Laurie Anderson: Quanjing Jieyao Pian

Martial Media, Culture and Other Arts Martial Media and Popular Culture
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Laurie Anderson & Mike Patton
SFJAZZ Resident Artistic Director[URL=“https://www.sfjazz.org/tickets/productions/laurie-anderson-quanjing-jieyao-pian/”]
LAURIE ANDERSON: QUANJING JIEYAO PIAN W/ MIKE PATTON

JAN 23–26 | SFJAZZ RESIDENT ARTISTIC DIRECTOR LAURIE ANDERSON

JAN 25
Miner Auditorium
SAT JAN 25
Leaders Circle Presale
7:30 PM
$45 | $65 | $85 | $105

This night brings an exploration of vocal styles, as Anderson is joined by singer and composer Mike Patton.

Defined by the All Music Guide as “a complete and utter musical visionary and a mind-blowing and standard-warping genius,” Patton founded the experimental metal band Mr. Bungle and has fronted the Bay Area-based rock stalwarts Faith No More for three decades, while navigating the outer fringes of avant-garde and improvised music. He has collaborated extensively with maverick composer John Zorn and fronted a number of eclectic band projects including Mondo Cane, Fantômas, Tomahawk, and Dillinger Escape Plan.

ABOUT LAURIE ANDERSON
The pair will focus on the text from “Quanjing Jieyao Pian,” the final chapter of Jixiao Xinshu – the famous military manual written in the 16th century by Ming dynasty general and Chinese national hero Qi Jiguang. The chapter, which translates to “The Fist Canon and the Essentials of Nimbleness,” concerns the subject of unarmed combat exercises as physical training, and is the first known written document of martial arts instruction. The text, written in verse, is oddly poetic considering its pragmatic nature, and is fertile ground for creativity for these two modern music figures.

I need to start a Laurie Anderson thread. I was a huge fan of hers growing up and met her through Lou Reed. I’ve since met with her on a few occasions and even did an interview with her: Laurie Anderson on Tai Chi and THE HEART OF A DOG

Tao Te Ching
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Gong xi fa cai

22 JANUARY 2020 / ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT / JOE KUKURA
Legendary Musician and Performance Artist Laurie Anderson Arrives at SFJAZZ This Weekend
Sunday’s solo performance is sold out, but Laurie Anderson’s Thursday, Friday, and Saturday collaborations have seats available if you act fast.

We’ve had experimental composer Laurie Anderson pop into our fair city before, but never with the variety of notable guests and wildly unconventional concepts as with her latest SFJAZZ artistic director residency that begins tomorrow and runs through Sunday. Each show is totally nuts and different! KPIX explains that Ms. Anderson will be in town all weekend, and the multimedia performance art legend behind the eight-minute, surprise early-80s hit “O Superman” will expand her onstage repertoire with Ming dynasty texts, cello jazz, and more at SFJAZZ’s Miner Auditorium.

//youtu.be/Vkfpi2H8tOE

Anderson’s Saturday night collaboration with Mike Patton is described as “Almost Sold Out” on the SFJAZZ website, so fans of the Faith No More and Mr. Bungle frontman will want to snap up those tickets quickly. Per that site, the pair will be performing a set of Ming dynasty texts “Jixiao Xinshu — the famous military manual written in the 16th century by Ming dynasty general and Chinese national hero Qi Jiguang,” set to music. Anderson will be on keyboards and violin, with Patton on the vocals, and presumably there will crazy **** happening in the background.

Thursday and Friday’s shows will both incorporate rock and jazz cellist Rubin Kodheli. Thursday’s jazz strings trio performance adds wildly accomplished studio bassist Christian McBride to the mix (that one’s also “Almost Sold Out”), Saturday is a duet with Anderson and Kodheli playing “what Anderson calls their combined ‘hyper-instrument’ — part acoustic, part electronic. Sunday night’s solo show is sold out.

