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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Mariam RezaeiORCiD
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The Scholar’s Record Slowly reappearing in popular culture, and enthused by a younger generation, the record is physical ephemera of a deeply personal and emotional experience for all listeners. From learning to turn records over and place a needle on a groove, to digging through dusty crates, what lies between the crackle and pop of empty grooves on a vinyl record is the sound of anticipation - whether it be a curious ear leaning in to hear the next song or the quick dash over to the turntable to turn flip the disc over. The record is a relic of a ritual. From habit in the home, for a dj on stage or a rare collector in a record store, within those grooves lies a multitudes of verses, experiences and emotions. It represents a slice of time, both in history and place, sometimes connecting with billions of people and sometimes, close to the hearts of just a few. The vinyl record is a beautiful artefact. Much like a ‘Scholar’s Rock’, the record can become a focal point for us as creators and as listeners. Scholar’s Rocks (gongshi) have been prized by Chinese intellectuals since the Tang Dynasty. The stones, often used as a focal point for thinkers, are beautiful and unique, and are often used to help distill, focus and consider a person’s thoughts. The Song dynasty poet and painter Mi Fu (1051 – 1107) was an avid collector of stones and evaluated them based on four rhyming qualities: shou (leaness and gracefulness of form), zhou (wrinkly quality in shape and surface), lou and tou (openness and permeability of channels formed by natural erosion). These loose translations on Fu’s method of sorting stones can quickly evoke ideas when considering and sorting through a huge archive of music. New work, Scholar’s Record, works through the tremendous 75 year SWR-Donaueschingen archive of music. Using Fu’s framework for sorting and reference, it will distill and outline a new way of considering a large body of musical works. Using a myriad of techniques including skratching, beatjuggling, turntable tones, the piece will be performed as a quartet for four turntables for solo performer. Radically transformed through turntablism, ‘Scholar’s Record’ will consider compositional aesthetics in plunderphonics, musique concrète and collage-forms in a live performance.
Composer(s): Rezaei M
Publication type: Musical Composition
Publication status: Published
Year: 2025
Edition: 1
Publisher: SWR / Dounaeschingen Festival
Type of Work: Music Composition
URL: https://www.swr.de/donaueschinger-musiktage/donaueschinger-musiktage-2025-vlog-mariam-rezaei-the-scholars-record-100.html
