The Eighth Hour Of Amduat

The Eighth Hour Of Amduat

Amduat is Egyptian, circa 1425 BCE. funeral text. The script contains both sung and played parts, making it the first known score. Amduat tells of the sun god Ra’s descent into the afterlife and his rebirth into life every night and morning.

David Sulzer is a neuropsychologist and musician. The laboratory he leads at Columbia University investigates the function of synapses in the cerebral cortex in the context of, for example, Parkinson’s disease and autism. As a musician, he uses the name Dave Soldier and has made music for, among others, his punk string quartet and elephants. Together with the conceptual artist couple Komar & Melamid, he has also composed the works The most wanted/unwanted song, which are based on extensive survey data on what kind of music people want to hear / not hear.

The Eighth Hour of Amduat is a video opera combining classical, electronic and jazz expression, the libretto was written by Egyptologist Rita Lucarelli. In it, Sun Ra Arkestra’s Marshall Allen performs the role of Ra with saxophones and an electronic EWI instrument. Also the mezzo-soprano Sahoko Sato Timpone, the choir and the orchestra are involved in.

Sun Ra Arkestra’s workshop practice is connected to the activities of the Finnish group Edward Vesala Sound & Fury. Before the opera performance, the strong wind players Tane Kannisto, Pepa Päivinen and Jorma Tapio can be heard playing.

The Naarmu group was born around the complete research performance of Cornelius Cardew’s musical theatre piece The Great Learning. Its working methods include experimenting and discussing, promoting pluralism and striving for internal organization. The event will begin with the band’s performance of Christian Wolff’s work Stones.

The event is organized in cooperation with Tulkinnanvaraista concert series.

The concert is supported by City of Helsinki, Svenska Kulturfonden and The Finnish Music Foundation.