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Z'EV

 
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Z'EV (born Stefan Joel Weisser, at 7:58 a.m. on February 8, 1951 in Los Angeles, California) is an American text-sound artist, poet and mystic who is perhaps best known for his work as a catacoustic (reflected sound-based) percussionist.

He has worked as a professional musician since 1963, and is regarded as a pioneer of industrial music[1].

In a review in 1983 in OP Magazine, critic Roy Sablosky wrote[2][3]: “Z’EV doesn’t just break the rules, he changes them.”

In the Nov/Dec 1983 issue of the 'East Village Eye' journalist Louis Morra wrote[2][4]: “Z’EV is a consummate example of contemporary performance art, as well as modern composition and theater.” and, “Z’EV realizes many of modernist art’s ultimate goals: primitivism, improvisation, multi-media/conjunction of art forms, the artist as direct creator.”

In 1984 on the occasion of the release of the ‘Six Examples’ video, director Joe Rees[5] wrote[6]: “Target Video believes Z’EV is one of the most unique and important artists of this century.”

In 2008, Colombian critic Edgar Mauricio Ramirez Diaz described[7] him as “Without a doubt one of the most influential persons in the whole post-industrial history of contemporary music.”

His work with both text and sound has been influenced by the Middle Eastern mystical system best known as Kabbalah (although not of the Jewish variety), as well as - but not limited to - African, Afro-Caribbean and Indonesian rhythms, musics and cultures. He has studied Ewe (Ghana) music, Balinese gamelan, and Indian tala[8].

z'ev requests[8] that people note either "Z'EV" or "z'ev" are acceptable typographies for his "brand name" (context depending), but that "Z'ev" most emphatically is not.

Contents

Biography

From 1959-65 he studied drumming with Arnie Frank, then Chuck Flores and then Art Anton at Drum City in Van Nuys CA.

In 1963 he abandoned Judaism and began his life-long relationship with World religions and esoteric systems[8].

1964 saw the beginning of his initial attempts at writing Poetry and explorations of both Two and Three dimensional Artforms. Note that some of the Smoke Paintings produced during this period still exist. These were created by manipulating pieces of paper over arrangements of candles to catch the carbon trails.

1967-9 was a period of major import in his Artistic development, for this was when he really learned to 'Listen' and improvise. Together with his long time friend Carl Stone and James Stewart they formed the Hog Fat Blues Band which eventually evolved into the Silent Arts Group.

Note that this name was an homage to both the Sonic Arts Group (the original name of the Sonic Arts Union; Robert Ashley, David Behrman, Alvin Lucier and Gordon Mumma) and the first published book of John Cage's writings, entitled Silence (1961).

The S.A.G. was a trio with Carl on Farfisa 'Professional' organ, Vox echo unit and wah-wah pedal and an Ampeg scrambler pedal (upper-harmonic distortion and overdrive) , James on Fender Bass and 'Stefan' on traditional Drum set, performing proto-Jazz Rock. Auditioning for Frank Zappa's Bizarre Records led to them being given time at Bizarre's rehearsal studios on La Brea Blvd. However nothing came from this due to their inability to develop a 'show'. The band ceased activities and both he and Carl went on to attend CalArts[8][9].

After studying at CalArts from 1969-70 with poets Emmett Williams and Michael S. Bell and writer/critic Sue-Ellen Case, he began producing works using the name S. Weisser, primarily concentrating on visual and sound poetries.

In 1975, he was included in the "Second Generation" show at the Museum of Conceptual Art in San Francisco. For this show he presented the work, 'Book Of Love Being Written As They Touched', performed by 8 female voices. The text was drawn from the 40,320 permutations of the 8 word phrase. Each woman read from a selection of sentences beginning with one of the words. 10 copies of the text were produced by the Computer Science Department at Los Angeles Pierce College in Woodland Hills CA. Copies of the total Text are in the private collections of Emmett Williams and Claes Oldenburg[8].

Beginning in the early 1970s, he developed a personal technique utilizing self-developed instruments formed from industrial materials such as stainless steel, titanium, and PVC plastics. Initially these instruments were assemblages of these materials, used with a movement-based performance style that was a form of marionette, although with the performer visible. He has since come to refer to this performance mode as 'wild-style', a term originally related to graffiti. [1]. Critic John Buckley[10] described his performances in this era:

The instruments are collections of objects ... strung together with ropes and swung at varying speeds and directions to produce a fairly astonishing range of pitches and timbres. And the moves the guy goes through to manipulate these instruments are, for grace and athleticism, strong stuff. Z'EV is also interesting for the close correlation of visual and musical aspects, since the physical vibrations of the objects you see are the same as those picked up by the ears as sound. Also, since the rhythms of the work are dictated by the performer's every and any movement, an inevitable integrity unifies the act.

