
Biljardakademien was a literate Swedish
postpunk, light rock group from the early 1980s. This recent collection of
their 1982-1985 recordings and demo tracks includes the jazzy folk-rock track Shackleton
mot Antarktis
(Shackleton to Antarctica) from 1985.
Bendi Recycled BEN-RE-002; www.bendirecords.com
IRISH LIFE AND LORE SERIES - KERRY
COLLECTION - FIRST SERIES - with Padraig Begley (2007)
Jane and Maurice OKeeffe began recording the
oral history of Irish counties in 1990 and to date have an archive of over 1000
hour-long CDs of interviews covering history, livelihoods, folklore and
storytelling. This CD is based on
Maurices chat with Padraig Begley, who was 93 years of age at the time of the
interview. In it, he tells a few
first-hand stories about Tom Crean, one of the giants of the Golden Era of
Antarctic Exploration, who served in Scotts 1901-04 National Antarctic
Expedition, Scotts 1910-13 British Antarctic Expedition and even more famously
as part of Shackletons 1914-17 Endurance Expedition team. Crean was part of the team that made
the journey in the James Caird from Elephant Island to South Georgia, and then
struggled over the mountains to rescue.
Crean retired in 1920 to run a hotel at Annascaul, County Kerry,
Ireland, which he called the South Pole Inn.
In the interview, Padraig tells about an incident at the pub in the inn
and how Crean carried Shackleton on one of the polar journeys. For the non-Irish, the accent may be a
bit hard to follow. CD No. 55; www.irishlifeandlore.com
SEB PIPES LIFE EXPERIENCE by Seb Pipe (2007)
Seb Pipe, a prizewinning British alto
saxophonist, has recorded a live CD with his jazz trio, including the
multi-hued 12-minute track Antarctic Twilight.
Seb told us that, the music in Antarctic Twilight was inspired by images of Antarctic
landscapes. It is my groups
expression of those images through the medium of sonic expression. The music contains both pre-composed
and spontaneously composed (or improvised) elements based upon the
pre-composed themes.
5060080790838; www.sebpipe.com
ANTARTIC ABYSS by the Deep Blue (2007)
This is a largely instrumental heavy metal CD
by a British trio, apparently about the perils of an ocean tyrant, frozen in
the ice, rising to the skies. One
of the tracks is called Under the Ice.
The CD cover has an outline of Antarctica as a sun radiating forth over
icebergs. the Church Within
records CW006; www.myspace.com/thedeepbluewizard
LANTARCTICA by Madee (2007)
Madee is an established indie Spanish rock
group. Despite the title, their
latest CD includes only the track LAntarctica, a slow burning and moody piece with just vague
hints of The Ice: Promises are gone, to a frostbitten place, and you didnt
notice when your dilemmas broke us up.
www.bcore.com
EVRIPIDIS AND HIS TRAGEDIES (2007)
Barcelona, Spain-based Evripidis (Sabatis) and
his group of largely female back-up singers have an interesting CD of
piano-based art rock, theatrical songs embellished with the occasional do wop
and Beach Boyish harmonies.
Included is the allegorical Antarctica. Sample
lyrics: Ice Ice Ice Ice Ice Ice Ice, millions of years old, and all around an
ocean full of life, krill and fish and penguins and seabirds and seals and
whales, So much life around a cold empty heart. Dont try to heat me up baby, its dangerous, the atmosphere
is getting warmer, the ice melts, an iceblock was parted from the icecap and
collapsed, and 10,000 penguins met death, in the cold water. Venice is drowning! soon Holland will
be under waves, and what will come next.
Ive been sleeping a cold sleep for about a billion years, Ive been
calm and alone for about a billion years, Ive been without dreams for about a
billion years, now what will come next if you keep heating me up like this,
with your love? Touchmerecords TMR 01; www.myspace.com/evripidisandhistragedies
HEAT by Marusha (2007)
Marusha (Gleiss) has been a prominent German
DJ, media performer and award-winning recording artist since the early
1990s. Her latest techno/dance CD
has the track Antarctica, long on groove and short on lyrics: Water, emptiness, silence enlight
life of Antarctica – untouched nature creates existence. ElectroMotor MOTO8152; www.marusha.de
SPIRITUAL CATHARSIS by Striborg (2007)
This is a re-release of an original 2004 CD,
which was limited to 500 copies, by the elusive solo black metal artist Sin
Nanna (aka Striborg), who lives near Hobart, Tasmania. It contains the sludgy instrumental
track Dicksonia Antartica, which led us to the reference books. Dicksonia Antarctica is also known as the Soft Tree Fern or
Tasmanian Tree Fern and may be the best known of all the tree ferns. It is native to southeastern Australia
and Tasmania, but has also been grown in Britain for years and is found in
western North America and is reported on a few subantarctic islands. It was named in 1807 after James Dickson,
a Scottish nurseryman and Antarctica refers to southern. In a review on his record companys web
site with online magazine Terrorizer, the artist says that his only
spiritual connection lies within Gaia The true spirit of Mother Nature is my
only source of enlightenment and can only be felt when free of mankind. And I do not care if anybody thinks Im
being politically or ecologically incorrect as this is the way I perceive the
world on a spiritual level. The
CD liner notes introduce the track with Majestic plants among the moss and
water, Towering towards the mysterious sky, Metres of bear-like trunks braying
over the rocks upon my tread...Many ferns grow in this wilderness, Untouched
land of magic proportions, Only the creatures of nature dwell here, Native to
its glorious land. This heavy
metal track has succeeded admirably to put us in the frame of mind of a steamy,
smoldering, prehistoric Gondwana/Pangaea supercontinent, to thoughts about a
tropical Antarctica, Antarctic dinosaurs, Glossopteris fossils and whatever
else may be lying preserved and hidden for countless eons beneath the
horrendous weight of interminable miles of compressed ice, waiting to unleash
its secrets with the onslaught of Global Warming. Whew! Displeased Records D-00171; www.displeasedrecords.com;
www.myspace.com/striborg
NEXT STOP ANTARCTICA by the Green Mist (2007)
The title of their first CD is appropriate for
an Australian rock band collective that had its beginnings in Tasmania. The music starts out as instrumental
roots rock and then veers to a harder sound with vocals. Unfortunately, their trip hasnt
reached anywhere near The Ice yet and the journey does not include any
Antarctic songs. MIST001CD; www.myspace.com/themysteriousgreenmist
ANTARCTIC SUNRISE by A Hundred Times Beloved (2007)
Formed in
2003 as a solo project for Regensburg (Bavaria), Germany-based Felix Neumann,
the group now includes Christian Winklhofer and others for live shows. As there are no specific Antarctic
tracks on this CD of melodic vocal guitar electronica rock, we asked Felix
about the Antarctic influences. He
told us that, After finishing the recording of our CD, we gave the
tracks to a friend. He told us
that he liked the atmosphere of the CD because the production had a strong
contrast between warm and cold sound elements. And so we chose this metaphor for cold (Antarctic) and warm
(Sunrise). Alison Records AL-102;
www.ahundredtimesbeloved.de
WATERS RISING by Lillian Axe (2007)
Lillian Axe is a long-established (1983) heavy rock/metal group from New Orleans. Their melodic seventh CD has the track Antarctica. Lyrics: I climbed the mountains and scaled the ice. Released defiance. My blood ran white, cold and numb. I saw the shadows of demigods. Whispering answers that time forgot. Forever true. Im frozen blue. Theres not much time. I died for you. A true believer, the king of lies. We all betrayed you. Your blood ran white. Im frozen blue. Theres not much time. I died for you. Antarctica. Steve Blaze, original member and lead guitarist told us, This song was written to correlate the vastness of Antarctica to the isolation and emptiness that we experience in our lives. When I imagine the infinite whiteness and desolation of that area, it overwhelms me. Its beautiful yet frightening. Locomotive Records LM493; www.lillianaxe.com
STRAWBERRY T. V. SHOW by the Smiles (2007)
The Smiles are a Korean septuplet with a CD of
light, breezy, polished pop rock that has the track South Pole Sunset. Were not sure whether this refers to the real
thing, or their mixing studio, called the South Pole Lab. Sample lyrics: I love you south poles
sunset glow, Toll is free, come on down tomorrow, I love you south poles
sunset glow, Free as theyll ever be Hold my hand Ill take you to my greatest
viewing seat, Call my name youre welcome to my south pole picnic spree. Beatball Records BEAT33
SDPOL by Reuber (2007)
Timo Reuber is an analog synthesizer musician
from Cologne, Germany, with four CDs.
