Altertimes @ SOAS Radio
2023 – 2024
Altertimes is a free-style, dub-inflected art-radio series created for SOAS Radio in 2023-24. The series was conceived as an open laboratory of sonic ideas, often taking off from a single fragment, title or quote, and exploring its resonances across time and forms.
Altertimes draws connections across diverse strands of modern and contemporary Trans-African, world and art music. Each episode comprises phonographic recordings, specially created compositions and remixes, reassembled sonic traces and cut-ups, poetry and spoken word, sonified astronomical data and field recordings.
Weaving together marginal electronica, dub, traditional/folk, jazz and classical music, Altertimes suggests a moving away from oppressive time-codes or genre-classifications, towards what composer Anthony Braxton defined as ‘the meta-reality of world creativity’ and its planetary, interplanetary and interstellar polyrhythmic landscapes.
Altertimes 9: Earth & Sky
Selected and mixed by Anna Piva
Playing tracks by Suhabart Deep Time Mixes VII-IX, Milford Graves, Bessie Griffin, Sunny Murray, James Greeley, Langston Hughes, György Ligeti, Bernard Parmegiani, Laurie Spiegel, Jeff Mills, Theo Parrish, Hallucinator, Anna Piva & more
Well, son, I’ll tell you:
Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.
It’s had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor—
Bare.
But all the time
I’se been a-climbin’ on,
And reachin’ landin’s,
And turnin’ corners,
And sometimes goin’ in the dark
Where there ain’t been no light.
So boy, don’t you turn back.
Don’t you set down on the steps
’Cause you finds it’s kinder hard.
Don’t you fall now—
For I’se still goin’, honey,
I’se still climbin’,
And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.
(Langston Hughes, Mother to Son)
Chart history – Top position held by this upload – 2nd poetry – 2nd free jazz
Tracklist:
Suhabart Deep Time Mix VII: Anna Piva, Dua (Invocation); Song of Earth/NASA Voyager recording; Milford Graves, Transcendence (reshape); Milford Graves, Nothing 13; Sound of 100,000 years’ Earth magnetic field fluctuations (ESA/Copenhagen Project); Anna Piva, Scratch Science;
James Greeley, Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs (live performance extracts); Bessie Griffin, Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child; Sunny Murray, Suns of Africa, Part 2
Suhabart Deep Time Mix VIII: Vaudou Funeral in Sogakope, Ghana (rec. Mark Seidenfeld, Anna Piva electro-mix); Bernard Parmegiani, Entre Temps (extracts); György Ligeti, Musica Ricercata No.7 Cantabile (arr. for theremin & analog synthesizers by Grégoire Blanc); Laurie Spiegel,
Drums; Jeff Mills, Humana; Anna Piva: Molecular Structures
Suhabart Deep Time Mix IX: Hallucinator, Transition (Anna Piva Obá mix); Theo Parrish, Walking Thru the Sky; Anna Piva, Earth & Sky/ Lifting as We Climb (video soundscape extract feat. Angela Davis); Anna Piva, Sista Wipe Out (extract); Langston Hughes recites Mother to Son; Martin Luther King Jr. recites Langston Hughes’ Mother to Son; Anna Piva, extract of microgravity parabolic flight recording, Star City’s Cosmonaut Training Centre, 2001.
We must keep moving. We must keep going
If you can’t fly, run. If you can’t run, walk. If you can’t walk, crawl
But by all means, keep moving
(Martin Luther King Jr.)
Altertimes 8: Dark Flows
Selected and mixed by Anna Piva
Playing tracks by Suhabart Deep Time Mix V, Pauline Oliveros, Anna Piva, Rhythm & Sound, Jackie Mittoo, King Tubby, Love Joys, Sister Aisha and Jah Shaka
For each of us as women, there is a dark place within, where hidden and growing our true spirit raises, ‘beautiful/ and tough as chestnut/ stanchions against (y)our nightmare of weakness and of impotence.’ These places of possibility within ourselves are dark because they are ancient and hidden; they have survived and grown strong through that darkness. Within these deep places, each one of us holds an incredible reserve of creativity and power, of unexamined and unrecorded emotion and feeling. The woman’s place of power within each one of us is neither white nor surface; it is dark, it is ancient and it is deep.