Sidenote: SFJAZZ has quite the weekend next weekend too, with two shows with the great Mavis Staples. Staples, 80, was a 2016 Kennedy Center honoree.

SFJAZZ Resident Artistic Director Laurie Anderson series, Thurs. Jan 23 - Sun. Jan. 26, 7:30 p.m., Miner Auditorium, 201 Franklin Street, (415) 788-7353

Laurie Anderson + Qi Jiguang and Mike Patton. Yes, this is how I’m celebrating Chinese New Year tomorrow. :cool:

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Meditation on Violence by Maya Deren

I’m creating an indie thread for Laurie Anderson: Quanjing Jieyao Pian off of the Qi Jiguang’s chapter on boxing in English thread, as well as a stand alone thread for Meditation on Violence by Maya Deren. Laurie concluded her Quanjing Jieyao Pian show last Saturday showing this video while adding her own soundtrack. It’s a fascinating study which I’ve never seen before.

Here’s some discussion of it:

This first article has the embedded video clip with the original music

Meditation on Violence
A poetic film by Maya Deren featuring performance by Chao Li-Chi
21 May 2012

Meditation on Violence (1948) a film by Maya Deren. Black and white, 16mm, 15mins.

Playing out the movements of the Wu Tang ritual, American avant-garde filmmaker MAYA DEREN explores movement and performance in Meditation On Violence. Filmed in 1948, dancer CHAO LI-CHI delivers a performance blurring beauty into violence, the Yin into the Yang, light into darkness. Deren experiments with film time, reversing the film part way through producing a loop. Moving forwards and then backwards, the difference in the Wu Tang movements is almost imperceptible.

Text by Sophie Pinchetti.


Chao Li-Chi performing. A still from Meditation on Violence (1948) a film by Maya Deren. Black and white, 16mm, 15mins.


Confronting Light and Darkness. A still from Meditation on Violence (1948) a film by Maya Deren. Black and white, 16mm, 15mins.


A still from Meditation on Violence (1948) a film by Maya Deren. Black and white, 16mm, 15mins.

Here’s another article:

Meditation On Violence (1948)
8 MAR
Director Maya Deren
Producer Maya Deren
Contributors Cherel Ito, Chao Li Chi
Length 15 minutes
B&W/Color B&W
UO Library Catalog description: Based on traditional training movements of the Wu-tang and Shaolin schools of Chinese boxing. Solo performance with theatrical lighting but without scenery ; solo performance outdoors in costume.
Call # Ma73
Genre Short Films, Dance
Rare Yes
Online Yes
Copyright status Public Domain
Physical condition Good
Oregon-related No

Notes: Meditation On Violence is a short film directed by avant-garde filmmaker Maya Deren. It was originally produced for a theatrical release in 1948. Theatrical is a term that should be used loosely, especially with Derens films, as the locales that she screened them in were usually art galleries or her own living room, which she converted into a makeshift theater for private viewings.

The film features Chao Li Chi, a Shanxi-born actor and dancer who worked extensively in American television and film. Meditation On Violence was one of his firs appearances on film. In it, he attempts to display the ideals of the Wu-Tang philosophy, which centers around the idea of constant motion according to -which the perfect form is that of no form in an excellent performance attempts to display the ideals of the Wu Tang philosophy which is a philosophy of constant motion, which is achieved when youre in a state of constant motion (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040578/). Chao Li Chi had an extensive history with Deren, and was a regular member of the dance troupe she was involved in during the 1940s. I find it particularly interesting that Li Chi had such a successful career in Television and Film after working with Deren on such artsy, underground projects. He has subsequently appeared in Big Trouble In Little China, MAS*H, The Joy Luck Club, The Nutty Professor, The Prestige, Wedding Crashers and Pushing Daisies.