This latest one contains the tracks Amundsen and Sdpol (South Pole), two interesting
instrumentals with plenty of arpeggiated bubbles, gurgles and beats. Staubgold 75; www.staubgold.com
DES COBRAS, DES TARANTULES by 3 Gars Sul Sofa (2007)
The band of three guys on the
sofa are a trio from the Montreal area with their first CD of melodic, acoustic
folk music, just pickin and singin in Quebecois slang, known as joual. The songs have a sunny, everyday
disposition and include LAntarctique,
which at just over a minute, might be the shortest Antarctic song
recorded. The lyrics are pure
minimalism (our translation): In Antarctica everything is always cold and
white. Theres no road, you just go straight ahead in front. When its dark, its because its time
to go inside, and play cards, for a longtime. PIXCD 7499; www.3gss.ca
PEAR & SISTER PINECONE by Page France (2007)
The Baltimore, Maryland soft folk rock group,
led by Michael Nau, has a reputation for putting on vibrant, homey live
shows. They include Antarctica
(My Beloved Home)
on this 2-disc CD. When did your
eyes glaze dull, my Antarctica, my beloved home, they treat you like a dog, my
Antarctica, my beloved home, they treat you like a dog, Im sorry if I joined
along. Fall Records
FR93442; www.fallrecords.com;
www.pagefrance.net
AUSSIE
CHRISTMAS WITH BUCKO & CHAMPS Volumes I & II (2006)
Colin Buchanan
and Greg Champion are each veteran Australian musicians and performers on
Australian radio and TV and individually have many CDs to their names. They collaborated on these two CDs of
largely their own comedic Christmas songs, some of which have a particularly
pointed but lighthearted Australian slant on matters. The songs were recorded or remixed over 1994/97/98/99 and
reissued in 2006 as a double CD, which includes bonus karaoke sing-along music
tracks. Volume I, nominated for an
Australian comedy record award, contains the track Santas Moving to the South
Pole. With references to two Australian Antarctic base names in a
Santa song, it is clear that Australians take their Antarctic heritage
seriously.
Lyrics
are: It was in the middle of last July, When Santa jumped out of bed, He said
Ive had enough of this old North Pole, Im headin South instead. His accountant said its risky, Theres
a likelihood of failure, But Santa said, I need a Pole thats closer to
Australia! Chorus: Say
goodbye to the Northern Blizzards, And the bitter Arctic cold, Hello sun and
surf and sand, Santas movin to the South Pole./ Hes got the suntan oil, Hawaiian shirt, Hes shifted
operations, All winter long hes gonna surf The break at Casey Station. The palm trees and the nightlife, Happy
days are here, His mails been redirected to the Southern Hemisphere. /Chorus/ Its a little far from Amsterdam, And
Moscows many a mile, But down at the Mawson Reef Hotel, Hes kickin back in
style. Cos when the Christmas rush
is really on, Come December 24, Santa loves the South Pole best, Cos
Australias right next door!
Greg
told us in 2008 that Here in Australia, we experience a lot of
Northern Hemisphere Christmas imagery and music: songs about snow, winter,
cold, etc, that do not correspond to our hot Southern Hemisphere
Christmases. So Mr. Buchanan and I,
in writing songs about the Aussie Christmas, took traditional Northern
Hemisphere ideas and morphed them into Southern Hemisphere concepts: we took
Santa out of the North Pole and brought him closer to Australia. At the same time, one of Colins
associates told us that she just spoke to Colin, who has a fantastic sense of
humour, thanks to God. He said
Santa comes from the North Pole so he thought he would try the South Pole and
see Santas experiences. Wanaaring Road Music & The Greg Champion Group OR 088; www.colinbuchanan.com.au; www.gregchampion.com.au
TANGERINE
DRAM PLAYS TANGERINE DREAM (2006)
Tangerine Dream is an internationally
successful German recording and touring synthesizer/electronic music group
formed in the late 1960s. This CD
contains re-recordings and re-mixes of group pieces, performed by the original
composers or by musicians associated with the band over its 40 year life. Included is the opening track South
Pole Crossing, a
forceful, rhythmic piece performed by Paul Haslinger for the Japanese
documentary production Mandala. He
co-wrote the track with the founding and only remaining original member Edgar
Froese. Eastgate Music and Media; www.tangerinedream-music.com
F**K
THE FUTURE by Foot Village (2006)
Foot
village is a post apocalypse world-rebuilding drum quartet, with members from
various Los Angeles, California underground groups. The tracks on the CD are largely named after countries of
the world and consist of the name of the country being shouted out and followed
by demonic percussion, with occasional chants or vocals. Included are two separate tracks
entitled Antartica. The first one follows the general trend
of massive pounding primitivism, while the second one is completely atypical of
the CD, being an ambient-like drone, accompanied by various percussive sounds
that do much to create a frozen continental sound impression. Deathbomb Arc DBA073; Excite Bike
EXBX005; NGWTT; Olfactory Records OF008; www.myspace.com/footvillage
RUINING
EVERYTHING FOR EVERYONE by 24 Hour Taco
Shop (2006)
24 Hour
taco Shop is a ska, rock and reggae sextet of high school seniors (as at 2008) from
Pittsburgh, PA, showcasing a trumpet-driven happy-time musical sound. Their debut CD contains the track Antarctica,
which may lay claim to be one of the
jolliest Antarctic tunes recorded.
It begins with the announcement, All Antarcticans please enter the
baggage claim. Sample
chorus: Antarctica is the place
for smiles, no phone service, no speed dial...theres no sand, theres only
snow. Drummer and co-lyricist
Justin Culotta told us about the lyrics: In all honesty, I felt like
making a song that was about Antarctica for no real reason, but if you listen
closely to the lyrics, half of them are intended to not make any sense, and we
also have a song called the North Pole that is similar. www.myspace.com/24hourtacoshoppa
RADIO
SWAN IS DOWN by Laura (2006)
Melbournes
rock group Laura was formed in 2001 and has attracted critical success with its
second CD of largely instrumental, dense, atmospheric rock. Included is the slow, moody track Lake
Vostok Beachfront. Andrew Chalmers, guitarist,
vocalist and noisemaker with the band told us in 2008 that I read about
Lake Vostok in Scientific American or something. Its amazing...isolated for such a long time, but sooner or
later, somebody will open it up, or the ice over it will melt...not as spectacular
as the ocean rushing through the Straits of Gibraltar and filling up the
Mediterranean Sea, but still a pretty big moment. I think I like the idea of Lake Vostok because the immediate
reaction is, its so ancient and isolated, but on the other hand it seems so
precarious - the thought of an underground lake encased in ice makes me
instantly think, its perfect, so what will it take to ruin it? Who destroys it? Why? Is it intentional?
Is it a consequence of human action? Are humans even around? At some point, there may well be a Lake Vostok beachfront,
and it might be a nice place to have a house. Or at some point there may be ash on Lake Vostok, and an end
might have been put to life on earth.
All very melodramatic, huh?
What am I, twelve years old?
Alone Again Records Day006cd; www.lauratheband.com; www.myspace.com/lauranoise
HARLEM
HOMECOMING by Salim Washington and Harlem
Arts Ensemble (2006)
Led by
the New York-based Washington on tenor sax, flute, oboe and vocals, the nucleus
of the ensemble performs regularly in Harlem. The horn section has been together for nearly two
decades. In addition to his own
group, Washington plays with numerous other groups throughout North and South America
and Europe. He has been a college
musical educator and participant in committees and panels on behalf of
jazz. The current energetic CD of
original tunes has the short free-form track There is Now Grass Growing in
Antarctica. Salim told us in 2008 that in the track, I was trying to
call attention to the problem of global warming and the fact that we pay too
little attention to the preservation of our planet and its wonderful variety. That the global warming trends are
showing up even in Antarctica is cause for alarm, and in my small way, wanted
to bring attention to this fact.
The liner notes explain that the track was sparked by my good friend
and brother, Kobinah Abdul-Salim.
He explained to me one day that there is now grass growing in Antarctica,
and it occurred to me that this was more important than the political and
economic devastation that so many face.
What does it profit us, even if we win our political and cultural
battles, if we destroy our world?