(Audre Lorde, extract from Poetry is not a Luxury)
Chart history – Top position held by this upload – 2nd poetry – 28th roots reggae – 35th dub
Tracklist:
Suhabart Deep Time Mix V: Anna Piva, Intergalactic II/Galaxy Formation (elaboration of X-Ray data from Chandra telescope, 2007); Memories of Darkness: Pauline Oliveros, The Darkest Place reshape; Audre Lorde, extract from Poetry is not a Luxury read by Mkewa; Anna Piva, For Pauline/Mnemonics III reshape (extract); Rhythm & Sound, Aground
Jackie Mittoo, Wall Street
Jackie Mittoo, Sky King Jack/ Jah Fire Dub
King Tubby, The Dark Destroyer Dub
Love Joys, All I Can Say
Sister Aisha, Guide & Protect
Jah Shaka (& African Princess), Jah Jah Protect
Suhabart Deep Time Mix VI: Jah Shaka, Homeland Dub; Anna Piva: For Pauline /Mnemonics III reshape (extract); Jah Shaka, Rasta De Yah Version
Altertimes 7 – Planes of (T)here by Suhabart / World Listening Day Special
Selected and mixed by Anna Piva
Playing tracks by Suhabart Deep Time Mix III-IV, Sun Ra & his Arkestra, Jaqueline Nova, Anna Piva, John Cage, Kelan Phil Cohran
Astro-Thought in Mystic Sound
Astro-Black of Outer Space
Astro-Natural of Darkest Stars
…
The Universe is in My Voice
The Universe Speaks through the Dawn
To Those of Earth and Other Worlds
Listen While You Have the Chance
Find Your Place among the Stars
Listen to the Outer World
Rhythm Multiplicity
…
(Sun Ra, Astro Black)
Chart history – Top position held by this upload – 2nd poetry
Tracklist:
Suhabart Deep Time Mix III: Anna Piva, (T)here/1st take (2024); Sun Ra, Astro Black/extract feat. June Tyson (1972); Jacqueline Nova, Asimetrías, para flauta y percusión (comp.1967); Anna Piva, Sketches of Space: Radio Astronomy Sound Research 1999-2004 /Atmospheres (Earth, Jupiter & Saturn), sonic elaboration of Cosmic Microwave Background (extract I); Sun Ra, Hidden Spheres (1972); Jacqueline Nova, Creación de la Tierra (1972), extract; Anna Piva, sonic elaborations of Cygnus X-1 black hole emissions X-ray data for Flow Motion’s project Astro Black Morphologies/Astro Dub Morphologies (2004); Sun Ra & his Myth Science Arkestra, Celestial Fantasy (1966); Sun Ra speaks/extracts from A Joyful Noise (1980); Sun Ra, Astro Black/extract (1972); John Cage, Imaginary Landscape n.1 (1939); Anna Piva, sonic elaboration of X-ray data from Abell cluster of galaxies/ composition for Flow Motion’s project Invisible (2007); Sun Ra, Cluster of Galaxies
In the half-between world,
Dwell they: The Tone Scientists
In notes and tone
They speak of many things…
The tone scientists:
Architects of planes of discipline
Mathematically precise are they:
The tone-scientists
(Sun Ra, The Outer Bridge)
Suhabart Deep Time Mix IV: Anna Piva, Notes on Nothing/ sonic elaboration of dark energy research x-ray data, composition for Flow Motion’s project Nothing Is (2007); Sun Ra interview extract (1964); Sun Ra, Destination Unknown/extract from A Joyful Noise (1980); Sun Ra, Sound Spectra Spec Sket (rec. 1964); Anna Piva, Notes on Nothing/extract II; Sun Ra, Other Planes of There (rec. 1964); Sun Ra speaks/extract from A Joyful Noise (1980); Anna Piva, Atmospheres (Earth, Jupiter & Saturn, extract II); Kelan Phil Cohran & The Artistic Heritage Ensemble Legacy, White Nile / in African Skies, Sun Ra tribute @ the Chicago’s Adler Planetarium (1993)
The displaced years
Memory calls them that
They were never then
Memory seems the void
And from the future
Comes the wave of the greater void
A pulsating vibration
Sound bridge and span
To their ways
And other planes
Of there
(Sun Ra, Other Planes of There)
Altertimes 6 – Kinds of Silence / Remembering Grenfell
Selected and mixed by Anna Piva
In loving memory of the 72 people who lost their life in the Grenfell fire. We will never forget you.
With love and respect for the Grenfell survivors, and all the people in my community who lost family members, friends and neighbours; for the people who came together in the aftermath of the fire to provide help and support; for the Grenfell Silent Walks’ organisers and the people who walked together in silence, month after month, year after year; for Grenfell United and the people who fought and are still fighting for justice, 7 years on.
Music & voices by Grenfell United, Albert Ayler, Stormzy, Lowkey, Suhabart Mix.