While at first glance this film may seem just like a documentation of a dance sequence, the editing style elevates it above the status of performance piece. The avant-garde style of Maya Deren is certainly not as pronounced in Meditation On Violence as a film like Meshes Of The Afternoon, but their are a fair number of sequences shot in slow motion, and -the camera itself becomes the boxers sparring partner, dodging and attempting to return the athletes blows. The adjustments, pans, and zooms of the camera simulate a human response (worldcat.com). It should also be noted that the film loops, returning to the first sequence. This technique breaks the passage of time, which was very typical of Derens films.

Another interesting thing is to note the soundtrack. Deren recorded Haitian drums for the piece, which reflected her fascination with Voodoo during the time period it was made.

And here’s a vid that has an alternate soundtrack:

//youtu.be/dIDRMb6YxxM

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I may change the title of this thread

The title is currently ‘Laurie Anderson: Quanjing Jieyao Pian’ but I may drop the ‘Quanjing Jieyao Pian’ part. As you can read above, that was about a specific performance but Laurie has more to say regarding martial practices.

I wrote a review of Quanjing Jieyao Pian for our unfinished final issue that I really hoped to publish because I could unpack that piece like no one else. Hopefully it may see the light of day someday.

Meanwhile, here’s something somewhat relevant to practice - Laurie’s new podcast AWAKEN

[URL=“https://rubinmuseum.org/landing/awaken”]
AWAKEN PODCAST
HOSTED BY LAURIE ANDERSON
The Rubin Museum presents, AWAKEN, a podcast hosted by acclaimed musician and performance artist Laurie Anderson about the dynamic path to enlightenment and what it means to wake up. In 10 episodes we dive into the personal stories of guests who share how theyve experienced a shift in their awareness, and as a result, their perspective on life. From deep introspection to curious life-changing moments, awakening can take many forms, from the mundane to the sacred. Taking inspiration from the exhibition Awaken: a Tibetan Buddhist Journey Towards Enlightenment, we use artworks as a jumping off point and hear from authors, artists, wisdom bearers, and Buddhist teachers, because every journey is different.

AWAKEN guests include comedian Aparna Nancherla; gender non-conforming writer, performer, and public speaker Alok Vaid-Menon; psychologist, author and teacher of meditation, emotional healing and spiritual awakening, Tara Brach; master birth doula and world renowned wellness leader Latham Thomas; musician, songwriter, and best-selling author Amanda Palmer; artist Tsherin Sherpa; best-selling author, activist, and Buddhist Teacher Lama Rod Owens; hospice and palliative medicine physician and author, BJ Miller; Medicine Woman of Seminole heritage and traditional Cheyenne training, Patricia James; and Tibetan Buddhist master Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche.

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V article

HEROES: LAURIE ANDERSON
The avant-garde legend honors an aviation hero

August 15, 2024
Text by Bailey Bujnosek

Laurie Anderson knows making good art takes time. Over her five-decade career, the avant-garde artist and musician has applied her talents to voice acting, poetry, film-making, and multimedia, each project coming together in its own unique life cycle.

Still, even she finds it “crazy” that her latest project, an album titled Amelia, is 24 years in the making. Begun in 2000 as a commissioned piece for the American Composers Orchestra, the album was started and stopped three times during the creative process before the multi-disciplinary artist crafted a version she was satisfied with. What started as an overwhelming 80-piece orchestral work transformed into a pared-down soundscape performed by the Czech orchestra Filharmonie Brno—helmed by con- ductor Dennis Russell Davies—and bolstered by Anderson’s own ensemble, providing additional percussion and strings. Complementing the moving composition are the wordsmith’s poetic lyrics recounting the ambitious, ill-fated final flight of renowned 20th-century aviator Amelia Earhart.

Amelia puts you in the cockpit with Earhart, immersing you in the wonder and the monotony, the triumphs and the ultimate tragedy of her attempt to become the first female pilot to circumnavigate the globe in 1937. Anderson was drawn to Earhart not only because of her trailblazing accomplishments in the male-dominated world of aviation but also because the pilot was “the original blogger,” as Anderson puts it. Long before social media, Earhart kept the world up-to-the-minute on her adventures. “Every single stop on her flight, she would either use a telegram to talk about it, or she would phone it into the press, or she would scribble it in her pilot’s log. She was very conscious of letting everybody in the world know what she was doing, [and] she was very famous at the time,” Anderson notes.