Ujam Records 126; www.ujamrecords.com
THE
BRIGHT DAY IS GONE by Children of the
Stones (2006)
Children
of the Stones are a collective of Irish musicians, led by David Colohan, who is
also involved with several other rock group endeavours. The present CD has a very mystical feel
to it with the sounds ranging from ambient instrumental tracks to plaintive
piano-based folk music, including Poor Scott, a plaintive and melancholy ode to Robert Scotts ill-fated
South Pole march in 1911-12. The
song ends as abruptly and as ominously as the journey. Lyrics: With a sailboat bound for
McMurdo Sound and winter-long nights behind, and our last few miles under
frozen skies across the inland seas tonight. Heading south the last post lies across the ice, well stick
it out until the end. This most
travelled scene where the ice shelf leaves and drifts off into the mists, and
Mt. Erebus looms before us like a gravestone for our trip. Heading south the last post lies across
the ice, well stick it out until the end. January took us to the South Pole, found a flag standing in
the snow, and there were storm clouds building in the southern skies, across
the inland seas. Shane Cullinane
told us in 2008: The song was co-written by myself and Dave Colohan of
Agitated Radio Pilot about 5 years ago.
I can no longer remember why we decided to write about Scott but I do
remember us each going through the World Book encyclopedia looking for lyrical
ideas, Im not sure if the idea came from the book or if we had the idea and
then looked up the books. The new
United Bible Studies album, to be released soon on Camera Obscura Records, has
a song called Death in the Arctic, which
is a section of a Robert Service poem set to music. Wrong pole for you though, I suppose. Deserted Village
DC026; www.desertedvillage.com
I
WANNA PLAY by Bill Harley (2006)
Bill
Harley is Massachusetts-based Grammy award-winning childrens entertainer,
author, story-teller and public radio broadcaster. The booklet of his current CD says that his original work
combines song and story to paint a vibrant, humorous and meaningful portrait of
American Life. The track To
the South Pole answers the age-old
question of where a young lad is to seek refuge when in trouble with his
mother. As one of Bills
production company representatives told us, When a kid is in trouble he
thinks of the furthest place to run. Sample lyrics: Dear mom, please read
this letter, Before you walk inside,
I think youll feel just a little bit better, If youre not too
surprisedI didnt know about the carpet, I didnt know about the sink, I
didnt know that the cat would do that, I didnt know the paint was pink, You
know I tried to make things better, I thought I could fix it still, Next time I
wont use the hammer, Or the glue gun or the drillIts a long way, Im bound
to travel, To where the snow falls and the cold winds blow, Where the penguins
play on the icebergs, to the South Pole, I must goPlease dont cry, Dont shed
no tears, Ill be back when things are better, In twenty-seven years. Round River Records 121; www.billharley.com
LOVE, PEACE, JUSTICE by Martin Jeremiah (2006)
Martin Jeremiah is a singer,
songwriter and guitarist from West Sussex, England. His current CD has the track Twenty Forty Two, about his concern for the future of Antarctica. It is one of the most heartfelt and
empathetic Antarctic songs weve encountered. The lyrics are: Up above a
virgin snow-white land, is a hole so big and round, and comes piercing through
that empty space. The sun its
beating down, as her big blue ice heart melts. Her white face sheds its tears. Where a footprint thats in the moss can last a hundred
years. And the twisted metal of
machines spoils the land of peoples snow-white dreams. Children where are you in 2042? Children where are you in
2042? As the seals all in their
white beds lie, the hunter strikes his blow, and where once the emperor
penguins played, theres red tracks in the snow. As man pursues his blackest gold, explosions under sea. As longest day, it turns to longest night,
the whale and dolphin flee. And
the oil slicks they do impress an ugly stain on Natures wedding dress. Children where are you? And the tangled metal of machines
spoils the land of peoples snow-white dreams. Children where are you?
In 2008, Martin told us: I wrote
the song after seeing a talk by a guy called Robert Swan who walked to both
Poles. He ran a programme in the
last few years called Mission Antarctica which concentrated on cleaning up
Antarctica (debris from previous bases, etc.) with young people as volunteers. The international treaty protecting
Antarctica against commercial exploitation is due for renewal in 2041 and
so Robert Swan named the boat that took people on the trips 2041 to
highlight this fact. The logic
behind raising awareness amongst children and young people is that they might
one day be the people who are still around to see the treaty protecting
Antarctica renewed. It is the last
unspoiled place on this planet, but the fear is, that it may not remain so
after 2041.
I therefore wrote 2042 mainly
as an apocalyptic vision of what might happen if the treaty is not renewed.
However the song is also partly a tribute to a young woman called Pip Gregory
who tragically died of medical complications on one of the Mission Antarctica
trips. The song hopes to highlight
the grave responsibility for our children in the chorus Oh children where are
you, in 2042, i.e. please dont fail in your mission to continue to
protect Antarctica, because this is what is likely to happen and there is no
going back. Red White & Green
Records RWG CDR0601; www.rwgrecords.com
THE NAVY LARK Volume 18 (2006)
The Navy Lark, the longest
running comedy program in British radio history, was a concoction about the
antics of the crew of HMS Troutbridge, on the BBC airwaves from March 1959 to
July 1977 with 15 series. This
double CD of four episodes includes Back from the Antarctic, broadcast on July 2, 1967. This caper has the Troutbridge,
apparently returning from Antarctica, with a flotilla of various ships in
tow. The program theme music was
composed by harmonica virtuoso Tommy Reilly and by James Moody. BBC Audio; www.bbcshop.com; (See also NAVY LARK Series 4 Volume 2 (2008) and NAVY LARK Series Two Volume
1 (2004) in this
section.)
RESISTANCE: 2012 by Stereomotion (2006)
Stereomotion is the Goth electro/industrial
solo project of German Florian Jger.
This disc includes the drum-heavy track Antarctica. Florian told us, The inspiration for the track rests
upon a strong yearning for loneliness, pureness and serenity. A strange feelinga cold shelter. I was mesmerized by the
Antarctic-theme when I wrote the song.
The whale samples in the background emphasize the feelings which I
wanted to convey with the track.
e-noxe nx048; www.stereomotion.de
SLIMMER DAN DE ZANGER by Bart Peeters (2006)
Peeters is a Flemish composer/TV
personality/perfomer with a CD of interesting Euro rock and continental cabaret
style songs, complete with accordion and mid-eastern instrumentation. Included on the CD (English title:
Cleverer Than The Singer) is Pinguin Op Antarctica. His
management company told us, The song text is about all the things we have to
communicate, but conversation and language itself is often a problem. So, you can chat with a penguin in
Antarctica, you can send an E-mail to the moon..... As the lyrics ask: With three billion channels and TVs
everywhere, why cant we understand each other? EMI 0094637696521; www.bartpeeters.net
ANTARCTICA TAKES IT! by the Penguin League (2006)
And yet another indie group with
kitchen sing-along appeal, this time from Santa Cruz, California, complete with
accordion, glockenspiel, cello, violin, trumpet and ukulele. One of the (best) songs is the joyous,
image-filled Antarctica; sample lyrics:
We stole away from the crown of flame, For a cold land without a name, We had
our maps and our compass set for the long journey aheadWe traced shapes across
the starry skies, made our way through each tender night, We heard the weary
whales too, And sang along neath the silver moon, Antarctica you stole our
heartsWe felt the madness shake our souls, And grew our beards down to our
toes The back cover even has a
picture of a lopsided Sno-cat with attached crevasse detectors. www.myspace.com/antarcticatakesit
EMPIRE OF SILENCE by the port fish (2006)
The port fish are a synthesizer duo from the Slovak
Republic, with a CD of bubbly, atmospheric instrumental music, including the
eight-minute track Antarctic. One half of the duo, Flow, explained
for us the motivation for the track: Well, I really don't know - the idea just
came, and as we were working on the track we fell into the kind of mood like
someone being alone in some deserted, frosty place. Thats how we came with the track title Antarctic. Were usually trying to create some
picture or short story from what we feel from our music, just for ourselves, to
find the best title for every track.
