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Pieces
by Jackson Mac Low
Assisted by long-time collaborator Anne Tardos, Jackson Mac Low performed his 1st Milapera Gatha. The work is based on mantras from Buddhist prayers. Gathas are a series of performance scores by Jackson Mac Low. He has worked on them since 1961, placing the letters of each word into squares on quadrille paper. The performance of the piece is based on performers’ spontaneous choices. The work’s spiritual nature aims towards a de-emphasizing of individual egos and to open up to what is going on around them. Mac Low’s instruction to performers was to “listen and relate.”
Mac Low also read from his boook Words nd Ends from Ez, words and ends of words drawn from Ezra Pound’s work The Cantos. Spoken by only two voices, several pre-recorded tracks superimposed the performance which slowly developed in strength and volume.
In another Word Event, Tardos and Mac Low performed actions and spoke words they had written on index cards. Some actions involved the whole body, some words were phonemes and letter-sounds.
1985
8PM JACKSON MAC LOW and Anne Tardos.
Jackson recited mantras and groups of vowels and consonants that come out of Ezra Pound’s “Cantos” and I really found that the presentation of something derived from really simple structures, as Emmett’s often are, is not enhanced by the use of two live voices and four pre-recorded tracks. It seems like a poet can’t read his own works these days without making a multi-media event out of it and the quality of meditational chant becomes a barrage of noise.
- Ann Noël in her diary, May 1985
January 11th, 2008
I remember doing a word event with Jackson, one of his word events, in which we were given actions to perform in addition to saying words and uttering sounds. Some of Jackson’s actions were so impressive that he was depicted in one Danish newspaper as flying across the stage, his long hair trailing behind him. And although I could not possibly remember his thoughts, I can tell you that he was a fearless performer who didn’t suffer from self doubt or stage fright or self consciousness. It’s rare to see that.
- Anne Tardos, Letter to Eric, January 2008