This rich archive of newspaper clippings, a recorded speech, and photographs from the Smithsonian and elsewhere provided a fruitful foundation for the album’s 22 lush tracks, which also drew inspiration from Earhart’s diary entries and telegrams to her husband (and press agent), George P. Putnam. Filling in the gaps is the song-writer’s imagination of how the aviator may have felt as she surveyed the open skies, vast deserts, and glittering waves from her unique vantage point. “Where did I get this obsession/to hurl myself against the sky?” the singer, as Earhart, muses on B-side standout “Fly Into the Sun.” The narrative is delivered in Anderson’s signature spoken-word style, mesmerizing from the first line to the last.

Music has been an integral part of the 76-year-old artist’s storied career. The Illinois native first gained renown for her innovative performance art, including the famous Duets on Ice (1974) that saw her playing violin while wearing frozen ice skates—each performance lasting as long as the blocks of ice on her feet took to melt. Anderson’s breakthrough single, 1981’s “O Superman,” catapulted her to global recognition, and was hailed as a marvel of experimental electro-pop that remains singular in its sound today. She followed up the track with seven uniquely captivating studio albums for Warner Bros. Records, as well as collaborations with the likes of Peter Gabriel, William S. Burroughs, and late husband Lou Reed. More meaningful for Anderson than “O Superman”’s commercial success is its continuing relevance, and resonance, in the decades since it debuted—a snippet even went viral on TikTok last year.

“Every few years I crack that song out and play it, and it’s weird—it’s like, ‘Oh, God, this was written yesterday!’ It thinks about power, technology, identity, and those are still very big issues,” she reflects. Whereas “O Superman” spoke on contemporary events, Amelia sees Anderson turning her gaze to a time long gone—one listeners are invited to lose themselves in as an escape from the harsher contours of the present. For the album’s runtime, the listener’s world is marvelously supplanted with Earhart’s in a whirl of 3-dimensional sound. Telegraphed by Anderson’s hypnotic vocals and the sweeping power of the orchestra, the fearless flier’s journey becomes ours—and what an incredible journey it is. “Amelia takes you into your own mind, and you get to picture all of [her adventures] for yourself,” Anderson explains. “And there’s nothing like flying. You’re free.”

Photography Sam Hellmann

Fashion Liv Vitale

Makeup Robert Reyes (Bryan Bantry)

Hair Kiyonori Sudo (L’Atelier)

Luv that last pic.

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Sales end soon

The Tao Te Ching: Laurie Anderson in Conversation with Stephen Mitchell

By Spiracle Audiobooks Ltd

Online event

Jan 4 from 9am to 11am PST

Overview

Laurie Anderson discussing zen and the art of living with esteemed translator, Stephen Mitchell

5pm London, 12 noon EST, 9am Pacific.

Attendees will be sent a link to join the event on the day.

Translated most simply as the Book of the Way, the Tao Te Ching is thought to be the work of Laozi, written in China in the 4th century BCE. It is a sequence of 81 ‘poems’ that amount to a set of principles for life. At its simplest, the verses can assist each of us in being present in life. In giving up all concepts, judgements and desires, we grow naturally compassionate and can discover, deep in our own experiences, the central truths of the art of living.

“All he left us is his book: the classic manual on the art of living, written with gemlike lucidity, radiant with humor and grace and largeheartedness and deep wisdom, it is one of the wonders of the world.”

Stephen Mitchell’s translation is admired by anyone who knows it and, not surprisingly, it took him many years and draws on his 14 years of Zen training.

Don’t miss out on the chance to be with legendary Laurie Anderson discussing spirituality, Zen and the art of living with esteemed translator Stephen Mitchell in this FREE online event.