Thursday, December 13, 2012


You are invited to Unsilent Night - a festive nouveau-caroling event that I have the pleasure of co-organizing for the second year, along with Sable Chan.

Get out your CD, cassette, or mp3 boombox, bundle up, and join us for Phil Kline's 45 minute interactive sound walk through the streets of the Old Strathcona neighbourhood in Edmonton.

5:00 pm, Saturday December 22nd
Meet at Gazebo Park (83 Ave. & 104 St).

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/223228601144212/?fref=ts
www.unsilentnight.com

WHAT IS IT?
Phil Kline’s Unsilent Night is a free outdoor participatory sound sculpture of many individual parts, recorded on cassettes, CDs and mp3s, and played through a roving swarm of boomboxes carried through city streets every December. People bring their own boomboxes and drift peacefully through a cloud of sound which is different from every listener's perspective. Since 1992, this 45-minute work has grown into a worldwide annual communal event that has become an essential part of many winter holiday celebrations. 2012 marks the second year of Unsilent Night in Edmonton.

WHAT DOES IT SOUND LIKE?
Most people consider it loud and joyous. Glittering and mysterious. The average effect seems to be somewhere between pacifying and invigorating. Joe Woodard of The Los Angeles Times describes it as "A dreamy fruitcake of parts, tranquil even through its anarchy." And K. Leander Williams in Time Out New York says “Kline’s luminous, shimmering wash of bell tones is one of the loveliest communal new-music experiences you’ll ever encounter, and it’s never the same twice.” The Onion calls it “an ambient wash of heaven-sent shimmer, recognizable as seasonal mostly for its modulating bells and time-stretched hymnal melodies.”

HOW CAN I PARTICIPATE?
You do not need to bring a boombox to join in, but it is more fun if you can! For those that like to plan ahead, you can download the audio files ahead of time from www.unsilentnight.com/download.html to load onto your mp3 player, CD or cassette. We will have extra cassettes, CD's, and boomboxes available. We will also have mp3 speakers for those who bring iPods, smartphones, or other mp3 players. This year, an iPhone app is also available.
Please RSVP if you do need to borrow equipment, as there is a limited number of each item.
Plan to arrive a few minutes early to get set up.