In the late-70s he began performing under the name Z'EV, which comes from the Jewish name his parents gave him at birth (Sh'aul Z'ev bn Yakov bn Moshe bn Sha'ul).

In November and December 1980, Z'EV opened a series of UK and European concerts in the first headlining tour of the British group Bauhaus[11][12].

On that tour and his first solo tour of Europe immediately afterwards, Z'EV introduced intense metal based percussion musics to the UK and Europe. Critic Jason Pettigrew (current editor-in-chief of Alternative Press Magazine) attests to Z'EV's pioneering use of metal found object as percussion, writing: "Consider your music collection. Neubauten? Test Department? Z’EV’s been there first.’ [13]

While but one of the progenitors of the "industrial movement"[1], he was also fairly responsible, along with Neil Megson, for delivering the ‘tribal’ impulse and esthetic into the Western/European cultural milieu developing between the years 1978-1984[11].

In 1981, 'Shake Rattle & Roll', a VHS video documenting his first wild-style performance on the East coast (produced by video artist John Childs), was released by Fetish Records in the UK and was the first ‘music’ / art video to be commercially released.

In 1982, Z'EV was part of an ensemble for the performance and recording of composer Glenn Branca's Symphony No. 2 (The Peak of the Sacred).[14]

Since 1984, he has been concentrating on performing in a more traditional mallet-percussion style, albeit with highly idiosyncratic and "extended" mallet percussion techniques and his self-made or adapted instruments.

Both performance modes, (wild-style and mallet percussion), have been described[15] as cacophonous when considered in traditional Western musical terms, because of the dense elemental acoustic phenomena Z'EV's instruments produce. In point of fact, Z'EV doesn't actually consider[8][12][16] the results as "music" per se, but more as orchestrations of highly rhythmic acoustic phenomena.

It is also worth noting that Z'EV does not consider[8][12][16] his performances as solos, but rather as the unique inter-reactions between himself and his instruments; the particular physical space of the performance; the particular time and geographic location of the performance; and the energies of the audience. While the first two traits will of course remain the same, a change in any of the last three will result in a totally different performance.

From 1986-90 he was a Guest Teacher in Composition and Improvisation at the Theater School for New Dance Development in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Together with dancer Ria Higler he mentored a year group through their entire four year course of study. The German dancer Thomas Lehman (www.thomaslehmen.de) is perhaps the most currently active of his students, and they are still friends.

In 1990 he began working with Amsterdam House Musician, DJ Dano. Their work, also in conjunction with Austrian media artist Konrad Becker, was instrumental in the emergence of the genres known as Gabber and Hard Core.[citation needed]

His recordings have been released by labels such as C.I.P., Cold Spring, Die Stadt, Soleilmoon, Tzadik Records, Subterranean and Touch.

Z'EV spends as much time as possible in Peckham, England with Conceptual Artist Barbara Steveni and is contactable at: rhythmajik {at} yahoo {dot} com.

A selection of works

S.Weisser

Audience performances

  • 17 March 1969, "The Mountain Looked At The Mountain…And Slipped Away To Sea", half the audience saying; “the mountain looked”, and the other half; “at the mountain” Language Events” Show California State College, Long Beach
  • 12 September 1974, "Confusongs", solo reading at books, etc., Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles
  • 14 March 1975, "Book Of Love Being Written As They Touched", for 8 female voices, based on the 40.320 permutations of this sentence, “Second Generation” Show, Museum of Conceptual Art, San Francisco (voices: Faryl Bell, Lorry Benjamin, Emi Ozaki, Ilyse Feder, Mary Ann Melchert, Judy Parks, Margaret Pethick, Carol Shaler)
  • 21 May 1975, "Dark Pastimes", 45min Duet with Roberta Friedman with tape accompaniment at University Of California, Santa Barbara
  • 12 July 1975 "Whenzday Stood w/Ghosts Rituals", for 6 voices, Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art (voices: Hendrika Brouer, Roberta Friedman, Abbigail Kanter, Robert Velick, Graham Weinbren, S.Weisser)
  • 11,18, 25 January 1976, "Enchanted Hours", live duets from 8-10pm, in conjunction with the "Hagiogrammz" show, Beyond Baroque Foundation, Venice, Los Angeles (voices: Susan Sharpe 11th, 18th, Dierdre Beckett 25th w/ S.Weisser)
  • 7 February 1976, "Talk Of Why", "Compomotion" for 3 voices and tape replay, live broadcasted KPFK Los Angeles 12pm-2am (voices: Susan Sharpe, Roberta Friedman, S.Weisser)
  • 19 March 1976, "Instill", for 4 voices and tape replay, Theatre Vanguard, Los Angeles (voices: Susan Sharpe, Rebecca Nevarre, Will Jackson, S.Weisser)
  • 4 April 1977, "Fool Moon", 3 hour spacial poetic live mix for taped voices 7-10pm, Word Works Gallery, San Jose
  • 19 September 1977, "Oomoonoon: Dancing On The Brink Of The Word #1", 3 hour tape installation beginning with three 3 minute loops of 3 voices each - their ambience was recorded and every 45 minutes the loop replaced; total voice accumulation progression: 9-15-27-51 voices, Umunhum Room - California State University at San Jose
  • 19 November 1977, "Spatial Poetics", live mix for taped voices, the first west coast international sound poetry festival, La Mamelle, San Francisco, California
  • 25 November 1977, "Sound Of Wind And Limb", for mallet percussion, Works Gallery, San Jose
  • 29 March 1978, "Oomoonoon: Dancing On The Brink Of The Word #2", tape mix for 18 voices, Umunhum Room - California State University, San Jose
  • 18 September 1982, "Dark Pastimes", solo voice accompanied by tape mix, het Apollohuis, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

