DID YOU KNOW that 8 out of the 19 musicians performing at BEMF have sample sound clips linked from the festival website? Visit www.boisemusicians.com/experimental and go to "Genre Samples & Guidelines". At the bottom of the page you'll find a list of experimental, avant-garde, and improvisational musicians with BEMF performers highlighted in blue.

Here is a preview of what you'll find:

Jeff Rice and his Cosmic Harp
Cosmic Ray Excerpt #1 - http://www.westernsoundscapes.com/cosmicrayexcerpt.mp3 /
Cosmic Ray Excerpt #2 - http://www.westernsoundscapes.com/cosmicrayexcerpt2.mp3
Cosmic Ray Excerpt #3  - http://www.westernsoundscapes.com/cosmicrayexcerpt3.mp3

Cosmic rays are tiny charged particles, such as protons or electrons, that travel close to the speed of light. They bombard the earth constantly like an invisible rain, and they are passing through us all just about every second. Many low energy cosmic rays are produced by the sun. Others are thought to be produced by exploding stars called supernovae. Some ultra powerful rays come from unknown origins. I have built a musical instrument that is played by cosmic rays. The University of Utah Physics department donated this cosmic ray detector (pictured at http://www.westernsoundscapes.com/aboutrays.html), and in collaboration with Bill Lloyd at the Discovery Center of Idaho, we got it working and customized the detector to make audible clicks whenever rays strike. I then fed these clicks through Max/MSP music software and triggered the sounds you hear. In excerpt1, rays randomly modulate three oscillators (a form of fm synthesis) to create a constantly changing audio landscape. In excerpt2, rays trigger a midi instrument that plays random notes in a mixolydian scale. Each strike plays a note. Similarly, in excerpt3, ray strikes play a dorian scale.

George McLean's "Wheehawkin 1952" intertwines an interesting set of percussion, electronic, and synthesizer sounds with an polytonal twist. http://www.northendarchitects.com/wheehawkin%201952.mp3

George writes, "Just after WW2 ended, New York city required musicians to have a "cabaret license" to play in the jazz clubs. People with any kind of an arrest record could NOT get one, so the clubs across the river in New Jersey became a world famous jazz mecca...all the very best players did "Wheehawkin"...Monk, Mingus, Joe Henderson...the saxophone was king - BOP was the groove - they were all just kids...when New York no longer required that license. In the early 50's and 60's the scene in New York appeared as if by magic..THE BEATNIK ERA". My tune "Weehawkin 1952" is a tribute to those guys. I am trying to capture the feel of those times."

Tickets are on sale at all Select-a-Seat outlets for 7 more days! (buy now and get a better deal than at the door)
By Phone: 208-426-1494
Online: www.idahotickets.com
Outlets: www.idahotickets.com/howtobuy/htb_outlet.cfm

For more information, including artist biographies, event schedule, and music samples, view the Boise Experimental Music Festival website at: http://www.boisemusicians.com/experimental/

Funding for BEMF was made possible through local sponsors and a grant from the
National Endowment for the Arts and the Idaho Commission on the Arts.

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Krispen Hartung
Boise Experimental Music Festival
www.boisemusicians.com/experimental/
info@... / 1.208.724.5603