| Facing North | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1992 | |||
| Recorded | April 1992 | |||
| Studio | Rainbow Studio Oslo, Norway | |||
| Genre | Minimalism | |||
| Length | 54:33 | |||
| Label | ECM New Series ECM 1482 | |||
| Producer | Manfred Eicher | |||
| Meredith Monk chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
Facing North is the eighth album by Meredith Monk, recorded in April 1992 and released on the ECM New Series later that year. Monk is backed by vocalist Robert Een.
All tracks are written by Meredith Monk
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Northern Lights 1" | 1:58 |
| 2. | "Chinook" | 4:45 |
| 3. | "Long Shadows 1" | 2:24 |
| 4. | "Keeping Warm" | 4:13 |
| 5. | "Northern Lights 2" | 2:58 |
| 6. | "Chinook Whispers" | 0:32 |
| 7. | "Arctic Bar" | 4:34 |
| 8. | "Hocket" | 4:21 |
| 9. | "Long Shadows 2" | 5:39 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 10. | "Epic" | 9:25 |
| 11. | "Fire Dance" | 1:58 |
| 12. | "Little Epiphany/Sybil Song" | 4:23 |
| 13. | "An Opera Epic: Mill" | 3:01 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 14. | "Boat Song" | 4:22 |
The Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, commonly known as Bath Abbey, is a parish church of the Church of England and former Benedictine monastery in Bath, Somerset, England. Founded in the 7th century, it was reorganised in the 10th century and rebuilt in the 12th and 16th centuries; major restoration work was carried out by Sir George Gilbert Scott in the 1860s. It is one of the largest examples of Perpendicular Gothic architecture in the West Country. The medieval abbey church served as a sometime cathedral of a bishop. After long contention between churchmen in Bath and Wells the seat of the Diocese of Bath and Wells was later consolidated at Wells Cathedral. The Benedictine community was dissolved in 1539 during the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
A pitch pipe is a small device used to provide a pitch reference for musicians. Although it may be described as a musical instrument, it is not typically used to play music as such. Technically, it is a tuning harmonica; however, it lacks many characteristics of harmonicas.
Meredith Jane Monk is an American composer, performer, director, vocalist, filmmaker, and choreographer. From the 1960s onwards, Monk has created multi-disciplinary works which combine music, theatre, and dance, recording extensively for ECM Records. In 1991, Monk composed Atlas, an opera, commissioned and produced by the Houston Opera and the American Music Theater Festival. Her music has been used in films by the Coen Brothers and Jean-Luc Godard. Trip hop musician DJ Shadow sampled Monk's "Dolmen Music" on the song "Midnight in a Perfect World". In 2015, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts by Barack Obama.
Welsh bagpipes The names in Welsh refer specifically to a bagpipe. A related instrument is one type of bagpipe chanter, which when played without the bag and drone is called a pibgorn (English:hornpipe). The generic term pibau (pipes) which covers all woodwind instruments is also used. They have been played, documented, represented and described in Wales since the fourteenth century. A piper in Welsh is called a pibydd or a pibgodwr.
Starkland is an independent record label based in Boulder, Colorado that specializes in alternative classical music. It was founded in 1991 by Thomas Steenland.
The pibgorn is a Welsh species of idioglot reed aerophone. The name translates literally as "pipe-horn". It is also historically known as cornicyll and pib-corn. It utilises a single reed, cut from elder or reed, like that found in the drone of a bagpipe, which is an early form of the modern clarinet reed. The single chambered body of the elder pipe has a naturally occurring parallel bore, into which are drilled six small finger-holes and a thumb-hole giving a diatonic compass of an octave. The body of the instrument is traditionally carved from a single piece of wood or bone. Playable, extant historical examples in the Museum of Welsh Life have bodies cut and shaped of elder. Another, unplayable instrument at the Museum, possibly of a later date, is made from the leg bone of an unspecified ungulate. Contemporary instruments are turned and bored from a variety of fruitwoods, or exotic hardwoods; or turned from, or moulded in plastics. The reed is protected by a reed-cap or stock of cow-horn. The bell is shaped from a section of cow-horn which serves to amplify the sound. The pibgorn may be attached to a bag, with the additional possibility of a drone, which is then called pibau cwd; or played directly with the mouth via the reed-cap.
Robert Een is an American composer, cellist, and vocalist.
Screaming is an extended vocal technique that is popular in "aggressive" music genres such as heavy metal, punk rock, and noise music and others. It is common in the more extreme subgenres of heavy metal, such as death and black metal as well as many other subgenres.
Vocalists are capable of producing a variety of extended technique sounds. These alternative singing techniques have been used extensively in the 20th century, especially in art song and opera. Particularly famous examples of extended vocal technique can be found in the music of Luciano Berio, John Cage, George Crumb, Peter Maxwell Davies, Hans Werner Henze, György Ligeti, Demetrio Stratos, Meredith Monk, Giacinto Scelsi, Arnold Schoenberg, Salvatore Sciarrino, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Tim Foust, Avi Kaplan, and Trevor Wishart.
Dolmen Music is a 1981 studio album by American composer and vocalist Meredith Monk recorded over two sessions in March 1980 and January 1981 and released on the ECM New Series—her first of twelve releases for the label.
Turtle Dreams is an album by American composer and vocalist Meredith Monk recorded in 1983 and released on the ECM New Series later that year. A choreographed version of the work premiered at the Plexus Club in Chelsea, Manhattan. A film version, directed by Ping Chong, was broadcast the same year on September 2, 1983, on WGBH in Boston, Massachusetts.
Key is the debut album of Meredith Monk, released in 1971 through Increase Records. In 2017, Tompkins Square re-released Key for Record Store Day.
Our Lady of Late is the second album by Meredith Monk, released in 1973 through Minona Records.
Do You Be is the sixth album by Meredith Monk, recorded over two sessions in June 1986 and January 1987 and released on the ECM New Series later in 1987.
Book of Days is the seventh album by Meredith Monk, recorded in June 1989 and released on the ECM New Series the following yearr.
Atlas: An Opera in Three Parts is a full-length recording of Meredith Monk's 1991 opera Atlas. It is the ninth album by Monk and was released in June, 1993 through ECM New Series.
Volcano Songs is the tenth album by Meredith Monk, released on March 11, 1997 through ECM New Series.
Impermanence is the twelfth album by Meredith Monk, released on March 18, 2008 through ECM New Series.
Beginnings is a compilation album by Meredith Monk, released on November 24, 2009 through Tzadik Records.
Songs of Ascension is an album by Meredith Monk. It was released on May 13, 2011, by ECM New Series. It was recorded at the BAM Harvey Theater, in New York, in 2009.
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