Gallery presentations

One person

  • 4–31 January 1976, "Hagiogrammz", visual poetries, Beyond Baroque Foundation, Venice, Los Angeles

Group

  • June 1976, visual poetry show, California State University, Sacramento
  • 1976-1979, various group shows, La Mamelle, San Francisco, California
  • August 1977, visual poetry show, And/Or, Seattle, Washington
  • March 1978, sound sculpture show, Union Gallery, California State University, San Jose

Visual publications

  • "Write:Rite", LAICA Journal #7, August/September 1975
  • "Source Of Supply", Synapse, 1976
  • "Gray Matter", Intermedia, 1976
  • "Contexts", La Mamelle #1, #2 [front and rear covers] 1976, 1977
  • "The Mechanics Of Genius", Dumb OX, 1977
  • "Pyramid>Pyrmaid", Imagezine #3, 1977
  • "Sag Mir", Panache, 1978
  • "Contexts", 1981 and 1983 (twelve originals printed as six accompany the 7 inches "Poextensions" and "Editeditions") published by Subterranean Records, San Francisco

Audio publications

  • "55 Buick On 5", 1976, Audiozine #1, Art Contemporary Publications, San Francisco, California
  • "Sound Of Wind And Limb", 1977, Audiozine #2 - Art Contemporary Publications, San Francisco, California
  • "Oomoonoon", 1978 – Audio Editions, Union Gallery, CSU San Jose
  • "Poextensions & Contexts", 1981 – Subterranean Records, San Francisco, California
  • "Editeditions & Contexts", 1983 – Subterranean Records, San Francisco, California

Inclusions

  • Archives Of California Art – Oakland Museum of Art
  • Contemporary Art Archives - La Mamelle Inc.
  • Artist Book Collection – Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles

uns

Audience performances

  • 24 February 1980 "Check It", for voice, organ and tape mix, Target Video, San Francisco (premiere performance)
  • 17 March 1980, "Aldo’s Bar (Life Sentence)", for voice, organ and tape mix, Aldo’s Bar, Broadway, San Francisco
  • 12 February 1981, "Says #s 1 & 2", for voice and 2 skipping turntables, Savoy Tivoli, San Francisco
  • 24 May 1982, "Past 2 Days", for voice and 2 skipping turntables, Martinson hall, Public Theatre, New York City
  • 19 September 1982, "Save The What?", for voice and tape mix, Het apollohuis, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
  • 7 October 1982, "...I used To Be", for voice and tape mix, Musik Auser Kontrolle Festival, Zurich, Switzerland
  • 11 June 1983, "Life Sentense", for voice and tape mix, Houdini Theater, Zurich, Switzerland

