Songs from the Bardo
Reflector Laurie Anderson
To open her »Reflector« festival, Laurie Anderson looks at the last things in life from a Buddhist point of view – using musical resources to do so. Together with the Tibetan singer Tenzin Choegyal, she interprets individual passages from the »Bardo Thödröl«, also known as the »Tibetan Book of the Dead«, which is one of the world’s great bodies of spiritual literature.
»Liberation through listening in an intermediate state« – thus the more exact translation of the eighth century text, which Tibetan lamas recite into the ears of dying people. The text describes Tibetan and Buddhist ideas about this state and about the potential of the soul after death and before being reborn.
Anderson recites the text passages, and plays various instruments, some of them electronic; Choegyal, a descendant of Tibetan nomads, sings and plays the dranyen, a kind of lute, as well as the lingbu, a bamboo flute. The line-up is completed by Rubin Kodheli on the cello.
Performers
Laurie Anderson vocals, electronics
Tenzin Choegyal vocals, Tibetan lute
Rubin Kodheli violoncello
and special guests
Festival
Reflector Laurie Anderson