Information/Write-up
The Four Horsemen explode the word and the non-word to arrive at a new language, a new art charged with rhythmic excitement startling in its impact. Canadada is a unique aesthetic exploration celebrating the tonal and emotional scope of vocal sound. Primitive power and sophisticated craftmanship are fused in a chanting, laughing, screaming dance of the human voice(in some instances in free improvisation). Nada is the spanish word for nothing and also in hundu mythology, the sound that never ends, the creative principle of the universe." No need to tell you that you may never see this again, so grab it now!! A masterpiece of experimental avant garde!!The Four Horsemen came out of an explosion of the worldwide sound poetry movement which was represented in Canada by psych poetry legend Bill Bissett, but also by the great Sean O'Huigin and Dick Higgins. In a more worldwide perspective the artists were deeply influenced by the vocal experiments of Bob Cobbing, Franz Mon, Arthur Petronio and Arrigo Lora Totino, Brion Gysin, Bernard Hedsieck, but also from the text sound compositions movement found in Sweden with main contributors Sten Hanson, Ake Hodell, Bengt Emil Johnson and of course Lars-Gunnar Bodin. Quite important should have also been the influence of their neighbour american artists like John Giorno, William S. Burroughs, Robert Ashley, while one could also think at Jackson MacLow, John Cage and Steve Reich. One can trace also some very important similarities to artists' recordings, like those of Hermann Nitsch, Joseph Beuys(fluxus) and Nam June Paik. In a broader sense i am pretty sure that the Four Horsemen had been aware of the developments in Europe concerning musique concrete, electronic & experimental sound and lead by Josef-Anton Riedl, Dieter Schnebel, Bernard Parmegiani and Karlheinz Stockhausen, Pierry Henry, Iannis Xenakis and of course Luc Ferrari.
bp nichol, Steve Mccaffery, Paul Dutton and Rafael Barreto-Rivera
Produced by Robert Hindley-Smith
Engineered by John De Nottbeck
Artwork by Barry Rubin
Photography by Donna Moyseuik
Dedicated to the memory of Hugo Ball
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