Z’EV

Particular audience performances

  • 12 November 1980, "Metal Bizondere Plastik", for moving metals and mallet percussion, Fountainzaal, Melkweg, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  • 22 June 1982, "Elemental Music", for moving metals and mallet percussion, Documenta 7, Kassel, West Germany
  • 6 December 1982, "The Light Of Metal Sounding – For Jackson Maclow", for moving metals, The Language/Noise Series, Martinson Hall, Public Theatre, New York City
  • 10,13 June 1985, "Beautiful Music", for mallet percussion, Kleine Zaal, Het Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  • 1 March 1986, "Lightning Music", for mallet percussion, Art and Alchemy Show, Name Gallery, Chicago, Illinois.
  • 2 May 1987, "ONG", for mallet percussion, 1. Symposion der Gong, Fritz Perls Akademie, Hückeswagen, Germany
  • 16 June 1987, "Following In The Footsteps", music for dance, for superball mallets, 18” bass drum & steel gongs, Dancer (footsteps): Ria Higler, Theatre school for new dance development , Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  • 28 April 1990, "Tattoo", for marching bass drum, Recommended Records Shop, London, England
  • 20 April 1990, "Opus 3", for moving metals, plastic and mallet percussion, De Duif, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  • 31 October 1990, "Ghost Stories", for moving metals, plastics & concert bass drum, Wang Concert Hall, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  • 28 November 2002, "With Sound Of Hands, (Inferno, Canto 3)", for mallet percussion, Kontakt 3 Festival, Cagliari, Italy
  • 27 July 2003, "Nuit Gestes", for amplified mallet percussion, Mimi Festival, Marsaille, France
  • 29 November 2003, "Noisome The Earth Is (Inferno, Canto 6)", for mallet percussion, Kontakt 4 festival, Cagliari, Italy
  • December 2003, "So Say The Dead", mallet percussion accompaniment for Macbeth, Director: Bela Gruska, Sudden Theatre, Paris, France
  • 8 May 2004, "Zones", for mallet percussion, Undraverk Percussion Festival, Rekjavek, Iceland
  • 4 June 2005, "Yantra Tantra", mallet percussion in a pitch black room, Venn festival, Bristol, England
  • 23 July 2005, "Unto The Note Of Storks (Inferno, Canto 32)", for concert bass drum, stainless & titanium instruments, to accompany artist Richi Ferrero's, multimedia event: La Citta' Di Sotto, Torino, Italy

Gallery presentations

One person

  • 6-13 February 1984, "Pieces", performance/installation, Rijksmuseum Kroller Muller, Otterloo, The Netherlands
  • 22-4 February 1985, "Elemental Elements", performance/installation, Beeld en Geluid Series, Haags Gemeentemuseum, Den Haag, The Netherlands

Group

  • June-August 1987, Untitled Sound Sculpture, Sculpture in the Garden Show, Gemeentemuseum, Arnhem, The Netherlands
  • June 2008-February 2009, "TAV: For Lilith", 7.1 surround sound piece, the Aleph-Bet Sound Project, The Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco

Published Works

Wheels On Fire #’s 1 And 2

Based on Shakespeare’s King Lear, #1 is a monologue version written for Gylan Kain and #2 is a Quartet version using Gloucester [as a woman], her two sons Edmund and Edgar and Regan, one of Lear’s daughters.

Published in 'Ratio:3 volume 2 Trans:Mediators' By Temple Press 1992 [1].

Rhythmajik, Practical Uses of Number, Rhythm and Sound

A radical reformulation of the Kabbalah from an Astral/Cosmological focus to an Earthed perspective. The first complete practical guide covering all aspects of the numbers 1-9 [and their magnitudes] and the mystical uses of sound. Specific applications are included for the following disciplines: Astrology, Divination, Envisioning, Healing, Numerology, Qabalah and occult tarot. Extensive numerological dictionaries were included covering both healing and ritual vocabularies.

First edition published in 1992 by Temple Press Ltd., Brighton, UK, ISBN 1-871744-407.

Reviews from the back cover of the original edition:

Murry Hope – author of Psychology of Ritual:

"The medical profession has long been aware of the powerful effects rhythm can exert on both psyche and soma, while there is also a belief in certain metaphysical schools that these may even extend to the subtle dimensions. In RHYTHMAJIK, Z'EV presents an original approach to the energies released via the rhythmic process, including the healing potential of correctly structured rhythms, and their possible value as access codes to those frequencies unbound by the space-time continuum. Dare one suggest that this could be the precursor of the long-forgotten science of sonics which many believe will surface in the next millennium?"

Z'ev ben Shimon Halevi:

"My impression is one of great comprehensiveness and much diligent work. It will have great appeal to students of the Western Line, and clearly covers new ground."

Face the Wound

A 'Sprache Opera' blending Z’EV’s powerful rhythmic sensibilities with a hauntingly stark melodic conception to orchestrate a 4000+ word vocal narrative developed from cut-ups drawn from approximately 30 audio cassette tapes collected from thrift shops, garage sales and flea markets.

Regarding the title, Face The Wound, the 'wound' in question is that wound in the societal and cultural psyche which resulted from the Witch Trials and specifically from the genocide of the 9 million women burned as witches between the mid-1400’s to the end of the 1700’s.

