Soundwalk Collective with Patti Smith ‘Eternity’

SOUNDWALK COLLECTIVE with Patti Smith
MUMMER LOVE

2019

Featuring Patti Smith, Philip Glass Mulatu Astatke and
The Sufi group of Sheikh Ibrahim

Available via Bella Union
Order HERE

For this body of work, Soundwalk Collective journeyed to Africa to explore the intricacies of Arthur Rimbaud’s most obscure period. After leaving France and what he deemed the ‘western stagnation’, Rimbaud found himself in Harar, Ethiopia – an epicenter of Sufism in Africa. Sufi practise focuses on the renunciation of worldly things, the purification of the soul and the mystical contemplation of God’s nature. Sufism is a mystical form of Islam, and its music is about reaching a communal ecstatic state, and once you find yourself there, you are granted access to the unknown. The Soundwalk Collective spent time with the Sufi group of Sheikh Ibrahim to record their music and chants, in the whole region formerly know as Abyssinia. “You obtain connections to other levels of yourself and consciousness,” Stephan Crasneanscki mentions of the musical process. “This connection, like poetry, is a universal language. A language of the soul, for the soul.”

As with the other albums in the triptych, the Collective searched for hidden, earthy sounds that hold memories and embed existence. For Mummer Love, they also found themselves recording under the tree where Rimbaud photographed the shrine of Sheik Abadir Umar ar-Rida al Harari, the founder of the holy city Harar. “As the rain fell, I wondered if I was hearing the drops hitting the leaves the same way Rimbaud did 140 years ago,” Crasneanscki says. These sounds and Sufi chants coexist with Patti Smith’s interpretation of Rimbaud’s poems, as she recites and sings among them in a call and response, sharing the same musical and spiritual space. Smith’s only poem is the title track Mummer Love, written to Rimbaud; her words are rooted in multiple aspects of the self: from the passion of a lover to the care of a mother, and everything in between. Further contributions to this album come from Mulatu Astatke, widely considered the father of Ethio-jazz, and Phillip Glass, who’s long felt a connection to Sufi music – here coming together and evoking a call and response between piano and vocals of the Sufi masters. It is simultaneously the first time Glass collaborates with Smith, and so Harar becomes an extraordinary meeting place for all to celebrate the beauty of Rimbaud’s work.

Referring to the overall work, Smith likens the project to a fourth mind equation. “Because we are working with other people’s work, and not just reading it but channelling these people, they become a fourth mind. We are Rimbaud, you, I, and the work,” Smith says in conversation with Crasneanscki. The unification of all minds together magnifies its power and potential. “It makes me think of Rimbaud’s energy, his strong will,” Smith says. “If we, the living, send out radio and energy waves, the energy of those last poems is still reverberating. It can’t be silenced, because we understand that this work and the artists are not dead, they find life when we are recording them.”

Entitled The Perfect Vision, this musical triptych, which has been co-produced with Leonardo Heiblum and supported by the Analogue Foundation, aims to go beyond 20/20 vision and explore a dimension that exists on a non-physical plane. What one can physically see is only the beginning – this project transcends what we think we see, by multiplying experiences, languages and energies. “We went through places like Mexico, Ethiopia and India to search for a perfect vision, in spaces where you can still feel a sacred presence – where the Gods are still among you,” says Crasneanscki. “In this idea of perfect vision, there is the idea of oneness, and with that comes a sense of supreme love.”

Mummer-Love-Album-Cover-Drawing-by-Patti-Smith

LP cover by Patti Smith

Soundwalk Collective with Patti Smith featuring Philip Glass ‘La Maison De Rimbaud’, Film by Stephan Crasneanscki, Footage: Anastasia Ivanova, Editing: Jenn Ruff, Visual Collage: Brian Close

Artistic direction and Realisation: Stephan Crasneanscki with Patti Smith
All music produced by Soundwalk Collective with Patti Smith in Harar, Addis Abeba and NYC
in collaboration with Leonardo Heiblum, Abegasu Shiota

All texts written by Arthur Rimbaud, except
Mummer Love, written by Patti Smith, copyright / © (2019) (Patti Smith)
All texts performed by Patti Smith, except
Aw Abadir featuring the special participation of Amir
Eternity, Song Of The Highest Tower, Bad Blood, Sensation
featuring the additional participation of the Sufi group of Sheikh Ibrahim

Music by Soundwalk Collective,
in collaboration with the Sufi group of Sheikh Ibrahim, Philip Glass,
Leonardo Heiblum, Hans Tammen
Soundwalk Collective: field recording
Patti Smith: voice

Sufi group of Sheikh Ibrahim: voice call and answer, handclaps, foot stomping, karabu traditional drums, kabal
Philip Glass: piano, Wurlitzer
Mulatu Astatke: vibraphone, shakers
Hans Tammen: Buchla Easel
Leonardo Heiblum: kabal
Simone Merli: Moog Little Phatty, Jomox MBase 11
Additional studio recordings: Nicolas Becker
Loops: Robert Henriques

Line producers: Abegasu Shiota, Simone Merli, Paul Hance
Production assistants: Teddy, Abdhul
Recorded at the house of Arthur Rimbaud in Harar, Abegasu Shiota Studios in Addis Abeba, Hobo Sound in
New Jersey, Electric Lady Studios in New York, Eastside Sound in New York, Trixx Studios in Berlin

