I like to record the ambience of different interesting places. The first time I went to India to a city in the South, then known as Madras, late at night after a studio session, I had a taxi take me to Mount St. Thomas to record at the shrine on the top. The driver told me it was named after the Apostle known as Doubting Thomas who had gone there after the death of Christ. He told me that Thomas was eventually persecuted and killed there. Christians subsequently built a "shrine" to honor the Saint's memory. Before leaving the hotel, I took a single hit of what remains the best weed I've ever smoked in my life acquired the day before. It looked like dirt; I initially thought I'd been ripped off.
I arrived at Mt. St. Thomas around 11:30 pm, took out my D.A.T. recorder and stereo condenser mic and set off on the asphalt path that wound its way up. Numerous beggars lined the sides. It looked familiar. I had the uncanny feeling that this was an archetypal space I'd been many times before, maybe in a dream.
Going up the hill, I heard a distorted voice speaking in a local dialect coming out of Voice of America-type loudspeakers that lined the path every 25 - 30 feet or so. Climbing further, I began to hear music. Reaching the top, I was surprised to find a fair amount of people attending a service. Coming to India, I had lost track of the days. It turns out this was an Easter Sunday Midnight Mass. All the hymns were played on local instruments – a harmonium, tabla and tamboura along with a few male and female singers. I recorded the whole thing. One piece is on my album All Around the World
I'm so glad someone uncovered that 1961 audio. I heard it way back in 2007 (I posted my reactions here: https://groups.google.com/g/alt.fan.rawilson/c/L76DGZ5Corw/m/dNTVJ0fUmfIJ), and then the page where it originally appeared was taken down & I wasn't able to find it again. It's pretty interesting to listen to it again 16 years later.
Postscript: I think this version is longer than the recording I heard in 2007! I remember hearing Wilson's initial remarks but not the lengthy Q&A session that followed.
I am reading RAW's lengthy piece on Joyce from Semiotext[e] USA (1987) and found it mildly coincidental that he mentions Doubting Thomas a few times. Apparently there's a St. Thomas hill in Phoenix Park, Dublin. Wilson points out allusions to both Doubting Thomas and the Irish hill named after him in Finnegans Wake. Thomas in Hebrew = twin.
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I like to record the ambience of different interesting places. The first time I went to India to a city in the South, then known as Madras, late at night after a studio session, I had a taxi take me to Mount St. Thomas to record at the shrine on the top. The driver told me it was named after the Apostle known as Doubting Thomas who had gone there after the death of Christ. He told me that Thomas was eventually persecuted and killed there. Christians subsequently built a "shrine" to honor the Saint's memory. Before leaving the hotel, I took a single hit of what remains the best weed I've ever smoked in my life acquired the day before. It looked like dirt; I initially thought I'd been ripped off.
I arrived at Mt. St. Thomas around 11:30 pm, took out my D.A.T. recorder and stereo condenser mic and set off on the asphalt path that wound its way up. Numerous beggars lined the sides. It looked familiar. I had the uncanny feeling that this was an archetypal space I'd been many times before, maybe in a dream.
Going up the hill, I heard a distorted voice speaking in a local dialect coming out of Voice of America-type loudspeakers that lined the path every 25 - 30 feet or so. Climbing further, I began to hear music. Reaching the top, I was surprised to find a fair amount of people attending a service. Coming to India, I had lost track of the days. It turns out this was an Easter Sunday Midnight Mass. All the hymns were played on local instruments – a harmonium, tabla and tamboura along with a few male and female singers. I recorded the whole thing. One piece is on my album All Around the World
– excerpt from my forthcoming book.
I'm so glad someone uncovered that 1961 audio. I heard it way back in 2007 (I posted my reactions here: https://groups.google.com/g/alt.fan.rawilson/c/L76DGZ5Corw/m/dNTVJ0fUmfIJ), and then the page where it originally appeared was taken down & I wasn't able to find it again. It's pretty interesting to listen to it again 16 years later.
Postscript: I think this version is longer than the recording I heard in 2007! I remember hearing Wilson's initial remarks but not the lengthy Q&A session that followed.
I am reading RAW's lengthy piece on Joyce from Semiotext[e] USA (1987) and found it mildly coincidental that he mentions Doubting Thomas a few times. Apparently there's a St. Thomas hill in Phoenix Park, Dublin. Wilson points out allusions to both Doubting Thomas and the Irish hill named after him in Finnegans Wake. Thomas in Hebrew = twin.
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