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Tango with Cows:
Book Art of the Russian Avant-Garde, 1910-1917



Image of "Haulhorsies" (Kruchenykh, 1913) from Getty slideshow of Explodity (1913)

PennSound is especially pleased to present a remarkable archive of audio files accompanying the exhibition "Tango with Cows: Book Art of the Russian Avant-Garde 1910-1917," held at the Getty Research Institute from November 18, 2008 to April 19, 2009. In addition to a full set of recordings of highlights from the books on display in the exhibition, we present the recordings from Explodity: An Evening of Sound Poetry held at The Getty Center on February 4, 2009. Additional media, including images of the books and video footage of the performances, can be found at the Getty Research Institute website here.



Threesome (Troe), cover by Malevich, 1913

Tango with Cows

Selections from the exhibition read by Oleg Minin, PhD, Dept. of Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Southern California

  1. Alexei Kruchenykh - “Akhmet” 0:51 : MP3
  2. Alexei Kruchenykh - “Zabyl povesitsia” (Forgot to hang myself) 0:42 : MP3
  3. Alexei Kruchenykh - “Pugal’ pistolet” (Scaredity pistol) 0:31 : MP3
  4. Alexei Kruchenykh - “Vzorval’...” (Explodity...) 0:39 : MP3
  5. Alexei Kruchenykh - “Pugal k ustam” (Gun to the mouth) 0:35 : MP3
  6. Alexei Kruchenykh - “Tyanutkoni” (Haulhorsies) 1:04 : MP3
  7. Alexei Kruchenykh - “Tyanut konei” (They haul horsies) 1:07 : MP3
  8. Alexei Kruchenykh - “Esli by toshnila” (If you were puking) 0:48 : MP3
  9. Alexei Kruchenykh - “Tri stikhotvorenia” (Three poems) from Pomada 2:19 : MP3
  10. Alexei Kruchenykh - “Tri stikhotvorenia” (Three poems) from Te li le 1:37 : MP3
  11. Velimir Khlebnikov - “Nash kochen’ ochen’ ozabochen” (Let us all be heads of lettuce) 0:32 : MP3
  12. Velimir Khlebnikov - “Bo beh oh bee” 1:23 : MP3
  13. Alexei Kruchenykh - Excerpt from Zaumnaia gniga (Transrational boog) 2:37 : MP3
  14. Alexei Kruchenykh - “Kushai, khudogi” (Eat Artniks) 0:49 : MP3
  15. Alexei Kruchenykh - “Gud paravoza” (Drone of the enjin) 0:51 x : MP3
  16. Alexei Kruchenykh - “Bessmert’e” (Immortality) 0:36 x : MP3
  17. Alexei Kruchenykh - “Shocratez” 0:41 x : MP3
  18. Alexei Kruchenykh - “Ostryzhka” (Sbelching) 0:47 x : MP3
  19. Alexei Kruchenykh - “Kho Bo Ro” 0:26 x : MP3
  20. Alexei Kruchenykh - “Upacha chume” 0:25 x : MP3
  21. Alexei Kruchenykh - “Iskarioty vy nikudy” (Iscariots you good for nothing) 1:13 x : MP3
  22. Velimir Khlebnikov - “Zakliatie smekhom” (Incantation by Laughter) 1:57 : MP3
  23. Alexei Kruchenykh - “Vysoty” (Heights) 0:52 : MP3
  24. Alexei Kruchenykh - Excerpt from Pobeda nad solntsem (Victory over the sun) 2:47 : MP3
  25. Pavel Filonov - Excerpt from Propeven’ o prorosli mirovoi (A Chant of Universal Flowering) 1:06 : MP3
  26. Velimir Khlebnikov - Excerpt from Derevyannye idoly (Wooden Idols) 0:29 x : MP3
  27. Velimir Khlebnikov - “Kuznechik” (Grasshopper) 0:32 x : MP3
  28. Alexei Kruchenykh and Velimir Khlebnikov - Excerpt from Igra v adu (A Game in Hell) 1:15 : MP3
  29. Alexei Kruchenykh and Velimir Khlebnikov - Excerpt from Igra v adu (A Game in Hell) 1:23 : MP3
  30. Alexei Kruchenykh and Velimir Khlebnikov - Excerpt from Igra v adu (A Game in Hell) 1:15 : MP3
  31. Alexei Kruchenykh and Velimir Khlebnikov - Excerpt from Igra v adu (A Game in Hell) 0:38 : MP3
('x' indicates that the recording was not in the exhibition)


Explodity: An Evening of Transrational Sound Poetry



Wednesday, February 4, 2009

By invoking the revolutionary zaum' (transrational) poetry of the Russian avant-garde – as exemplified by the great poets Velimir Khlebnikov and Alexei Kruchenykh – this evening's performance explores the link between early sound experiments and what came to be known, in the post-World War II era, as sound poetry – a movement very much alive today. (from the Getty's Explodity page, where you can find video documentation of these readings and much more)

PART I: RUSSIAN ZAUM'

