This piece tells a story of the transition from pure vocal sound to meaning as a musical gesture. Inspiration comes from glossolalia in various forms; in infants who have not yet learned to speak, in states of consciousness where speech takes on a completely new and mystical dimension, and in that found in artificial intelligence, which can speak but still does not understand what it is saying.

"Only birds know how to call the sun and they do it every morning" weaves together these stages in a sci-fi-like concert, created by composer Kaj Duncan David and Brazilian writer and performer Maikon K. The vocal part makes use of vocoder and talkbox to create an artificial song between sense and nonsense, while the electronic sound is performed by a quartet of synthesizer, EWI, MIDI guitar, and MIDI percussion.

ONSTAGE:  Kaj Duncan David and SCENATET

Kaj Duncan David - vocals, keys, electronics

Vicky Wright – EWI, electronics

Mikkel Schou – MIDI guitar, guitars Matias Seibæk –

MIDI percussion, synth 

CREDITS:

Kaj Duncan David - Composer

This work was commissioned by Scenatet and Frequenz Festival and premieres at SPOR (Aarhus) and Frequenz (Kiel) in May 2024.   
Supported by Koda's Cultural Funds, Danish Arts Council, Creative Europa and Sounds Now