it is just a name..., by michael northam

it is just a name...

by michael northam

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Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of it is just a name..., ornaments of emptiness vol I, BARDOfolded (2012/2019), the sublimating mirror, nine mornings, embers, sky flowers, Cloud Messages, and 30 more. , and , .

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1.	fleeting memory 1 05:01	info	buy track
2.	infinity = emptiness 06:15	info	buy track
3.	intimate vastness 10:01	info	buy track
4.	sources 10:41	info	buy track
5.	maravanthuruthu 06:26	info	buy track
6.	fleeting memory 2 02:13	info	buy track
7.	changlingmethang zangdok pelri temple 08:05	info	buy track

about

This seven track album is a culmination of recordings made during in the lunar year 2022. It was created as a ‘Thank You’ offering for the donators that helped me afford to have a necessary Umbilical Hernia surgery in Kerala in January (2023). Now I decided to 'release' it here publicly on Bandcamp.

The title is coming from a comment that I received on facebook when I asked if any Malayalam speaking people could translate the name plate of this house (seen on the cover art). One response was ‘it is just a name’ which I found funny and ironic, as after all, all nouns are ‘just names’.

In Buddhism we have Nāmarūpa (Sanskrit: नामरूप) -
“Nama (name) and Rupa (form) is the simple worldly identity of any form by a name both of which are considered temporal and not true identity with the nameless and formless ‘reality’ or ‘Absolute’ in Hinduism that has manifested as maya. In Buddhism the loss of all names and forms leads to the realization of the Ultimate reality of ‘Shunyatha’ or ‘Emptiness’ or Nirvana “Naked Truth” removed of Maya. ”

The actual ‘name’ is in fact - Kṛttikā
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%E1%B9%9Bttik%C4%81) - which corresponds to the open star cluster called Pleiades in western astronomy. I liked the look of the letters in Malayalam and the hidden meaning. And decided to keep this as the cover of this album as it being ‘just a name’ - so as the experiences in this last year, too have not been ‘true’ but have been what has happened.

Therefore - in my way of weaving with sound - I have created these seven selections - like the seven sisters of the star group - glimpses, or fleeting memories - of the past year. Those of you who know my work will not be surprised by the sounds - and those of you who don’t might well be surprised. I am not interested in making sound into any existing form or expected style - I make sound as a kind of art work that provokes my awareness into places and events. Therefore I invite you to listen without prejudices or anticipation of some kind of sound that ‘you want to hear’ - but to embrace simply the sound that is there, naked and unadorned.

Thank you for tuning in...

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released November 2, 2023

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michael northam

Active & published internationally, for the past two decades Michael Northam has been cultivating a personal style exploring experience through the sound. His compositions are based on alternative techniques for sound recording & mixing where improvisations on unusual electro-acoustic instruments, including self-designed ones, are interwoven with recordings from various locations around the world. ... more

orogenetics.org

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