This show was 2nd in the global poetry chart (June 2024)
Tracklist:
Albert Ayler – Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen
Suhabart Mix: Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen (version); Naila El Guenuni speaks – fragments from Escaping Grenfell Tower – through the eyes of a 12-year-old (Channel 4); The first week after the Grenfell fire: fragments of testimonies from the survivors, relatives and neighbours (BBC); extracts of field recordings of night gathering at Latimer, one week later; Oluwaseun Talabi returns to the tower, two weeks later (BBC)
Suhabart Mix: Anna Piva, Kinds of Silence/Bells for Grenfell; extracts of field recordings at Grenfell Silent Walk, 10 months later; fragment of first Drum Call for the Ancestors; Zeyad Cred calls for one minute silence; first anniversary: Tommy Evans reads poem; a community member reads a poem
Stormzy, Big for Your Boots live @ Brit Awards 21.2.2018
Lowkey ft. Mai Khalil, Ghosts of Grenfell; Lowkey, A message to the government; George The Poet, Justice 4 Grenfell
Dalia Gebral, Grenfell: The Shameful Truth (extract)
Lowkey, The Three Things that lead to Grenfell
Grenfell United, 3 Years: Niles Hailstones
Together for Grenfell, Fatima Elguenuni /A personal journey @ TED (extract)
Altertimes 5 Võdù Traces II-III: The Memory of Water
Selected and mixed by Anna Piva
‘Hail the Rivers!’ (Mama Orki)
Tracklist:
Võdù Traces Part II
Suhabart Mix I – Fragments from: Ouidah’s Ocean Sounds (Anna Piva field recordings); Sounds of the Dolphin; Alive!, Yemaya Sister of the Fishes; SATB Choir, Yemaya Arranged by Diana V. Sáez; Ella Jenkins and the Goodwill Spiritual Choir of Monumental Baptist Church, Wade in the Water
Faosiytat Motunrayo Ewebi (Mama Orki): Yemoja
Voodoo Drums – Ti-Marcel: Ti-Joe Carabien
Bembeya Jazz National: Mami Wata
The Soul Brothers featuring Jackie Mittoo: VooDoo Moon
T.P. Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou: Min E Wa..We Non Dou
The Dirty Dozen Brass Band: Voodoo
The Mardi Gras Second Line (feat. Kermit Ruffins, Rebirth Brass Band & Trombone Shorty
Võdù Traces Part III
Sonny Clark: Voodoo
Julio Racine: Voodoo Jazz Sonata (Fernanda Castillo – flute, Emi Kagawa – Piano) Tiny Parham & His Musicians: Voodoo
Koko Taylor: Voodoo Woman
Suhabart Mix II – Térez Montcalm: Voodoo Child. Fragments from: Gil Evans, Voodoo Chile; London Brew, Miles Chases New Voodoo in The Church
Lee Perry: Voodoo
Mad Professor & Lee Perry: Dub Voodoo
Suhabart Mix III – Fragments from: Gil Evans, Voodoo Chile; Anna Piva, The Memory of Water featuring Yebga Dikoba; Atlantis Jazz Ensemble, Yemaya; Louis Armstrong, You got me Voodoo’d; Andileandy, Voodoo; Sounds of the Dolphin; Anna Piva, Ouidah’s Ocean sounds; Fela Kuti: Water No Get Enemy
‘Nothing but Water’ (Fela)
Altertimes 4 – Võdù Traces Part I: Journey to Ouidah
Selected and mixed by Anna Piva
Trackist:
Suhabart Mix: Constellation Võdù – percussions by Tambour Do Do, voice by Vincent Harisdo, radiowaves, electronics, field recordings and assemblage by Anna Piva, helioseismic data courtesy of SOI (Stanford); Sagbohan Danialou, Djomodjo Hoho Sagbohan Danialou, Commerce Triangulaire
Sagbohan Danialou, A Mon noude houn daou
Sagbohan Danialou, interview extract from Nicolas Moncadas’ Vodounsi
Zouley Sangare, Gompele
Kiri Kanta, Abity
Suhabart Mix: Journey to Ouidah, field recordings by Anna Piva, January 2024; Sagbohan Danialou, extract of concert at Vodun Days, Ouidah, January 2024; Anna Piva, extracts of interview with Ouidah dancer/choreographer Vincent Harisdo – on the Vodun Days, Ouidah history, and Võdù science, cosmogony, music and art
Tambour Do Do: Võdù celebration, recorded by Anna Piva at Ouidah CDAC Elijah, January 2024
Altertimes 3 – Children of the Universe (Winter Solstice 2023 special)
Selected and mixed by Anna Piva
Tracklist:
Suhabart Mix: Hildegard von Bingen – O Pulchrae Facies; Anna Piva – Hilde Dub; Sunn O))) – Let There Be Light; Alice Coltrane – Isis and Osiris; Hildegard von Bingen – Instrumental; Voyager Golden Disk – Greetings in 55 Languages
Lee Scratch Perry – Enlightened
Lee Scratch Perry – Dreams Come True
Harrie Mudie meets King Tubby – Heavy Duty Dub
Suhabart Mix: Matana Roberts – Invocation; Louis Armstrong – Stardust; Matana Roberts – We said; Marie Nana Maguey Maweiaru Crooke – Taino song for Atabei Mother Earth; Don Cherry – extracts from Swedish TV documentary (1978); Anna Piva: Melanesian Dub; London ambulance service; Benjamin Zephaniah – In this World
Sharon Little – Don’t Mash Up Creation
Sharon Little – Don’t Mash Up Creation (Version)
Willie Williams – Sweet Home
Willie Williams – Sweet Dub
Augustus Pablo/Lee Scratch Perry – Vibrate Onn
Augustus Pablo/Lee Scratch Perry – Vibrate Dub
Rico Rodriguez – Stardust
Altertimes 2 – 5th Dimension
Selected & Mixed by Anna Piva
My voice. You will never silence my voice.