Studio assistants: Alemayehu Demeke, Nebil Serej
Post Production at Electric Lady Studios in New York
Mix and additional production: Russell Elevado at Electric Garden in New York
Mastering by Harris Newman at Grey Market Mastering, Montreal

 

Sufi interpretation of Arthur Rimbaud’s text from the book ‘Passages’
by Shama Books, Centre français des études éthiopiennes (CFEE), Dumerchez
with Alain Sancerni, Michel Le Dain
Amharic translations by Brook Beyene, François Morand, Berhanou Abebe. Oromo translations by Alemayehu Demeke and the Sufi group of Sheikh Ibrahim Recorded with Audio-Technica microphones

Special thanks: Philip Glass, Mulatu Astatke, Alain Sancerni, Bernard Dumerchez, Jean-Marc L’Hotel, Jesse
Paris Smith, Tony Shanahan, Clementine Bunel, Pauline Bourdon, Mickey Mulatu, Michel Le Dain, Pauline Lecointe, Embassy of France in Addis Abeba, Ambasciata d’Italia ad Addis Abeba, Harari National Cultural Center, Jean-Marc Boutonnet-Tranier, Sharon Gilamike, Marcus Gammel, Celine Ters, Lee Foster, Beatriz Artola, Ben Kane, Éponine Momenceau, Anastasia Ivanova, Francesco Petrucci, Jennie Sobol, Nina Simone Assaf, Sohichiro Matsumoto, Robert Morgan-Males, Audio-Technica

Patti Smith appears courtesy of Columbia Records, a division of Sony Music Entertainment
All rights reserved

Front Cover & Labels: artwork by Patti Smith
Back Cover and Gatefold Artwork: Stephan Crasneanscki

www.soundwalkcollective.com
www.bellaunion.com
With the kind support of The Analogue Foundation
www.analoguefoundation.com ℗©

YEAR
TITLE
PROJECT
2023 - 2024
CORRESPONDENCES with Patti Smith
Exhibition, CNA Bogotà, TPMM Tbilisi, FIM Guadalajara, MAMM Medellin
2023 - 2024
CORRESPONDENCES - Live
Live Performance
2023
ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED - Live
Live Performance
2023
MAISON GAINSBOURG with Charlotte Gainsbourg
Soundtrack, Maison Gainsbourg Paris
2022
ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED by Laura Poitras
Film Score
2022 - 2024
EVIDENCE with Patti Smith
Museum Exhibition, Centre Pompidou Paris, CCB Lisbon
2022
IGUANA TOKYO by Kaan Mujdeci
Film Score
2021
LOVOTIC with Charlotte Gainsbourgfeat. AtomTM, Lyra Pramuk, Paul B. Preciado, Willem Dafoe
Audiovisual Installation, FOROF Rome
2021
MEMORY LOST by Nan Goldin
Film Score
2021
A ROOF FOR SILENCE by Hala Warde
Sound Installation, Venice Architecture Biennale
2020
PERADAM with Patti Smithfeat. Anoushka Shankar, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Tenzin Choegyal
Album LP
2020
WE ARE NOT ALONE with Charlotte Gainsbourg, Hussain Al Jassmi, Nina Kraviz, Willem Dafoe, Wim Wenders, Zhou Dongyu, Jean Nouvel
Sound Installation, Louvre Abu Dhabi
2019
THE TIME OF THE NIGHT with Charlotte Gainsbourg and Patti Smith
Sound Installation, Fondation Carmignac
2019
MUMMER LOVE with Patti Smithfeat. Philip Glass, Mulatu Astatke and the Sufi Group of Sheikh Ibrahim
Album LP
2019
THE PEYOTE DANCE with Patti Smith
feat. Gael García Bernal and the Rarámuri Indians of the Sierra Tarahumara
Album LP
2019
THE WOMEN’S MARCH, 1789 by Nan Goldin
Sound Installation, Palace of Versailles
2019
OSCILLATION
Sound Installation, Philharmonie de Paris
2019
AYAHUASQUEROS
Audiovisual Installation, Times Square 'Midnight Moment', NYC
2019
MIRAGE
Sound Installation, Louvre Abu Dhabi
2019
SIBERIA by Abel Ferrara
Film Score
2018
DEATH MUST DIE
Album LP
2018
ULYSSES SYNDROME
Sound Installation, Manifesta12 Palermo
2018
EΞΟΔΟΣ I Exodos by Sasha Waltz
Score for Dance Choreography
2018
WHAT WE LEAVE BEHIND
Audiovisual Installation, Kraftwerk Berlin
2018
KREATUR by Sasha Waltz
Score for Dance Choreography
2017
TRANSMISSIONS
Album LP
2017
RESONANCE
Sound Installation, Palazzo Reale, Milan
2017
BEFORE MUSIC THERE IS BLOOD
Album LP
2017
PRINCES AMONG MEN by Stephan Crasneanscki
Film Score
2016
KHANDROMA
Audiovisual Installation, Rubin Museum, NYC
2016
KILLER ROAD with Jesse Paris Smith and Patti Smith
Album LP
2015
A MEMOIR OF DISINTEGRATION with Nan Goldin, Samuel Rohrer and Tina Frank
Audiovisual Performance, CTM Festival, Berlin
2014
SONS OF THE WIND
Film Score and Album LP
2009
KILL THE EGO by Ro Starr
Film Score
2008
CHANEL MOBILE ART by Zaha Hadid
Sound Installation, Hong Kong, Tokyo, NYC

SOUNDWALK COLLECTIVE

Credits
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