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Paul and Jane Bowles in the written, musical and theatre forms
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Copyright
Notice
All content on this page is the research work of The International Paul
Bowles Society
and has previously been published in our printed publications
The
International Paul Bowles
Society, ©2000
Paul Bowles
LP and CD
recordings
Avant-Garde and Spoken Word
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'The
Delicate Prey and A Distant Episode'
Spoken-word LP
Side
One: The Delicate Prey
Side Two: A Distant Episode
Spoken
Arts, 1963,
Paul Bowles (at age 53) reading his two stories
Listen to
Paul
Bowles reading an excerpt from 'The Delicate Prey.' |
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'A Hundred Camels in the Courtyard'
2 CDs audio book. Cover drawings by Brion Gysin.
Cadmus
Editions CE/DOM US CD-14-2
Paul Bowles reading the 4 stories of this book:
1. A Friend of the World (26.24)
2. The Wind at Beni Midar (31.48)
3. He of the Assembly (46.03)
4. The Story of Lachen and Idir (20.02) |
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'A
Hundred Camels in the Courtyard' 2x12"LPs
Cadmus
Editions, FPV 47423-1-4
Released on 2 LPs, in 1981.
Paul Bowles reading the 4 stories of his book.
Side 1. A Friend of the World
Side 2. The Wind at Beni Midar
Side 3. He
of the Assembly
Side 4. The Story of Lachen and Idir
Recorded by Paul Bowles on a Uher 1000 Report L, in the Fall of 1978,
Tangier, Morocco. Book published by City Lights Books. |
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'Baptism of Solitude' CD
META MTA 9601 also released on tape cassette (right)
explores strange and exotic territory. The ironic union of inner peace
and outward
foreboding in the title passage is mirrored in the music: Bowles
describes the 'conscious
force' of stillness in the desert over a background of distant winds
and echoes,
building to the realization that 'the absolute has no price.' The short
line from
the poem 'You Are Not I' -- one of the few works Bowles attributes
directly to a
waking dream, arises and fades in the momentary blink of an eye,
fleeting but defiant
in its declaration of individuality. His permanent, self-imposed North
African exile
helped to put that region on the map of EuroAmerican letters; the
influence of Moroccan
culture and of the sun-blasted expanses of its desert milieu pervades
his writing.
Baptism of Solitude is a collection of excerpts read by Bowles himself,
accompanied
by Bill Laswell's suitably bleak, spacious sound sculptures. There's
little music
to speak of on this album; instead, as Bowles intones his prose in a
laconic, slightly
stentorian voice, Laswell lends sonic context to his words with echoey
washes and
distant, windy howls. The texts are sometimes intensely evocative (as
on the title
track) and sometimes almost Zen-like in their obscurity, as on 'You Are
Not I.' Others
are somewhat disturbing – one describes matter-of-factly the sexual
mutilation of
a young boy by a Bedouin raider. The stark power of Bowles' writing is
such that
it's hard not to feel parochial in objecting to such stuff on the
grounds of taste
and the faint of stomach should take warning. In any case, this CD is
remarkable.
| 01.Up
Above the World |
02.Love
Song |
03.
Baptism of Solitude |
04.
Each Whining Thing |
| 05.
Next to Nothing |
06.
Points in Time |
07.
Voyage en Egypte |
08.
The Delicate Prey |
| 09.
The Circular Valley |
10.
A Distant Episode |
11.
Delicate Song |
12.
You are Not I |
| 13.
The Sheltering Sky |
14.
Nights |
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Please click here to read more about the
tracks on this CD and their original sources
from the works of Paul Bowles.
'The
Pool KIII' - Brion Gysin CD
(Alga Marghen
7NMN.024)
Now, if you
want avant
garde - You got it! Atmospheric sounds/music recorded by Paul Bowles in
the late
1950s in Italy, while on the way back from Taprobane, but attributed to
Brion Gysin
by the CD publisher. CD in digipack and very hard to find. This CD is
all about the
atmospheric sounds of a swimming pool - hahaha - it's brilliant! At
first, I laughed
and laughed, but this CD is actually very cool!
For more on Brion Gysin, please click
here.
'Summer Marigolds' (1991) CD
(Boise State
University, 1991)
Here's some
more avant
garde! This music is an accompanying CD to a book called 'Cold Drill
1991', and includes
Paul Bowles and Mohammed Mrabet, along with quite a few other people.
Bowles contribution
here is 'Here I am' and Paul also reads Mohammed Mrabet's 'The Sea in
the Street.'
Also includes The Gnaoua Group de Abdenbi Binizi' (ethnic Moroccan folk
music), Ira
Cohen reading transcendental poetry about India, with sitar music, and
voice echoes
and some very nice kora (African harp) string music by David Gilden.
This is a great
CD, and very nice book, with 4 art postcards included. Be prepared for
something
unusual - this is a CD for certain that will take you away from
yourself - well,
for a while, anyway :-)
Index
Classical
music of Paul
Bowles
Notes on 'The
Baptism of
Solitude' CD
Various and
Compilation
Recordings recorded by Paul Bowles
Recommended Paul
Bowles music
on CD
About
The 'Concerto for Two Pianos, Winds and Percussion'
'The
Concerto for Two Pianos,
Winds and Percussion'
Original
music score
books available
An Introduction
to the Music
of Paul Bowles
Home
Dedicated
to the life
and work of Paul and Jane Bowles
The International Paul Bowles Society, ©2000