Sometimes it is fun, sometimes a torture... thats how it goes. iam-por-001; www.portfish.net
SHERBET by Newbie Brad (2006)
This is
a solo CD of experimental electronic music by Tennessean Newbie Brad. Together with Pantha under the name 3
Pups Music, they either work alone, with each other, or with other artists,
using electronic wind instruments, fretless electric guitar, software and other
noisemakers to make rock, noise, ambient or orchestral music. The CD contains the track Salaam Antarctica and Newbie Brad told us, My recollection is that Salaam
Antarctica and Pengy were recordings I made on a challenge from another
musician to make some compositions or recordings with Antarctica in mind. I made the compositions and recordings
with my fretless electric guitar and manipulated the guitars signal through
some software. I know the
recordings are very odd, but I was happy with them. We produced a video called Medley that includes the audio
from Salaam Antarctica and Pengy" and the audio from another selection called 57
Midnights: (www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0Kofc-kNig). 3PC-32006;
3pupsmusic.com
KAUAI by Chet (2006)
Victoria, B. C. band Chet offers a CD of haunting tunes and very idiosyncratic vocals by crooner Ryan Beattie. Included is the tropical-influenced Antarctica, with sample lyrics, Theres some white bones out on the ice, and on a desolate night, when theres no hope in sight, there are Hawaiian skiesYou man the oars for a while. You talk yourself to sleep in the cold. You pull the heartstrings (of the men). You talk yourself to sleep in the coldand out on the ice, theres a lingering vice. If we dont die of exposure, were bound to die of failure. A small taste of victory will soften your memory. Theres no beaches, no palms. Just the music of Hawaiian love songs. Ryan informed us that the motivation for the track is determination in spite of great nostalgic temptation, Ernest Shackleton being a prime example. Hawaii being his (in this story anyway) temptation/romance/will on such desolate terms. ARG105; www.aaarghrecords.com
XENOPHOBIA by Rob Astor (2006)
Michigan-based synthesizer artist
Rob Astor has made numerous instrumental CDs. This double disc includes the track Topic of Antarctica, with a floating 12 string guitar sound and a bass
thundering like a falling glacier.
www.myspace.com/soloartistrobastor
CENTURIES BEFORE LOVE AND WAR by Stars of Track and Field (2006)
The debut CD by this upcoming indie band from
Portland, Oregon includes the wistful guitar-driven anthemic Movies of
Antarctica. Wind-up 60150-13124-2; www.starsoftrackandfield.com
MOTION PICTURE MUSIC 94 -05 by Mick Harvey (2006)
Mick Harvey is an Australian rock musician,
solo artist and member of the group, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. This CD is a collection of his film
soundtracks, which include the 2004 Australian Simon Nasht-directed
documentary, Frank Hurley - The Man Who Made History. Frank Hurley was Shackletons esteemed photographer on the
Endurance Expedition. The eight
short, spare Frank Hurley tracks include three Antarctic themes: Setting Sail, Antarctica, and Things Gone Wrong. Mute Records 0094537749425; www.mickharvey.com
PROGRESS REFORM by iLiKETRAiNS (2006)
Only a British group (this one is from Leeds)
could open their debut disc with a track called Terra Nova, named after Robert Scotts 1910-1912
South Pole expedition and ship.
The music for this song (as well as for the entire disc) is slow, heavy
and brooding, reflecting the deep subjects of thought. A special inclusion is the video of the
Terra Nova
soundtrack, portraying the fated South Pole march. It is complete with a miniature ship, expeditioners and
styrofoam ice. Especially moving
is the scene of the group climbing up through the Beardmore Glacier to the ice
cap and the later scene played out by Titus Oates as he struggles out the tent
to his death. fierce panda canada
fpc nong43cd; www.iLiKETRAiNS.co.uk
GARDEN CITIES OF TOMORROW by Lullaby Baxter (2006)
From her singing career beginnings in Montreal
almost a decade ago, Baxters second CD is a treasure of melodic pop with
various instrumentation and breathy vocals. It includes the track Antarctica. Boompa BPA015;
www.lullabybaxter.com
ANTARCTICA a storybook record by the Never (2006)
This is a combination CD and small, illustrated
book about a small boy, Paul, and his misadventures with a witch. When he gets scared, he closes his
eyes and goes to Antarctica just in his mind. The CD is by a North Carolina rock group, one of whose
members wrote the book and includes the track Antarctica. TRK 023; www.trekkyrecords.com
HOT LOVE by Buttercup (2006)
San Antonio, Texas is home base for these
performance artists/ vocal driven rock group, which has a puzzling song, Anti-Antarctica on their CD, with the chorus, so
come to me now, come further south, Antarctica, Anti-Antarctica. www.buttercult.com
LOVER, THE LORD HAS LEFT US by the Sound of Animals Fighting
(2006)
Progressive, experimental rock music from a
California ensemble of musicians from various indie bands. St. Broadrick is in Antarctica is a strange musical/vocal chant
with no apparent connection with the continent. Evr127; www.thesoundofanimalsfighting.com
MUSICAL MISSIONS by Little Einsteins (2006)
This CD is a Walt Disney Records undertaking to promote childrens development through music and rhythm. One of the four musical voyages the kids take on the CD is to Antarctica, backed by Mozarts Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. Disney 5008 61430-7; www.littleeinsteins.com
MOVEMENTS by Black Tie Dynasty (2006)
With a 1980s British guitar-synth band sound,
this Dallas group has a track called Antarctica.
IDOL Records IR 054; www.blacktiedynasty.com
LITERATURE by Dexxx (2006)
Dexxx is a Nashville-based urban grunge folkie.
His CD includes the track Antarctica, about lost love: You dont need no flare gun
tonight, ghost pains tell me where you are, 75 latitude, southern latitude,
Antarctica. Rockstarmessiah
Records
STRING THEORY by Technetium (2006)
Seattle-based Technetium has issued numerous dance and
club music CDs and this one contains the forceful instrumental Antarctica. Lorilee
is the sole group member and she told us that, I have a very deep fondness of
the Antarctic. To me it is one of
the world wonders, perfect for the photographer or for the arts because it is
so pristine and untouched. There are
not many places left in this world that hold such a natural beauty. Like the Aurora Borealis, there are
some things in this world that can never be fully captured: the power, the
beauty or even the hardship of the area.
I tried in the song Antarctica but I only captured a small glimpse of what the region really has to
offer. More songs would be needed
to fully bridge upon the complexity, although I will save that for a future
time. I am so happy to hear that
others share my fondness of Antarctica. WTFD Records 2006-041; www.technetiumrecords.com
STRING THEORY by The Determined Luddites (2006)
Led by twin mandolins, this virtuostic progressive folk/bluegrass quartet from Tucson has a song called Emperor of Antarctica. Home, its where the heart is, but what about a heart thats been cast upon the sand, Now I sit around and dream Im the emperor of Antarctica, With storms and rivers of ice at my command.When Im tanked up I believe Im the emperor of Antarctica , And I guess Ill have one more bottle of beer." When asked about the reason for the song, Dan Hostetler, vocalist and guitarist, told us, Thanks for your question, possibly one of the more unusual requests I have gotten. I confess that I lifted the phrase the emperor of Antarctica from Sylvia Nasars biography of mathematician John Forbes Nash, A Beautiful Mind. Mr. Nash suffered from schizophrenia, and at the height of his delusional state, he imagined himself the emperor of Antarctica. When I read that passage, it struck me as a perfect metaphor for a state of emotional turmoil, and I used it for that and as a contrast to the rest of my song, which is set in and around the Sonoran Desert where I live. Hope that answers your question. It is hard to imagine there is a lot of music out there about Antarctica but one never knows. Enjoy the music. Escape Goat Records 004; www.biggaloot.com/luddites
RETURN OF THE LYRICIST by Prophit (2006)
Hip hop/rap music from Tacoma, Washington-based
Nelson Hurd includes the track Ice Man Antarctic Breeze. With more than 20 years of writing under his belt, Nelsons
advice is to keep moving. His
lyrics are treacherously vicious and not for the casual easy listener. Prophit told us that I came up
with Antarctic Breeze because to me it
is the purest air on earth, mostly untamed with all the pollution that clouds
most of the earths air, relating to the song because it is not catering to
what MTV or BET or any other commercial venues demand, to get airplay, though
there is a double meaning to the song.
It is a four-part saga between two characters: the Iceman and 7 Bill $
man. The 7 Bill $ mans songs on
the CD are entitled the 7 Bill $ man and Rivals. The Icemans songs are, of course, the Iceman and the Iceman
Antarctic Breeze, which is meant to be an epic battle between two
superpowers. 4542; www.incredibleflow.com
APPLICATION ANTARCTICA DOWNLOAD FORM by Seht (2006)
New Zealands one-man
electronica/ambient band (aka Stephen Clover) carries a one note drone,
entitled Antarctica Download, for ten minutes too long (the length of the track). www.cpsip.co.nz
VERUCA SALT IV by Veruca Salt (2006)
Originally formed in Chicago in the
early 1990s, the current edition of the band is Los Angeles-based and is led by
co-founder Louise Post. Antarctica
gets a fleeting mention as a reflection of eternity in the track Salt Flat
Epic:
Pacific Oceans way too small for both of us to swim, Antarctica will have to
thaw for us to meet again, and I respect the all of what is fair and worthy.