Compositionally Face The Wound is a Tragi-comedy which shares with ancient Greek Drama the reliance on the dialogue between 2 characters, in this case the male and female voices. Z’EV has also adapted the Wagnerian device of leitmotif, but has applied it to verbal rather than harmonic phrases.

Face the Wound was released on CD by Soleilmoon in 2001, and the full libretto was posted on the original RHYTHMAJIK website.

The Sapphire Nature

4 translations (exoteric, esoteric, metaphoric, allegoric of the seminal mystical text known as the ‘Sefer Yetzirah’ or ‘Book of Formation’. The source manuscript for these translations referred to as ‘London 1902’ or ‘The Short Version’, was published by Menasheh Grossberg on the basis of Oxford Manuscript 2250:2. This text is attributed to Avusel Donash ben Tamim who wrote it in Arabic in 955 ce in Kairwan Tunisia.

Published in PDF format on the CD ‘The Sapphire Nature’, released May 2002 by Tzadik, USA.

Note that the audio material on the CD is the symbolic translation of Z’EV’s ‘Essential Edit’ of the Sefer. The ‘Essential Edit’ text is also included in the PDF file.

Elementalities : Part The Second

1440 words rendered from out the first thirteen verses of ‘The Oracle Of Blood’ aka Proverbs: ch.30 v.1-33.

Published in booklet form to accompany ‘ELEMENTALITIES : Symphony #2’, released in 2006 by Blossoming Noise, USA.

Release note by Z'EV:

"Dedicated to: Rav J. Winston, who taught me: ‘don’t be afraid to study with the dead’"

Discography

Collaborators

Collaborators over the years include:

Artists

Dancers

  • Salome Schneebelli (ch)
  • Christina Svane (us)

Film makers

  • Roberta Friedman (us)
  • Christine Koenigs (nl)
  • Karen Mirza & Brad Butler (uk)

Musicians

Poets

References

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Re/Search (2006). No. 6/7 Industrial Culture Handbook, Limited Hardback Edition. San Francisco: RE/Search. pp. =106–117. ISBN 978-1-889307-16-9. 
  2. ^ a b (1991) "Press", pp. 58–61 [CD Booklet]. Album notes for 1968-1990 One Foot In The Grave by Z’EV. Touch.
  3. ^ Sablosky, Roy (03 1983). "Review of Production And Decay Of Spacial Relations". OP Magazine. 
  4. ^ Morra, Louis (11–12 1983). "Review of Elemental Music". East Village Eye. 
  5. ^ Joe Rees
  6. ^ (1991) "Discography", pp. 95–107 [CD Booklet]. Album notes for 1968-1990 One Foot In The Grave by Z’EV. Touch.
  7. ^ Edgar Mauricio Ramirez Diaz (2008-05-25). "Reviews(8) Z’EV cooperation releases". PAN.O.RA.MA Audial/Visual/Magickal Journal. http://panoramajournal.blogspot.com/2008/05/stephen-omalley-zev-magistral-digipack.html. Retrieved 2008-12-06. 
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Dmitri Kolesnik (06 1999). "Z’EV – Acoustic Phenomenae". Drugie Here. http://drugie.here.ru/achtung/new/zevint_e.htm. Retrieved 2008-07-25. 
  9. ^ Mike Hovancsek. "Z’EV: Swords into Plowshares". http://wlt4.home.mindspring.com/adventures/articles/zev.htm. Retrieved 2008-11-12. 
  10. ^ John Buckley, New York Rocker, Issue #30, July-August 1980, p.51
  11. ^ a b Bohn, Chris (1982-05-08). "Sixophrenic, The Six Faces of Z’EV". New Musical Express: pp=15–16. 
  12. ^ a b c Chris Toenes (2007-05-16). "Sound artist Z’EV’s long, lonely path to innovation". Indyweek.com. http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=153968. Retrieved 2008-07-18. 
  13. ^ Alternative Press, Issue #59, June 1993, p.35
  14. ^ allmusic ((( Symphony No. 2 (The Peak of the Sacred) > Overview )))
  15. ^ Ken Winokur, Art New England, Volume 1 #7, June 1980, p.27
  16. ^ a b Glenn Dixon (2007-05-24). "A Sound Experience: Z’EV’". Express Night Out. http://expressnightout.com/content/2007/05/a_sound_experience.php. Retrieved 2008-07-21. 

Books

External links

Rhythmajik.com

Published works

direct links to project pages at original "Rhythmajik.com" website.

Books

Interviews

Reviews and press

Live performances


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