Remember Me
The title of the project Remember Me takes its inspiration from Nahum Tate’s libretto from the aria of Henry Purcell’s Dido’s Lament (from the opera Dido and Aeneas). Using sixteen poems written by Ken Mikolowski as source material, Michael Gould created music and artwork that explore outmoded equipment, materials and sounds, delving into his own experiences with loss, illness and, ultimately, his recovery. The poems, artwork and music are all archived in a new book entitled Remember Me published by Alternative Press. The multimedia performance includes Michael Gould- percussion/electronics, Malcolm Tulip- narrator/actor, Marion Tränkle- live visual manipulation, Nadja Raszewski- choreography, along with the Tangente Dance Company from Berlin, Germany. The concerts and Tangente residency were made possible by the Residential College, The Dean of LS&A, The School of Music, Theater & Dance and the International Institute. The book was made possible by the generous support of the University of Michigan Office of Research.
My interest was to translate the poems into sight and sound—using each as one would a melodic fragment or leitmotif. As a drummer, I can create a composite pattern or groove from three to four separate rhythms all synchronized precisely that ultimately form a whole. I was interested in doing this with Ken’s poems bythe use of composite layers mixed with the interplay of light that take the original words and intent of the poems but create a new or altered “groove”.
My grandfather and father were both photographers and they were obsessed with light. They made me aware of light and its effect on capturing an image. Light in a way is synonymous with the idea of changing timbre—as we often do as musicians. For example—I can play (and ultimately change the quality of the sound) with a stick or a brush, I can paint with a brush or a scrapper, I can paint with light, I can change density or dynamic in either art or music. To me, creating the art is exactly the same as I would approach playing, composing or improvising music.