And I will never feel this way about another person and will never feel this
way again. Sympathy Records; www.verucasalt.com
MY LIFE IN BLACK AND WHITE by Cloudy Skies (2005)
Based in Portland, Oregon, Cloudy Skies is a
loud, dynamic rock & roll bar band with Celtic, country and sea shanty
influences. One of the tracks is
called Shackleton,
with a biting reference to the Boss, but no other Antarctic connections. Sample lyrics: Well hes taking these
shots just like hes Jack Dempsey and hes poking his ice like he thinks hes
Shackleton and hes hoping maybe hell catch her eye. And it seems to me shes got a pretty face but theres a
viper underneath that satin and lace and Im praying he makes it out
alive. www.mylifeinblackandwhite.com;
www.myspace.com/mylifeinblackandwhite
ANTARCTICA by Antarctica (2005)
(Vinyl LP only)
Matt Schwartz is a London,
U.K.-based composer and producer of dance music who uses various group names,
both alone and with collaborators, including Antarctica, a co-project with Mark
Gilbert. The two tracks on this LP
include Antarctica Sun Version and Antarctica Original Mix, hard-hitting tub
thumpers, great for listening to on iPods when trekking out on the Ice. DEST12DJX01; www.destined-records.com
ANTARCTICA by Equinox/SURVIVAL by Kensal Rise (2006) (Vinyl LP
only)
Drums & Bass music from a British club
music label. The multi-faceted
9-minute track Antarctica captures well the harsh winds, blizzards and moods of The Ice. The cover photo has an interesting,
smudged map outline of the continent.
Inperspective Records INP13; www.inperspectiverecords.com
ANTARCTICA by the Bedford Incident (2005)
The Sheffield, U.K.-based light rock band has
the track Antarctica on their 5-song minidisc.
The lyrics seem to be as concerned with global freezing as with warming:
How cold can it be, when it drops to -3?... Global warmth of ice age, fur lined gilded cageOne day we
will be in Antarctica. It will be
just like in prehistory. Therell
be lots of snow with nowhere left to go.
We must keep warm to be the last life form. High Rise Records; www.thebedfordincident.co.uk
NATURAL WONDERS OF THE WORLD IN DUB by Zion Train (2005)
Zion Train is a London, U.K.-based dub/dance
reggae group, formed in 1990 and popular in the alternative- underground club
scene. This CD is a reissue of the
original 1994 vinyl LP, with tracks named after various significant world-wide
natural formations or sites, which the group had read about or visited. Included is the track Ross Ice Shelf, which could well be the worlds
only reggae tribute to Antarcticas major ice shelf, often compared in size to
France. Group member (Neil) Perch
told us in 2008 that The sheer beauty of the place inspired us. The liner notes describe the Shelf as around 500 miles long and almost
as wide. This vast free floating
iceberg was named after the British Explorer James Clark Ross who found it in
1841. In places the ice reaches a
thickness of 2000 feet. The track
percolates and bubbles along crisply, underlain by the requisite heavy
bass. Universal Egg Records
WWCD005R; www.wobblyweb.com/zt
WATER SPHERE by Pilot Drift (2005)
The Texarkana, Texas group has a wide ranging
sound on the CD, spanning from hard rock to the theatrical. Included is Elephant Island, a very dramatic song about Shackletons
Endurance Expedition. It starts as
folk song, changing to a heavy rock chorus, with further verses in a waltz
tempo and then moving to circus-like calliope music. The groups singer and songwriter, Kelly Carr told us that
the reason/motivation for that song is two things really. First, it was a story that was very
inspirational to my father, that he passed down to me. Second, its a story that I could
relate to in the context of the Christian faith. Shackleton, like Christ, was the sole purpose that all his
men survived. A situation that is
so dire, most people would have given up.
But the mens faith in Shackletons leadership and his word enabled them
to press on when it all seemed impossible. I picture myself waiting on Elephant Island, my leader I
believe in, saying that he will return for me. There are parallel struggles with that voice in ones head
that doubts, starts rationalizing chances. But it comes back to faith. Sure enough, Shackleton (like Christ), returns like he said
he would, rescuing all of them. If
they didnt believe, they would have died.
Lyrics: Scratch one more dash on the bow of the boat, as
nineteen months forces pride down our throats. Throw another dog on the fire. Try not to think of your desires. Seasons change but the days look the same. Our faces age as our beards grow in
shame. Insanitys eyes creeps up
with a laugh, when Hurley almost lost the photographs. Listen men, keep your eyes to the sun,
who melts the ice caps away.
Hey! Hey! Hey! Hold tight to the Captains words of Shackletons Return. A
year and a half drifting in the Weddell Sea, Endurance froze and sank, we left
in no luxury. We rowed our way to
Elephant Island. He left to find the
whalers helping hand. We drank up
the wine trying to pass up the time.
We raise up our glass for today is our last. The band begins the dark circus parade, as spirits of all
the crew men now fade. When that
tugboat neared, Shackleton stood up tall on its bow calling, Are you all
well?! to which was answered, All safe, Boss, All well! Good Records GRR 007; www.pilotdrift.com
THE SUNLANDIC TWINS by of Montreal (2005)
Led by Kevin Barnes, this Georgia, U.S.A.-based
group combines a light, melodic pop sound with darker lyrics over numerous
CDs. This one has the track Wraith
Pinned to the Mist and Other Games. While not a polar song,
it has the catchy, nihilistic chorus repeated throughout the song: Lets
pretend we dont exist, Lets pretend were in Antarctica. Polyvinyl Record Co. PRC-088; www.ofmontreal.net
THE COMPLETE NATIONAL ANTHEMS OF THE WORLD
Volume 3 (2005)
This is a collection of eight CDs of national
anthems, played by the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, arranged and conducted
by Peter Breiner. The French
Southern and Antarctic Lands (which include the sub-Antarctic les Kerguelen, Crozet and Amsterdam plus
Terre Adlie, the continental part of Antarctica historically claimed by
France) are represented by La Marseillaise,
which is the French anthem. We
note that no other sub-Antarctic Islands or continental parts claimed by other
nations are represented by national anthems in the set. The liner notes state that, From time
to time, the general idea gains currency that national anthems are nowadays an
anachronism. According to the
critics arguments, these anthems were the product of a period of awakening
nationalism. Today, however, there
is wide endeavour to overcome narrow, national ways of thinking and acting,
with the great aim of promoting the peaceful community and union of nations, to
realize which should be the first principle for politicians all over the
world. MARCO POLO 8.225321
DREAMWIND - EARLY YEARS ON MP3 by Dreamwind (2005)
Dreamwind is a Birmingham, Alabama electronic
space music trio with over 166 CDs of digitally recorded instrumental
improvisations, played with numerous synthesizers and bass. This compilation has the percolating
ambient track Colonial Antartica.
www.broadjam.com/dreamwind
GRAVE NEW WORLD by Antarctica vs. the World (2005)
Heavy metal punk music by a now disbanded New
Orleans group. Ominous band name
but no Antarctic titles on the CD.
According to a group website, they form a union that thrives on terror
and revels in horror. They destroy
the crowd and themselves, and they leave a scar of blood and pain in their
wake. Tent-05; www.tentcityrecords.com
LOST ELECTRICTY by missAntarctica (2005)
Intriguing name for the British-Dutch group but
there are no Antarctic songs on this CD of U2-ish melodic but dark rock. Island 987 436-7; www.missantarctica.com
EGYPTIAN REGISTER by Gilt Trip (2005)
This is a very melodic CD of instrumental music
from an Australian trio, with the suitably mysterious and eerie track The
Arctic Antarctic. www.karmichit.com.
NORTH ATLANTIC DRIFT by Tena Palmer (2005)
Tena Palmer is an Ottawa-based
singer/songwriter, whose talents range from jazz to folk and blues. She was the
former vocalist with Ottawas Celtic jazz quartet, Chelsea Bridge, which won as
best new Canadian group at the 1993 Montreal Jazz Festival. The present disc includes her forlorn Christmas
in Antarctica,
Its Christmas in Antarctica but no one seems to know. The same old scene, all white and
clean, the same old snow. Another
endless summers sunny day and night, no need for Christmas lights of red, gold
and green. None of the penguins or
seals ever heard of Bethlehem or know the angels words, still they have peace
on earth. Its Christmas in
Antarctica, for what its worth. TLP-001; www.tenapalmer.com
INNOCENCE by Ken Davis (2005)
Australian Ken Davis is well known for his
instrumental music for relaxation and environmental awareness. The present disc of piano solos
includes includes Theme For Antarctica, which, Ken told us, was named as I have
always had a fascination for Antarctica and intend in the next couple of years
of going there on one of the expeditions they run from Australia through
Australian Geographic Magazine Tours.
