Mark O'Leary 4 Urban Landscapes

If you are the rightful owner of this image and are not credited, contact us.
All About Jazz / Vision X Software is a DMCA designated agent.

About this image

I was tremendously busy, in terms of, performances all over Europe and beyond lined up. But, as intimated in a recent interview, Cork was in the midst of a third Renaissance in my zeitgeist. Lehman brothers had just transpired, but something magical was occurring organically in the City. 4 Urban Landscapes is an audio time capsule, sure, you have German TV, studios and colleges with NASA level technology that can record anything and make it pristine. But, my friend Andrea had a hand held Zoom unit and I had the advantage of it. One must be cognizant of artistic integrity, eschewing superficiality and colloquial mores are paramount, albeit, this was a very special epoch, it won't be there anymore and I just said, fait accompli, let's do it...(small things like these). The wind, an impediment, squeaky boots, a plethora of other issues, again, I had the advantage of having the zoom for a few days to finish panaramic, static recording, seizing opportunities and exploiting them to their utmost should they manifest and fortune prevailed, they did... But asking 22 different people from various nationalities to say a word from "the banks" from which I would cobble together the banks of my own lovely lee as a tone poem... The essence of Patrick Street, the preacher outside Murrays, evocative of Steve Reich. I had met Reich at a seminar he was giving in Dublin, it has the essence of his artistic integrity immersed primordially within. The two Echo boys, as the Echo themselves alluded to, one more earthy and the other with a more polished soprano tone in juxtaposition, this was inspired by a Stockhausen piece from Verona. The Stone Cutter, a petit homage for Seamus Murphy, with a poem I composed 'Stone Cutter', recited to astounding effect by a Turkish friend, Gokcen Dilek Acay, her voice was so delicate, the timbres, infused with subtlety, when I asked her, she asked why? Your voice, its just so encaptivating, enchanting, just a super nice girl and a brilliant narration voice. I then had to commission a Stone Cutter and record him working on Granite and Limestone. Then to Shandon, field recordings from St Annes belfry (asking the man from Boston, could I just have a few minutes with him not speaking so I could record the bells! Now there's a good chap!) and the area. I knew the area, I played basketball in the area, I was in a speed metal band close by and also learned to fence (foil) in the Area, I had an idea how to encapsulate its essence from this experiential commensurability. Perhaps the Guggenheim might be interested in it sometime... Several distributors have sold out 4 Urban Landscapes, albeit it can be purchased here https://creativesources.bandcamp.com/.../4-urban-landscapes and here https://www.creativesourcesrec.com/catalog/catalog_162.html

Uploaded: 2025-09-11
Size: 1,600 x 900 pixels