Tonight on Ongehoord (Unheard), we focus on the work of the American composer Ben Vida. His recent work centres on the blurring of the boundaries between ‘language’ and ‘sound’.
Born in New York in 1974, the artist has been active on the American avant-garde scene for many years, with numerous collaborative projects, residencies and composition commissions.
In recent years, he has developed a new way of composing, centred on the spoken word. The texts are spoken monotonously and simultaneously against a minimal, repetitive, acoustic accompaniment.
There is no longer any distinction between meaning and sound – the whole suggests repetition without ever moving in exactly the same way.
The effect is as sleep-inducing as it is compelling.
- [presentation] Reducing The Tempo To Zero – Part 1 (fragment)
- Be Yr Own Abyss
- Reducing The Tempo To Zero (Part 1) (fragment)
- Unmake A World
- Bremen Trio – Part One (fragment)
- New Distortion Properties
- [presentation] Ghost Pipes (fragment)
- Drawn Evening
- Reducing The Tempo To Zero (Part 4) (fragment)
- Oblivion Seekers
- [presentation] Bremen Trio – Part One (fragment)
- Still Point
2,4,6,10: from Oblivion Seekers, Shelter Press, 2026
Acoustic Bass – Henry Fraser
Percussion – Booker Stardrum
Soprano Saxophone, Alto Saxophone – Will Epstein
Tenor Saxophone, Alto Saxophone – Matt Bauder
Violin – Cleek Schrey
Voice – Christina Vantzou, Félicia Atkinson
Voice, Bass Flute – John Also Bennett
Voice, Harp – Nina Dante
Voice, Keyboards, Vibraphone, Guitar – Ben Vida
8,12: fromThe Beat My Head Hit, Shelter Press, 2023
Music, Voice – Ben Vida
Voice – Nina Dante, Yarn/Wire (Laura Berger, Russell Greenberg)
Other fragments taken from:
Reducing The Tempo To Zero, Shelter Press, 2019
Vocal Trio, Blume, 2024
Murmurations (with Lea Bartucci), Cibachrome Editions, 2022