The killing of the baby seals was finally outlawed and Ive got footage
from Greenpeace that would make anyone sick of the clubbing of baby seals as on
the cover of the CD. So it is an
Innocent Animal. I hope this has
helped you understand. I am an
environmentalist and a lover of nature and will always do what I can to prevent
the culling of Baby Seals, Whales and Dolphins. Especially Minke Whales that are being hunted by the
Japanese for so called scientific studies. If you have looked into the eye of a huge humpback whale, as
I have on several occasions, you would understand to kill these magnificent
harmless creatures is a crime against humanity. KDM1035 D; www.kendavismusic.com
SOUL NATURE by Tim Osborne (2005)
Washington State Osbornes piano-based
orchestrated New Age music includes the soothing Chapel of the Snows, about the Chapel at the U.
S. Antarctic base, McMurdo Station. Tim spent two years in Antarctica with the
U.S. Navy. He was a co-founder and
tuba player for the Ross Island Brass, which was the only band of its kind on
the continent. After eleven years
in the Navy, Tim decided it was time to settle down and focus on his
music. Tim told us, On nice clear
days the chapel was the perfect place to see spectacular views of the
Transantarctic Mountains, particularly beautiful at the beginning of the summer
season when the sun is still low in the sky. If I was lucky I would see Weddell seals and their pups and
even a penguin or two. The chapel
was always quiet, and with that marvelous view, made a perfect atmosphere for
inspiration. Along with the view,
I will always remember the wonderful friends I made while in Antarctica. I intend to return to Antarctica in the
future. Antarctic Music AM-052305; www.antarcticmusic.com
GRADUATION by Lagoon (2005)
Tucsons rockers include the moody Arctic
Antarctic on their
debut CD. Singer-guitarist David
Ziegler-Voll told us a relative was going through some tough times and
her doctor thought she might be bi-polar; hence the title Arctic/Antarctic. The
song deals with my perspective about her situation living in a big cold empty
house alone. www.lagoononline.com
WORDLESS RHYMES by Dave Nachmanoff (2005)
Californian Nachmanoff has been British light
rocker/troubador Al Stewarts guitarist in recent years. On this disc he includes a reggified
instrumental version of Stewarts Antarctica. (See LAST DAYS OF THE CENTURY by Al Stewart - (1988, reissued
1997) in this section below)
Troubador Records TR009; www.davenach.com
HAPPY ALL THE TIME by Jake (2005)
British Columbia resident Jake Differs second CD of songs in a variety of styles, for children, includes the swaying Antarctic Soire. Gonna rent a tuxedo, A pair of winter boots, A pocket full of jelly beans, And a bag of frozen fruit, Fish sticks by the seaside, Maybe then a little dip - Perhaps take in a light show, From some distant passing ship. Goin to a penguin party, Antarctic soire, Those penguins really throw a great party, Antarctic soire. On a floating piece of ice, Thats driftin in the sea, Lay back, enjoy the stars, And changing scenery. Goin to a penguin party, Antarctic soire, Those penguins really throw a great party, Antarctic soire. Were slippin and slidin, Were dancin penguin style, Put your wrists down to your ankles, Just wobble round and smile. I doubt that you can hear us, Were so very far away, where no one pays us any mind, Its here I want to stay. MBJ-002; www.musicbyjake.com
WHICH WAY by Dan Junk (2005)
Florida musician Dan Junk includes a light
guitar-based instrumental, Antarctica, in this jazzy/blues/rock CD of instrumentals
and vocal tracks. Hazz Cat-Records
7049; www.danjunk.com
FOUND IN THE FLOOD by The Bled (2005)
Tucson, Arizonas heavy metal rockers have
included the track Antarctica, where nothing lives here and no one comes here anymore. Vagrant VR413; www.thebledsite.com
The music from DRAWING RESTRAINT 9 by Bjrk (2005)
Icelandic vocalist and recording persona Bjrk
has provided the largely instrumental soundtrack to Matthew Barneys conceptual
allegorical film about a Japanese whaling ship with its cargo of a sculpture of
liquid vaseline. At films end the
ship is on its way through icebergs towards Antarctica. The last track on the CD is Antarctic
Return, played on
the sho, one of Japans oldest instruments, consisting of multiple reeds and
pipes. One Little Indian OLI459; www.bjork.com
OPEN SEASON by British Sea Power (2005)
Widely heralded rising British rock group has
written a melodic tribute to the melting and break up of the Antarctic
Peninsulas Larsen Ice shelf, Oh Larsen B.
Lyrics include Youre fractured and cold but your heart is unbroken, My
favourite foremost coastal antarctic shelf. Oh Larsen B, oh you can fall on me.
Oh Larsen B, desalinate the barren sea. You had twelve thousand years, and now
its over, five hundred billion tonnes of the purest pack ice and snow, Oh
Larsen B, oh wont you fall on me, Oh Larsen B, desalinate the barren
sea. A representative of the band
told us that Yan, the composer, explained that he has a great interest in
ice related topics and wanted to write a love song to Larsen B. Rough Trade TRA 30056-2
WHITE COLD DAYS by various artists (2005)
This CD includes six tracks by musicians of
three rock groups, who met in Antarctica.
Two of the tracks, while not about Antarctica, were recorded there in
Dark Ice Studios, B-121, at McMurdo Station, the main American scientific
base. LVG 001;
www.livingnightengale.com
WORLD OUT OF BALANCE by Bill McGee (2005)
McGee, based in North Carolina, takes us around
the globe with his synthesizer on this instrumental CD, which includes the
track, Antarctica. He told us: The inspiration to
write Antarctica came to me towards the
completion of World Out of Balance, which simply and hopefully, the CD title
makes one agree that the state of geological destruction our world is in (at
present), is getting to the point of no return, and such a beautiful continent
as Antarctica has suffered enough with her violent weather, and now her
atmosphere above is becoming more and more unprotected with the depletion of
the Ozone. Hence the track: Hole
in the Sky. I tried to write all of these tracks to make one realize
theres beauty left all around us, if we will allow it in and leave it well
alone. As a child, and even now,
to watch a documentary on this continent gets my complete undivided attention,
as it should with everyone. I most
definitely would love to visit there someday. I tried to write this song (through my minds eye) to make
the listener feel as though they were travelling above the iced plains,
(whichever means you choose), her circular sunsets, and the touch of her cold
beauty - something to make you want to warm up to, if you will. I hope you have enjoyed the song as
much as I did writing it, and I hope with this little bio on it Ive written,
you have seen in your thoughts what Ive seen, and even now as I listen to it,
occasionally, it takes me there. Composure Music E1F6D3
HARD by Dying is Easy (2004)
Atlanta-based Chris Windham is a solo electronic artist
with many CDs of industrial/ambient instrumental music. This CD is a reissue of his first album
in 2000 and has the track Antarctica,
which combines windswept synthesizer passages with drumbeats trying to break
through the bleakness. Chris told us in 2008 that the
sound of the song as a whole reminded me of desolation and coldscapes and I figured
the name fit perfectly. Bebop
Records BEBOP001; www.dyingiseasy.net
DOUBLE REDUNDANCY by Einsteins Little Homunculus
(2004)
This
double CD is a re-release of two albums originally recorded live in 1993 and
1995 by classmates and friends at the University of Rochester, N. Y. According to the bands website, its
folksy, acoustic music is a mixture of slightly skewed original songs
and rockin arrangements of jigs, reels, and other melodies from the British
Isles and beyond. Included is the
track Antarctica from the 1995 sessions. The
groups Paul Crook told us in
2008 that I wrote Antarctica in
1983, when I was 16 years old. We
had just studied the continent in school, and I was trying to envision an
Antarctic tourism campaign. Penguins
and glaciers and love was the best I could do at the time. Many years later (1990), one of my
roommates went to McMurdo Station to engage in atmospheric research, and I was
able to exchange satellite-relayed E-mail with him while he was there. Thats about as close as Ive gotten to
visiting, besides a trip to Dunedin, New Zealand, five years ago (where I saw
penguins in their native waters for the first time). Lyrics for this upbeat 1-minute ditty are: Antarctica,
Antarctica, a place where you want to be, Antarctica, Antarctica, its made out
of frozen sea, Antarctica, Antarctica, were all gonna have a blast,
Antarctica, Antarctica, an icy breath of the past, Antarctica, Antarctica, come
down with your kids and your wife, Antarctica, Antarctica, you can ski for the
rest of your life, Antarctica, Antarctica, you cant be too sure about gold,
Antarctica, Antarctica, but you know that your beersll be cold, Antarctica,
Antarctica, aint got much industrial stuff, Antarctica, Antarctica, just
penguins and glaciers and love.
