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1.
how do i listen how do i listen to others? as if everyone were my master speaking to me his cherished last words
2.
the short night on the hairy caterpillar beads of dew the short night patrolmen washing in the river the short night bubbles of crab froth among the river reeds the short night a broom thrown away on the beach the short night the amstel river has sunk 2 feet the short night on the outskirts of town a small shop opening the short night broken, in the shallows, a crescent moon the short night the peony has opened the short night waves beating in an abandoned fire the short night near the pillow a screen turning silver the short night shallow footprints on the beach at yui evening wind laps the herons legs
3.
Feed My Cat 02:27
i will need someone to feed my cat when i leave this world. though my cat is not ordinary she only has three paws fire, air water
4.
And For no reason I start skipping like a child. And For no reason I turn into a leaf That is carried so high I kiss the Sun's mouth And dissolve. And For no reason A thousand birds Choose my head for a conference table, Start passing their Cups of wine And their wild songbooks all around. And For every reason in existence I begin to eternally, To eternally laugh and love! When I turn into a leaf And start dancing, I run to kiss our beautiful Friend And I dissolve in the Truth
5.
6.
how do i listen how do i listen to others? as if everyone were my master speaking to me his cherished last words
7.
8.
what language are dreams in? what language is silence? what do voices sound like? is a sigh or a gasp or a wail the same in all books, all languages? which page is this? have i read this already?
9.
would it be better to be: idiotic or spasmotic hysteric or choleric scattered or slovenly misshapen or unfortunate unhealthy or flatulent clumsy or ill-at-ease putrid or pock-marked obese or dry-skinned unnoticed or bleached unimportant or withered hairy-faced or inconsequent sun-burned or invisible nauseous or truculent thick-ankled or scaley dissipated or diseased disjointed or mealy-mouthed ordinary or desperate pestulent or gargantuan hard pressed or obnoxious insidious or red-necked colorless or tepid ? how can paradise exist between the four walls you have placed me in?
10.
would it be better to be: idiotic or spasmotic hysteric or choleric scattered or slovenly misshapen or unfortunate unhealthy or flatulent clumsy or ill-at-ease putrid or pock-marked obese or dry-skinned unnoticed or bleached unimportant or withered hairy-faced or inconsequent sun-burned or invisible nauseous or truculent thick-ankled or scaley dissipated or diseased disjointed or mealy-mouthed ordinary or desperate pestulent or gargantuan hard pressed or obnoxious insidious or red-necked colorless or tepid ? how can paradise exist between the four walls you have placed me in?
11.
in an inhabited room there are refracting objects only half noticed: varnished wood, more or less polished brass, sliver and ivory, and beyond these a thousand conveyers of light and shadow so mild that one scarcely thinks of them as that, the tops of picture-frames, the edges of pencils or ash-trays, of crystal or china ornaments; the totality of this refraction -appealing to equally subtle reflexes of the vision as well as to those associational fragments in the subconscious that we seem to hang on to, as a glass-fitter keeps the irregularly shaped pieces that may do some time- this fact might acoount for what rosemary afterward mysically described as ‘realizing’ that there was some one in the room, before she could determine it. but when she did realize it she turned swift in a sort of ballet step and saw that a dead man was stretched upon her bed. ‘tender is the night’ 1934

about

“How Do I Listen” is the first album of Rara Avis.
Our way of music making has evolved into a form of totally improvised chamber music, and we find inspiration in a wide variety of texts ranging from the eternal wisdom of 14th century Sufi poetry to a humorous modern newspaper headline.



3 is a magic number
a trio is a magical configuration

3 string players:
the strings of the violin, bowed and bent
the strings of the piano, hammered and plucked
the strings of the voice, articulated through breath and imagination

terrestrial, other-worldly, aerial displays, a strolling cadence
places reversed, combinations transformed.
a full spectrum of vocabulary,
a hidden message of sound.
translucent and effervescent!

3 is a magic number
a trio is a magical configuration

credits

released April 2, 2021

Texts by:

Hafez 1320 - 1390 (tracks 1, 3, 4, 6)
Yosa Buson 1716 - 1784 (track 2)
David Austen, Handbook of Roses 1998 (track 5)
New York Times headline, november 2020 (track 7)
Jodi Gilbert (track 7, 8, 9, 10 and poem liner notes)
F. Scott Fitzgerald 1896 - 1940 (track 11)

Recorded at Splendor Amsterdam by Albert van Veenendaal and
Chris Weeda on October 17, and November 5, 2020
Mixed and Mastered by Chris Weeda at Studio Rapenburg, Amsterdam

Artwork by Edwin van Munster

Thanks to: Emily Beynon, Splendor Amsterdam,
Corrie van Binsbergen,
SENA Noodfonds Muziek, Nationaal Muziekinstrumenten Fonds

photo Jodi Gilbert © Carlos van Dijk
photo Tineke de Jong © Edwin van Munster
photo Albert van Veenendaal © Gemma van der Heijden

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Rara Avis Amsterdam, Netherlands

Rara Avis is, like the name implies, a rare and wonderfully strange world of transparent sounds and universally poetic texts that fly like a bird through the soundscape.

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