Dolmen Music by Meredith Monk.

There is a lot of music I would never get to hear if I didn’t listen to BBC 6 Music.  My favourite presenter is Gideon Coe, but there are others who I like as well. Stuart Maconie has a show called The Freak Zone and one night recently he featured an album from 1981 called Dolmen Music by Meredith Monk. I had never heard of her before, but I thought it was some of the strangest music I had ever heard, so I looked on Wikipedia to learn more about her. Meredith Jane Monk (born November 20, 1942) is an American composer, performer, director, vocalist, filmmaker, and choreographer. In 2015, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Barack Obama. Dolmen Music in 1981 was the first of 11 albums she has released on Manfred Eicher's record label ECM. NME named it as the 42nd best album of 1981. In 2017, NPR placed it at number 147 on its list of the 150 Greatest Albums Made by Women. I ordered the CD and it arrived last Saturday morning.

A Dolmen.

Why is it called Dolmen Music? I googled Dolmen and found out that a Dolmen is a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of two or more vertical megaliths supporting a large flat horizontal capstone or "table". Most date from the early Neolithic (4000–3000 BC) and were sometimes covered with earth or smaller stones to form a tumulus. In the sleeve note booklet there is a photo of Meredith and her ensemble sitting in a circle of stones, so that might explain that. In the notes she explains that she tries to create with vocals, the abstract and emotional qualities that are used in creating a painting or dance. She does this in an ensemble of singers with various qualities in their voices. She said that she was exploring a particular Glottal sound. I did not know what that meant, so looked that up as well. It means sounds produced by the glottis which is the part of the larynx consisting of the vocal cords and the opening between them. It affects voice modulation through expansion or contraction.

Meredith Monk.

Basically, I would say that this is experimental abstract music to find out what the human voice is capable of expressing. If you are looking for traditional forms of music with melodies and songs, you will not find it here. The first four tracks, called Gotham Lullaby, Travelling, The Tale, and Biography are Meredith on voice and piano accompanied by Collin Walcott on percussion and violin, and Steve Lockwood piano on one track. Track 5 is Dolmen Music which is divided into six parts called Overture And Men’s Conclave, Wa Ohs, Rain, Pine Tree Lullaby, Calls, and Conclusion. It features the six voices of Andrea Goodman, Monica Soles, Julius Eastman, Robert Een, Paul Langland and Meredith Monk. The only accompaniment is the cello of Robert Een and Julius Eastman on percussion.

I imagine that it takes a lot of courage to create music like this. To explain your vision to other singers of what you are trying to achieve, and to rehearse it. This work pushes back the boundaries of what we think of as music. Don’t ask me what the music means. While listening I wrote down notes saying things like, minimalist folk music, aboriginal, primeval, ancient. In popular music I can hear possible similarities with people like Bjork, Laurie Anderson, or Joanna Newsom. If this work was a play, I think it would be written by Samuel Beckett. It is not music for the fainthearted. If you played it to a person of a nervous disposition, I think they might leave faster than you can say Trout Mask Replica. There are hardly any lyrics to grasp onto, apart from in The Tale where the voice says things like, I still have my hands, I still have my mind, I still have my money, I still have my telephone, Hello? Hello? Hello? 

The percussion often sounds like broken bottles and car horns with tamburas or didgeridoo type sounds.  Occasionally there are times of great beauty when you think of church music like plainsong, but then it becomes chaotic again. This work is the opposite of easy listening. I found it fascinating, and I am glad I discovered the work of Meredith Monk.