Accordion School Music AS-0300; www.elh.org
THE NAVY LARK Series Two
Volume 1 (2004)
The Navy Lark, the longest
running comedy program in British radio history, was a concoction about the
antics of the crew of HMS Troutbridge, on the BBC airwaves from March 1959 to
July 1977 with 15 series. This box
set of six CDs contains the first fourteen episodes from October 1959 to
January 1960 (three of which are missing from BBC archives and from this
collection but include the scripts).
It includes episode 9, The Charter Trip to Antarctica, in which a local Geographical Society charters the
Royal Navy ship Troutbridge for the trip to Antarctica and which, of course, goes
off track. The program theme music
was composed by harmonica virtuoso Tommy Reilly and by James Moody. BBC Audio; www.bbcshop.com; (See also NAVY LARK Series 4 Volume 2 (2008) and NAVY LARK Series 18 (2006) in this section.)
FAKE OUR DEATHS by Deloris (2004)
The
Melbourne, Australia-based rock band, formed in 1999, has the track Local
Antarctica on their
fourth CD. One of the verses of
the enigmatic song is: Under stars of pale cold tin, one century passed to
leave only clues and hints of a local Antarctica, a whole complete secret sea
flowing inches from our feetWe talked like actors, we spoke like kings about
the cheap things that we thought we did, never letting on that the ringing for
the end was in the doorbells of our friends. We asked Marcus Teague, the songwriter and principal band
member about the lyrics. He told
us that the song is about growing up, and attempting to take in the
naivety and innocence of your childhood before responsibilities and adulthood
kick in. I guess the Antarctica
in the song is used as a metaphor to suggest the hidden mass of the timeline
in the narrative. In the song, a
town is described as the setting for this adolescent period. Towards the end of the song its
alluded that theres a secret sea underneath it, and growing, which alludes
to the secrets and division that creep up on you as your childhood slips away,
and also to the fact that something huge is happening that no one can quite
grasp - the elephant in the corner, if you like. Its as if the town/time is reverting to an Antarctica-like
land mass, one of vast distance, space, weight and density, too complex to
completely understand or explain. I
hope that doesnt sound too pretentious.
But that was the idea. Dot
Dash Recordings DASH001CD; www.delorisband.com; www.myspace.com/delorisband
ANGELS SHARE by Ian Tamblyn (2004)
Ian Tamblyn is a veteran Ottawa-area musician,
playwright and educator/guide on nature cruise ships, who has made trips to
both the Arctic and Antarctic regions.
This CD of melodic folk songs is largely dedicated to the wonders of the
northern Canadian outdoors. One of
the most poignant tracks, Arc of Dreams and Prayers, sets the mood for humility in the
face of nature: Too big, too white, too much, my eyes cant take in it all,
Brilliant light, breathe in and dive, glide, glance, fallThe sounding whale,
the albatross that carves an endless blue and something in the distance that is
calling, calling you...The flume, the wing, the fluke, the thing that calls you
to this place is bounded in our innocence, our wonder and our grace. One of the songs is Paradise Bay, about one of the most scenic and
visited sites on the Antarctic Peninsula: White on blue, blue on white, Take
your breath away, Watching the unfolding, Down in Paradise Bay. Blue on white, white on blue, Words are
stripped away, Or seek redefinition down in Paradise Bay. Look at those mountains, Look at those
whales in the sea, Something is happening, Something is happening to me. White on blue, blue on white, Dont
have much to say, Cept Im going deep down with them, Down in Paradise
Bay. North Track Records NT-25; www.tamblyn.com
LUMINARIA by Ian Moore (2004)
Ian Moore is a veteran Texan
guitarist/singer-songwriter, now living in Seattle, Washington. His CD of thoughtful, melodic, mellow songs has the
tribute track Sir Robert Scott.
Lyrics: Well
Sir Robert Scott did someone break your heart, and send you on out in the cold,
to the ends of the world on a Manchurian pony? Four men who believed every word that you said. Sir Robert Scott youre a different
sort and you had the whole world on your back. You carried that load like a good Christian soul to plant
Englands flag deep in the Antarctic soil. But somebody beat you and now you dont know. You say My god, my god has left me
behind, forsaken, forgotten in this ice and this snow, Im getting weaker and I
will not write anymore. Sir
Robert Scott you set back for your ship, for your men they were hungry and
tired, and youre not to blame for the blizzard that came eleven miles out from
your food and your bed. Sir Robert
Scott lay your head down to sleep, its ten years that are wasted and
gone. Lay down for a while let the
warmth overcome you and wait for the summer to come, because thats when
theyll come back around. You say
My god, my god has left me behind, forsaken, forgotten in this ice and this
snow. Im getting weaker and I
will not write anymore. Yep Roc Records YEP 22083; www.ianmoore.com
POLOSUR CELESTE by Marcelo Aedo (2004)
Aedo is a leading Chilean fusion bass player
and multi-instrumentalist as well as composer, producer and teacher. His first CD of melodic and subdued
jazz instrumentals contains the 6½ minute track Polosur (South Pole), a multi-faceted electric bass
solo. Petroglyph Records PR-00312;
www.marceloaedo.scd.cl
ULTIMATE TRANQUILITY (2004)
This double CD of themed instrumental New Age
music, written by Stewart and Bradley James and performed by Hypnosis, includes
the moody track Antarctica. Double Gold LMM 1702282
NO FRILLS by Amanda Kay (2004)
Amanda Kay is a Cairns, Australia-based singer/songwriter, performing throughout Australia. She became interested in music while working in Antarctica and her CD contains the track Mawson in Antarctica. She told us, I wrote the song on my return voyage from Mawson Station in 1997. I went down to Mawson to see a place that not many people go to, to experience the extremes of the earth and to see Emperor penguins. I also wanted to be the first woman carpenter in Antarctica and spent the winter down there working as a senior carpenter. It was a hard year for me. This was the first song Id ever written and learnt guitar out of a book whilst down there. Returning on the Aurora Australis, I saw the first new faces Id seen for a month. Many of the people studying were on the ship and were talented musicians. They were the first to play the song with me and have given me a strong will to continue with music and creating my own stuff. Sample lyrics, describing the tough experiences: Why am I here so lost and so lonely, Standing outside and dancing alone, Tired of things moving around me, Mawson in Antarctica, Dale is my friend but there hard to come by, I growl too much and scare them away, I search horizons looking for rescue, Please help me now and take me away, Davis is close but too far to get to, I try to call but still feel alone, I dont ring my family I would upset them, Ive locked my own door and thrown away the key, Im going home now is this my rescue, Ive lost parts of my soul in the cold, Where will I go to, how have I changed? This is a lesson hard to explain. www.kmusic.com.au
ANTARCTICA by the Secret Handshake (2004)
This is
an acoustic solo pop CD by Luis Dubuc of Dallas, Texas. Despite the title, there arent any
direct Antarctic songs on the disc.
However, Luis told us, Basically, the album has that sort of
feeling, to it. Very desolate and
stripped down. It wasnt a conscious
decision to name it that beforehand, but when I was sitting with the songs, it
just seemed like a great way to sum up the songs with one word. Plus Ive always had a mild fascination
with Antarctica and the romantic ideals of any cold, desolate but beautiful
place. I have another music
project I named Eskimo Songs for the same kind of reason, I guess. www.thesecrethandshake.net
ACOUSTIC GESTURES by Az Samad (2004)
Az Samad, a finger-style acoustic guitarist and
composer-performer from Malaysia, was a student at Berklee College of Music in
Boston when he recorded this solo instrumental disc. It includes the soothing Antartika, about which he writes in the liner
notes: I spelled it right. Thats
how its spelled in Malay. Ive
always liked the feeling of snow, ice and the wind blowing into your face. This tune came about when I was trying
to learn Dixie McGuire by Tommy Emmanuel.
