Friday, October 31, 2008

Day 133: Reichian Tales


image from the Bikini section of Three Tales, Photo by Wonge Bergmann

In 2003 with video artist Beryl Korot, composer Steve Reich released an album called "Three Tales". While unexpectedly hearing a countdown and the words, "the United States Government wants to turn this great destructive power... into something for the benefit of all mankind.."on NPR this week I have discovered the Bikini segment of this album. The islands of the Bikini Atoll were the location (ground zero) for Operation Crossroads, a series of nuclear tests that occurred in the Pacific during the summer of 1946.

BBC reviewer Andrew McGregor writes,
"Bikini is different; this isn't straight music theatre reportage. The questions about the destructive technology are more explicit, the clash between the advanced atomic science and the simple Bikini people of the Marshall Islands is underlined by the score."

In case you haven't heard of it : Steve Reich's Three Tales.


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