Interview Guy Marc Hinant

In occasione della pubblicazione del terzo volume di una delle più edotte antologie di musica elettronica abbiamo fatto una chiacchierata con Guy Marc Hinant, il suo assemblatore. Come si nota dalla tracklist, questo terzo volume abbraccia un periodo storico abbastanza ampio (dal 1953 al 2004) e include due brani storici della musica concreta degli anni 70, svariati brani di tape music della Columbia University e un certo riguardo per la musica elettronica teutonica e per il krautrock nonchè per alcuni lavori più recenti (che per molti versi rimangono pionieristici, nonostante ne siano passati di stimoli sonori attraverso i timpani) di esponenti del rumorismo più o meno illustri.

Various Artists "An Anthology Of Noise & Electronic Music Volume 3" (Sub Rosa, distribuzione Audioglobe) Tracklisting CD#1 01.Bernard Parmegiani De Natura Sonorum : Matières induites (1975) 02.Hugh Le Caine Short Presentation of the 1948 Sackburt : The Sackburt Blues (1953) seguito da A Noisome Pestilence (1958) 03.Keith Fullerton Whitman / Hrvatski Stereo Music for Serge Modular Prototype (2003) 04.Ilhan Mimaroglu The Last Largo (1989) 05.Michael J.Schumacher Room Pieces : excerpt (2003) 06.Justin Bennet Ovipool (2003) 07.Scott Gibbons / Lilith Stone : Reciprocal (1992) 08.Fred Szymanski / Modular Flume (2003) 09.Francisco Lopez Untitled #148 (2003) 10.Zbigniew Karkowsi Execution of Intelligence 11.Masami Akita / Merzbow Birds and Warhouse (2004) 12.Michel Chion Requiem : Dies Irae (1973) CD#2 01.Erkki Kurenniemi Sähkösoittimen ääniä #4 + #1 (1971) 02.Carsten Nicolai / Alva Noto time...dot (3) (2000) 03.Peter Rehberg / Pita Early Work 6 (1984) 04.Herbert Eimert + Robert Beyer Klangstudies II (1952) 05.Gunther Rabl Eve (1987) 06.Asmus Tietchens Teilmenge 35 C (2004) 07.Michael Rother Feuerland (1976) 08.Faust The Faust Tapes : Untitled #16 + #17 (1973) 09.To Rococo Rot Contacte (2004) 10.Rune Lindblad Till Zakynthos (op.205) (1988) 11.CM von Hausswolff + Erik Pauser / Phauss Eternal Love #3 (1993)

Hi Guy. You recently published the third and long-awaited volume of “an anthology of noise & electronic”. You called it AN anthology... are there any others which are similar to yours? It was a way to seem modest. But nothing else exists basically

The period you consider is very wide (1952-2004) and it’s very difficult to “compress” this period. What are the criteria used to choose tracks? For each anthology, it's different - i just note the oldest and the newest. track - for the first it was from 1921 to 2002, the second, 1936-2003, this one 1952 to 2004. It's factual.

One of the main difficulties of making an historical reportage of electronic music stand in establishing a starting point. Some opinionists found it in the Denis d’or by Prokop Divis, some in the Clavecin Electrique and so on. What’s your opinion about it? I am more interested by the change of structure that's why i think that milestone is 1948 with the first productions of the musique concrète by pierre schaeffer and some years later the first studio of electronic music like i describe in the 2th anthology. The different way to compose has changed everything. But what it interests me too is to explore the pass - before the second world war - to locate some isolate creation or intuition. At last, the novelty of tools is third aspect, but it's an important one of course. It's a whole.

Any favourite “pioneer” among electronic musicians? Difficult, really. Luc Ferrari is always surprising, John Cage, Iannis Xenakis, Gordon Mumma, Tod Dockstader, Hugh Davies, Ilhan Mimaroglu, Henri Pousseur, some track by Paik or Kupper are astonishing. A lot, really.

Chalking about electronic music may last quite a few years... what are the main shadows of electronic music composition? Their number, i think. In 50' they were 10, in 60, 100, in 70, 1000, in 80, 10000, in 90, 100000 and now more than 1000000. So it's difficult to make a good choice, it's more like a flux. The other aspect is without a doubt the similarities in the tool - any young electronic musicien from France, italy, China or Argentina composes on the same Apple with the same program. It's a real effect of globalisation. The territories doen't exsist on the same level anymore.

Who are the partisans of the Eternal Order, mentioned in the introduction of the booklet? All the people who want to keep the situation as it is. The great Academic mind - it was there in late 19th century - fighting against Debussy, Stravinsky or Schoenberg, but still here on another form in the too much straight schools like Acousmatic today - all interesting ways at the beginning that became liveless with time. Mainly now, the strong commercial will is to transfort music to an huge alienation tool, awful.

What’s the limen between serious music and serial one in your viewpoint? The serious music could be all music created not only for entertainment. All is mainly a question of intensity. The frontiers are blur by nature.

You made an exaustive collection (even from the geographical viewpoint), but it’s undeniable Germany could be considered as the centre of innovation (even if Japan and Usa could boast some great composers). Do you think there are particular explanations of this phenomenon? Germany has always produce interesting music, these last century, as italy or any important european country. In fact i have more explored music produced in germany in the 3th one. But i will explore other lands this the next. No exclusivity.

What are the most important schools of electronic composition nowadays in you opinion? Historical i see three historical axes - In 1948, Pierre Schaeffer founded the Club d'Essai in Paris (which became the Groupe de Recherche Musicale - GRM - in 1951). In 1951, Vladimir Ussachevsky and Otto Luening set up New York's Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. Their music is featured in the second volume. Also in 1951, the WDR's Studio für Elektronische Musik was established in Cologne around Herbert Eimert, Robert Beyer and Werner Meyer-Eppler. The 1950s saw the establishment of: in 1953, the RAI's Studio di Fonologia, Milan; in 1955, the Electronic studio of the Nippon Hoso Kyokai (NHK), Japan; in 1956, the Philips Research Laboratories (later Instituut voor Sonologie), Eindhoven; in 1957, Polish Radio's Studio Eksperymentalne, Warsaw; and in 1959, Apalac, Brussels. - and you have to add to that all the indivual aspects or isolated composers - like Tod Docktader and many othersŠ

What do you think about the so-called “anti-marketing” strategies by Psychic Tv? I know nothing about this strategies, here at sub rosa, we act naturaly for the survival of the species, to release archives is sometime an act of resistance, it's important to keep a link. We're searching relation and discussion. That's what we try to realize throught our catalogue since years.

When will we taste your next anthology? In the 4th, it will be mainly independant composers who build very early their work without studio help like Halim el-Balh, very surprising, i'll explore too some noise tendenties from rock and punk music, japanese noise, and as usual some classic of electronic music, too. It's always a structure in perpetual change. Here we go.