I dont really remember that song but Im glad it inspired this
tune. www.cdbaby.com
LIFEBLOOD by Manic Street Preachers (2004)
The Welsh band was formed in the late 1980s and
has been known as a politically inspired, wild band with a loyal
following. The Japanese edition of
the CD features the bonus track Antarctic, with the lyrics, As our bodies fall apart,
left to the dust and bones, all we have is the fear, well never carry you
home. So hold all the reflections,
baby it wont hurt much, where did the feeling go, it feels like the Antarctic. Sony Music Japan International Inc. EICP 435; www.manicstreetpreachers.com
LE MONDE ELECTRONIQUE DE FRANOIS DE ROUBAIX (2004) (THE ELECTRONIC WORLD OF FRANOIS DE
ROUBAIX)
Franois de Roubaix (1939-1975) was a French multi instrumentalist, who was building a major reputation as a TV and film composer until his death in a diving accident. He experimented in combining acoustic instrumentation with the newly developing synthesizers of the early 1970s. According to the liner notes, in 1974 he was contacted by the well known Jacques-Yves Cousteau, the commander of the Calypso, to compose music for his Antarctic documentary, Voyage to the End of the World. The resulting original electro-acoustic music was rejected at the screening of the first episode by Cousteau, a musical conservative, who selected pieces by classicist Maurice Ravel. The full 23 minutes of unedited music is presented for the first time in this compilation CD. The titles of the seven tracks include Antarctica, Encounter with the Skua, Penguins on the Ice Floe, Dive in the Ice, Overflight, Whales and Farewell Antarctica. Universal Music 981 808 9; www.francoisderoubaix.com
GUITARLIGHT by Attila Jelinek (2004)
(Horst) Attila is a Hamburg, Germany based
professional multi-instrumentalist.
His current CD, which has an Adventure Network/ Patriot Hills,
Antarctica crest on the cover, with penguins, icebergs and polar bears, is a
blend of upbeat rock music, with a track, Antarctica, that has a heavy chant like Middle
East flavour to it. Attila told
us, I am from Germany and Germany is a very little country, too many
people and little place to live...and so I dream of big country Antarctica,
where there is much space.
www.freenet-homepage.de/guitarlight/referenzen.html
AMAZONICA by Bobby Brazil (2004)
While there are no liner notes in this CD of
Brazilian New Bossa (Nova), samba and dance music, Bobby Brazil is, however,
reported to be a collective of musicians out of Nuremberg specializing in this
genre. All the vocals are
performed in Portuguese by Viviane de Farias. The tropical sounds include the steamy vocal/instrumental
track Brahma vs. Antarctica. We are assuming that the
title track refers to the 1999 Brazilian beer war/merger when one leading
brewer, Brahma, acquired the other, Antarctica, with its popular brand of the
same name. Brigade Nouveau Records
BN 002-2; www.brigadenouveau.com
SAGITTA - HELLO WORD by Sagitta (2004)
Sagitta is a Korean folk-rock duo with a double
disc package of CD with DVD of the song tracks. Included is the spooky, sitar-driven song Night of
Antarctic, with its
scary video: Once had a dream about a body exhausting love, once had a dream
about a soul burning song, but in the bitter cold at the end of the world, both
of them are frozen to sleep in solitary ice. Beatball Superstars-3; www.beatballrecords.com
THE NEW BLACK by the Antarcticans (2004)
The Pasadena/Los Angeles group is described in
their web promo material as sad dark Slave-Ghost Draculas! While sadly, their CD has no Antarctic-themed
tracks, we had to ask them the reason for their name. Guy Valdez, guitarist, told us, Wow! Antarctica is
cool. We just thought the name
Antarcticans was a very cold and desolate sounding name. And we wanted a name that reflects our
sound. And it sounds cool. www.theantarcticans.com
OAK OR ROCK by Phonophani (2004)
Norwegian Espen Sommer Eide has a track called Blind
Birds of the Antarctic on this instrumental CD of experimental synthesizer electronica and
sampled sounds. He told us I collect
good titles in a small book I carry with me. So I must have come across this one by chance
somewhere. I will try to remember
where. But as you understand, it
is the music being made first and then the title added. So it is not motivated by Antarctica,
but somehow I thought that the title fit the track perfectly! Rune Grammofon RCD 2038; www.alog.net/phonophani/pp.html
TECHNOCLUB NEXT by various artists (2004)
This German double CD of trance/techno dance
music includes Antarctic Rain by Two Roads, one of the slightly quieter cuts. Universal Music 060249823823-3; www.technoclub.tc
Chill-out/dance electronica from Spain includes the
instrumental track Antarctica DC, 064271.
FAL-042 LU-106-04; www.falcatruada.com; www.electromancer.com
WISCONSIN DAWN by Mark Bruland (2004)
Wisconsin-based Bruland is an organic farmer on his 46 acres as well as a musician. This New Age instrumental CD of various well-played themes includes the peaceful and serene piano-based Antarctic Night. Mark told us that Antarctica and I really go back about 20 years to a time when I was working for Hills Science Diet pet food, in Los Angeles, CA. Our company helped sponsor Will Steiger's Trans-Antarctica dogsled journey then. We made some special high-calorie dog food (looked like brown bricks) and had them staged along his route so that whenever he would camp, he would have a pallet of this stuff waiting for him. Glad to say he DID make the trip successfully and never lost a dog! But I digress...When I write my songs, I use a technique similar to an artist who paints on canvas. I begin with a voice on my Yamaha keyboard that I am in the mood for at the time and begin recording. I build on that first sound or feeling and eventually a whole song comes together with the help of my digital 8-track studio. After I recorded this piece, I envisioned a wind-swept frozen place on earth (probably stimulated by our Wisconsin winters and the winds coming down from Minnesota and Saskatchewan). Antarctica came into my minds eye. And I thought about a broadcast that is currently on the Internet from Antarctica. Are you familiar with it? I think it would be VERY cool to have that song actually broadcast from Antarctica. Anyway, I pictured the long dark nights and very short days there, the wind blowing across the ice, and a lonely radio
station broadcasting from there
when I named the song. Mark Bruland Music
THE DEATHSHIP HAS A NEW CAPTAIN by the Vision Bleak (2004)
This is an operatic heavy metal concept album
performed by Germans Schwadorf & Konstanz, with songs of death, doom and
horror. Included is the track Horror
of Antarctica, with
references to the bizarre in the Antarctic literature of Edgar Allan Poe and H.
P. Lovecraft: Within the shadow of the arctic mounts of ice, night had veiled
the pole and darkness filled the sky.
The air was so cold – cutting our skin. Freezing voices called us and the winter winds did sing:
Tekeli-li, Tekeli-li through the night.
What ghoulish creatures brought em forth? What sphere had opened wide? Tekeli-li, Tekeli-li through
the air. Where it did lead us to,
no mortal man should dare. Right
before our eyes of monolithic size, one labyrinth of cities – draped in
moonlight – did arise.
Leading to the icy ruins a long forbidden site. Built by horror creatures from beyond
our spheres of light. PRO 066; www.the-vision-bleak.de
ALKALINE by Ben McAllister (2004)
Seattle-based McAllister, a rocker and film/TV
composer, has a warbly track entitled Under Antarctic Ice. He told us that Im influenced very much by a guitarist
named Henry Kaiser who, in addition to being an excellent player, is a diving
instructor. He received a grant
from the American National Science Foundation in 2002 and lived in Antarctica
for some months. I saw videos of
his dives and was inspired to name the track, but it was named after it was
recorded - it sounded like being under the ice to me! You may be interested in him as well - www.henrykaiser.net is his website. www.listenfaster.com
LATITUDE by Groundtruther (2004)
Improvised jazz by a New York-based group led
by guitarist Charlie Hunter and drummer Bobby Previte. With the theme of the globes major
latitudes, the CD includes two tracks entitled Antarctic Circle and South Pole. Thirsty Ear THI 57150.2;
www.thirstyear.com; www.charliehunter.com; www.bobbyprevite.com
THE MUSIC OF THE CURABLE INTERNS Arranged
For Solo Guitar by
the Curable Interns (2004)
Louisiana guitarist Kenneth
Johnston recorded these largely live instrumental tracks in 1986 in a variety
of styles including blues, rock, gamelan and middle eastern. One of the tracks is the short
dirge-like Antarctic Pyramid, which
Kenneth told us, was inspired by
the Howard Phillips Lovecraft story At the Mountains of Madness, which tells
the story of a scientific expedition to Antarctica that discovers the ruins of
an ancient civilization of non-human beings that existed on earth from
Pre-Cambrian days. The expedition
finds the frozen bodies of large creatures resembling something from the sea
cucumber family, which, of course, come to life when thawed out and cause some
messy problems. There is also
another, more malevolent life form lurking in the tunnels. Although probably influenced by Poes
Arthur Gordon Pym, Mountains inspired the classic movie versions of Who
Goes There? aka The Thing, and more recently the cheesy B movie Alien vs.
Predator. Who knows what secrets
lie buried under the ice? www.curableinterns.com
ANTARCTICA by Angus Coull (2004)
Surprisingly, in