Composer’s Note:

News From Afar (2010) is a first etude in a series of pieces using processed news podcasts (recordings) in combination with live instruments. I have always wanted to do something musical with the dire news I hear on radio or podcast every day; this is but one approach. The podcasts used in this piece (in multiple languages) are slowed to various extents. The intonation contour of each announcer’s voice is preserved but “quantized’ (stabilized) around a selected scale of pitches. The result is more like speech-song than normal speech. Melodies thus arise from the broadcaster’s voice that are placed in counterpoint with the live instruments. Newscasts in Malaysian, Russian, and English are featured here.