With its one vocal cord which is fighting like a clothesline that the wind can’t reach
My voice is sprinkling from my pores
And if my pores are shut my voice comes from my wrist
And if my hand is cut my voice is the song of my heart
And if its pulse is silenced my voice is the mirror of my soul
And if my soul is taken my songs will be sung in the public squares
Like the blazing sun that never fades away
The songs will go on
(Rim Banna) R.I.P. Rim among the stars
Suhabart Deep Time Mix I, Cedric Im Brooks, Olatunji, Max Roach & The Jazz Messengers, Count Ossie & Mystic Revelation of Rastafari and Suhabart Deep Time Mix II: The Congos.
Tracklist:
Suhabart Deep Time Mix I
Uishi Den – Lango; Anna Piva – Earth rotation dub; Ryoji Ikeda – Time; Anna Piva – Cygnus X-rays dub; Uishi Den – Jupiter & Saturn speak; Rim Banna – My songs will sound from the squares; Gil Scott Heron – The revolution will not be televised
Cedric Im Brooks- Elehreh
Olatunji – Akiwowo
Max Roach & The Jazz Messengers – A night in Tunisia
Count Ossie & Mystic Revelation of Rastafari – Four Hundred Years
Suhabart Deep Time Mix II: The Congos – Congoman; Anna Piva – Black hole dub; Bunny Wailer – Armagedon; Leslie Butler & Count Ossie: The Call of the Drums (rhythm 2); Anna Piva – Sun & Earth dub
Count Ossie & Mystic Revelation of Rastafari – Bongo Man
Altertimes 1 – Rain Prayer
Selected & Mixed by Anna Piva
Music and voices by Max Roach & Abbey Lincoln, Reem Kelani, Desmond Tutu, Angela Davis, Mc Abdul, Saied Silbak, El-Funoun, Albert Ayler, Skatalites, Abyssinians, Bunny & Skitter, Barry Brown.
“We are all united to deliver the same message: we want the violence to end. We’re calling for an immediate ceasefire and for necessary humanitarian supplies to be safely delivered to the people of Gaza” (Ben Jamal, Palestine Solidarity Campaign)
Suhabart Mix: Tears for Palestine/Triptych video soundtrack. Reem Kelani -Yafa!; Max Roach Quartet & Abbey Lincoln – Tears for Johannesburg, Prayer-Protest-Peace; Voices by Desmond Tutu, Angela Davis, Israel Frey, Lidia Thorpe, Maya Edery. Anna Piva – electronics & field recordings at the National March for Palestine London, 21 October 2023
(full video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nt7CpfV5nP4)
Tracklist:
Suhabart Mix – Tears for Palestine/Triptych: Reem Kelani, Yafa!; Max Roach Quartet & Abbey Lincoln, Tears for Johannesburg, Prayer-Protest-Peace; Desmond Tutu, Angela Davis, Israel Frey, Lidia Thorpe, Maya Edery, Anna Piva and people at the National March for Palestine, London, 21 October 2023
Suhabart Mix – Mc Abdul, Shouting at the wall; Marcel Khalifa – Ode to a Homeland
Saied Silbak – Thaher
El-Funoun Palestinian Popular Dance Troupe – Dignity
El-Funoun Palestinian Popular Dance Troupe – Rain Prayer
Albert Ayler – Universal Indians
Skatalites – Freedom Sounds
Bunny & Skitter – Lumumbo
Abyssinians – Declaration of Rights
Barry Brown – Give Another Israel A Try
‘Peace is not a substitute for justice’ (Nada Dajani, Love Letters)
Morphologies @ SOAS Radio
2018 – 2019
Selected & Mixed by Edward George & Anna Piva
Morphologies 12: These, and other requirements of the higher civilization
Tracks by John Cage, N’Dagga Rhythm Force, Howling Wolf, Shxcxchcxsh, Dilip Kumar Nargis & Talat Mahmood, John Cage & Cathy Barberian, Howling Wolf, Micki Pratt, Reverend Gary Davis and more.
