Breaking News by Hildegard Westerkamp

This album wants to stir, unsettle and surprise. But unlike with breaking news in the regular media, it refuses to transmit feelings of helplessness, fear and terror. Instead it wants to energize and revitalize, even when it grapples with incidents of violence and death. The pieces presented here were created between 1988 and 2012. In their togetherness they highlight and celebrate voices that are often relegated to the personal domain: sounds of new life, of unusual artistic sensibilities, of children’s and female voices. They have the power to tip the balance in our lives, in favour of love, resilience and human compassion. If we choose to listen!

“Breaking News invites the listener to surrender to a journey to the place and time of the recording, transitioning into an abstraction of the original sounds, guided by her studio practice with looping, filtering, equalising, resonating, reverberating. It brings all the technique, sound research and creative thinking of a career spanning half a century into the present moment where for Westerkamp, headphones are still for listening, not fashion.”
Jo Hutton, The Wire 460, p. 45 (excerpt)

Tracklist

1.	MotherVoiceTalk	15:00

2.	Moments of Laughter	19:00

3.	Once Upon a Time	24:40

4.	école polytechnique	19:40

5.	Breaking News	3:18

Credits

released March 25, 2022

ARTISTS

MotherVoiceTalk features the voices of Roy Kiyooka, Hildegard Westerkamp, Agnes Westerkamp, Mary Kiyoshi Kiyooka.

Moments of Laughter features the voices of DB Boyko (performance vocals) and Sonja Ruebsaat (child's voice).

Once Upon A Time narrators: Amber Martin-Ruebsaat and Sibling; girl’s voice: Sonja Ruebsaat.

École polytechnique was performed by the choir of the Université du Québec à Montréal, directed by Miklós Takács.; Lori Freedman, bass clarinet; Lisa Rodrigue and Véronique Lucignano, trumpets; Daniel Fortin, percussion; and Johanne Latreille, bells. The original live recording by Charles Amirkhanian was the basis for the heightened listening experience presented here.

Breaking News features the voice and sounds of the composer’s first grandchild.

All tracks composed by Hildegard Westerkamp © 2021 (SOCAN)
Executive Producer: John Oliver
Editing and mixing: Hildegard Westerkamp
Mastering: John Oliver
Cover photo: Hildegard Westerkamp
Cover design: Seiya Oliver
Booklet design: John Oliver

es-22001

℗ 2022 earsay productions

MADE IN CANADA - MAPL

License