  1. Welcome by Nancy Perloff, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Collections, Getty Research Institute (3:46): MP3
  2. Introduction by Gerald Janecek, Professor of Russian, University of Kentucky (8:57): MP3

    3. Velimir Khlebnikov's Word Transformations
    With Oleg Minin and Christian Bök

  3. "Bobeobi pelis' guby" (Boh-beh-o-bee is the lipsong), 1914 (1:21) : MP3
  4. "Kuznechik" (Grasshopper), 1908–1909 (1:07) : MP3
  5. "Nash kochen' ochen' ozabochen" (Let us all be heads of lettuce), 1914 (1:02) : MP3
  6. "Zakliatie smekhom" (Incantation by laughter), 1910 (3:01) : MP3
  7. Excerpt from "Propeven' o prorosli mirovoi" (Chant of universal flowering) by Pavel Filonov, 1915 (1:26) : MP3

    8. Alexei Kruchenykh's Alogical Poetry
    With Oleg Minin and Allison Pultz (Introduction by Gerald Janecek)

  8. "Akhmet," 1912 (1:13) : MP3
  9. "Tyanutkoni" (Haulhorsies), 1913 (1:02) : MP3
  10. "Tyanutkina" (They Haulhorsies), 1913 (0:58) : MP3
  11. "Zabyl povesitsia" (Forgot to hang myself), 1913 (0:39) : MP3
  12. "Vzorval' ognia pechal' " (Explodity of fire sorrow), 1913 (0:35) : MP3
  13. "Pugal' pistolet" (Scaredity pistol), 1913 (0:39) : MP3

    14. Khlebnikov and Kruchenykh's "Beyonsense"
    With Oleg Minin and Steve McCaffery

  14. Introduction by Gerald Janecek (1:16) : MP3
  15. "Rusakli poiut" (The mermaids sing), excerpt from Dereviannye idoly (Wooden idols), 1915 (0:50) : MP3
  16. "Bezsmert'e" (Immortality), 1917 (0:44) : MP3
  17. "Shchiusel' biuzi niabe," 1915 (2:03) : MP3
  18. "Vysoty: Vselenskij yazyk" (Heights: Universal language), 1914 (1:37) : MP3
  19. "Dyr bul shchyl," with the poet's introduction, 1913 (1:32) : MP3

PART II: MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY SOUND POETRY

Steve McCaffery, David Gray Chair of Poetry and Letters, University at Buffalo

  • Introduction by Nancy Perloff (1:21) : MP3

    • Historic Repertoire
  • "The Birds" by Aristophanes, 360 BCE (1:28) : MP3
  • "Sound-Rel" by Raoul Hausmann, 1919 (1:50) : MP3
  • "Le bonbon" by Robert Desnos, 1923 (0:48) : MP3
  • "Epithalame" by Clement Swenssen, 1947 (1:14) : MP3
  • Excerpt from "Jappements à la lune" by Claude Gauvreau, 1982 (1:30) : MP3

    • Personal Repertoire
  • "Cappucino: a Suffix Structure" (2:55) : MP3
  • "This Face of Mine Enemy" (2:22) : MP3
  • Zaum' Acrostic for Marjorie Perloff (5:29) : MP3
  • On a line of Artaud's (3:08) : MP3

    • Christian Bök, Professor of English, University of Calgary

  • Introduction by Nancy Perloff (1:02) : MP3

    • Historic Repertoire
  • Excerpt from "Dunes" (French Version) by F. T. Marinetti, 1914 (4:02) : MP3
  • "Seepferdchen und Flugfische" by Hugo Ball, 1916 (1:20) : MP3
  • "Karawane" by Hugo Ball, 1916 (0:55) : MP3
  • "Totenklage" by Hugo Ball, 1916 (1:58) : MP3
  • Excerpt from the First Movement of Ursonate by Kurt Schwitters, 1922–1932 (4:40) : MP3
  • "Aria of the Three-Horned Enemy" from The Princess of the Stars by R. Murray Schafer, 1981 (3:31) : MP3

    • Personal Repertoire
  • "Valuvula" (2:01) : MP3
  • "Noyta CCCP" (1;12) : MP3
  • "The Doomsday Song (for Friedrich Nietzsche on the Death of Superman)" (1:15) : MP3
  • Excerpt from "Mushroom Clouds" in The Cyborg Opera (2:18) : MP3
  • Excerpt from "Synth Loops" in The Cyborg Opera (1:58) : MP3
  • "Ubu Hubbub" (3:47) : MP3

    • Tango with Cows on PennSound Daily


    See also Ubu's Futurism page.

    This PennSound resource edited by Danny Snelson in collaboration with the Getty Research Institute. Special thanks to Nancy Perloff, Evelyn Sen, and Beth Brett. © 2009 J. Paul Getty Trust. These recordings are made available strictly for noncommercial and educational use through PennSound. All rights to this recorded material belong to the J. Paul Getty Trust. Used with permission. Distributed by PennSound.