Morphologies 11: Blue Skies
‘…from now on’ – Irving Berlin, ‘Blue Skies’
Tracks by Faust, Autechre, Moritz Von Oswald Trio, Shackleton, Roy Davis Jr and more.
Morphologies 10: Cosmos
Tracks by Gamelan Sekar Tunjung, K.R.T Wasitodipuro, Lou Harrison, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Tabuh Bebarongan, Chöying Drolma, Eitetsu Hayashi and more.
Morphologies 9: Ghosts Variations
Morphologies Mix: Alvin Lucier – Music On A Long Thin Wire; François Bayle -Rosace 3; Bernard Parmegiani – Espèces D’espaces; Akira Miyoshi – Nocturne; Bernard Parmegiani – De Natura Sonorum; Jean-Claude Risset – Songes; Katsuo Yokoyama – The Cranes Nesting. Tracks by Hera, Albert Ayler, Milford Graves, Anthony Braxton.
Morphologies 8: Upliftment
Playing tracks by Quai des Brumes Station, Jah Shaka Sound System, Jah Shaka Sound System @ Phebes Club, Dalston 1982, Sir Coxsone Versus Jah Shaka Sound System @ Cubies, Dalston, 27 December 1980, Jah Shaka Sound System @ Phebes Club, Dalston, 22 May 1982 and more. This show was 66th in the global dub chart.
Morphologies 7: An image of yourself in me
Tracks by Arête, Yusef Lateef, Flying Lotus, J Dilla, D’angelo & The Soultronics, Les Filles de Illighadad, The Art Ensemble of Chicago and more.
Morphologies 6: In Shameless Beauty
‘It never looked as terrible as it was’ – Toni Morrison
Morphologies Mix: Black Mountain Transmitter – The Shadow, The Darkness.
Tracks by Yoko Ono, Nadah El Shazly, Co)))ltrane, Kyoka, Pauline Oliveros, The Fall, Bo Diddley, Tyler, The Creator and more.
Morphologies 5: Spirals of Spirit
‘Between regions of partial shadow and complete illumination, omnipotence’ – Cecil Taylor
Tracks by The Rinzai Sect of Zen Buddhism, Tōro Takemitsu, Ernst Krenek, Duke Ellington, Charlie Mingus, Max Roach, Cecil Taylor, Grup Bamba Puang, Albert Ayler. Suns of Arqa and more.
Morphologies 4: Listening
Tracks by David Sylvian & Holger Czukay, Pauline Oliveiros, Throbbing Gristle, Morphologies Interplanetary Mix, Pan Sonic, Ocoeur,Luigi Nono, Luciano Berio & Cathy Berberian and more.
This show was 98th in the global dub chart.
Morphologies 3: Mirror
‘This music is like a mirror. You keep on listening to it, and you can see something. You can see your alter-self, you can see beyond tomorrow, you can discard the future.’ – Sun Ra
Tracks by Morphologies Interplanetary Mix, Sun Ra & His Myth Science Arkestra, Sun Ra & His Omniverse Jet Set Arkestra, Sun Ra & His Arkestra, Laurie Spiegel, John Fahey, Tinariwen, Morton Feldman, Bill Evans and more.
Morphologies 2: Dream
Tracks by Velemir Khlebnikov, Paul Sigua, Jason Versola, Monique Pereda, Marla Anonuevo, Rjay Concepcion, Johann Mendoza, Link Wray & The Raymen:, Sun O))) and more.
Morphologies 1: Enta Omri
Tracks by Morphologies Mix, Mohamed Ali Triki, Bolia We Ndenge, Kasai Allstars, Konono No.1, Umm Kalthūm Orchestra, Shackleton, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Ligeti, Chris Watson and more.
Only now have I begun
To love my life
Enta Omri – Ahmed Shafik, Mohamed Abdel Wehab