The meaning of life from a Buddhist perspective meets Dante’s Inferno. Starting in the Dark Wood of Error, seeing the Mount of Joy in the Distance, what is heard? Where to go? “Follow me and I will be your guide.” Who is saying that? Hell first. Then renunciation.

Premiered at Beyond Baroque in 2002, this music performance piece was for voice and electronics. It was inspired by the commencement of an investigation into the connections between the classic text, ‘The Inferno’ by Dante and the Buddhist perspective on the Wheel of Life. According to Buddhist doctrine, there are six levels to the desire realm, hell being one of them. Dante’s descriptions of this realm are fascinatingly similar to those from Buddha’s teachings almost 3,000 years ago. The retribution for past sins illuminated by the ‘circles of hell’ and perpetual activities on each of Dante’s texts also parallel teachings on laws of cause and effect in the Buddhist doctrine.

Lodged in the Bosom of the Spacious Land is meant to create a sonic reaction to these above viewpoints. Through a constructed narrative, illustrated sonically, there are voices - the seeker, the curious one, the naïve one, the suffering one, etc. Ultimately all the voices are ‘lodged’; in other words, deluded. They exist conventionally but can they be recognized for what they truly are?

This is part of a more elaborate long life investigation.

Performing with electronic accompaniest, David Javelosa, he manipulates the pre-recorded tracks as well as the live voice, adding another layer of instrumentation to the already layered voices, mine both sung and spoken and pre-recorded.

Presented at BEYOND MUSIC SOUND FESTIVAL V
With Pamela Z, Yasunao Tone, Christof Migone
Curated by Brandon La Belle
Accompanied by David Javelosa, Live processing, pre-recorded engineering

full length performance time: 20 min
c) 2002