Sunset on the desert. Tomorrow I'm starting my recordings. I feel like I haven't slept for a long time. In Taos, in the Pueblo-Indian village, I listen in my headphones for the first time to the sound of my footsteps on this foreign soil. A dry, crunching sound, not European, the same sound until the end of the trip. Then there's the road. The silence of the road. At noon, we've got to get something to eat. It's usually hard to recognise the places where it's possible. Often it's a sort of shack hidden behind gas pumps at an intersection. It's full of people from nowhere considering the fact that we haven't seen a single house for hours. A friend had warned us, "when you see a gas station, fill her up" and I soon learned that when you see anything resembling a restaurant, you'd better get something to eat. Tres Piedras, Teek Nos Pos, each one offering unforgettable sandwiches. I wanted to see Monument Valley. Now here we were. So many films and ads with cowboys, so many pictures seen over and over again. You know the place by heart yet it's altogether different. And then there's the sound of my footsteps.

Far-West News 2
I wanted to see Page and not die. Page is not Venice even if it's on the waterfront. I didn't realise that Page was a city. Things do not always happen as they should. For example, the boat we get on makes such a low-pitched noise that the digital recording loses all its bits; the water does not echo sounds like it does in a Swiss lake; I record over another recording and, furious, I accuse myself of being an amateur. I do another recording of the one that was lost and it's much better. I feel like a professional. Several times, we take the wrong road and miss the sites we are looking for. I have to remind myself that I'm here for the sounds and that they are not necessarily in the most beautiful spots. Sometimes they don't coincide at all. We visit some friends, microphone in hand. They're always surprised and so am I. Even though it's been the same for years. I like it. My microphone I mean. Always the same one. In Monument Valley I left my shirt in a Navajo friend's jeep and we're too far away when I realise it. Brunhild lost her cap somewhere around Mexican Hat and I forgot my camera at Springdale mayor Philip Bimstein's place. I went back to get it in the middle of the night. They were both there and we had one last drink. At the Grand Canyon, sitting on a boulder the microphone on the ground, I eat a sandwich and drink a coke. I don't worry about what will come out of it musically. It's a grand moment!

Far-West News 3
Prescott looks a bit like a European city. There's a street life and there are even people walking around, some with piercing. The contacts here are easier than in Paris where a look in the eye is taken as a sign of aggression. All around there is desert; not the slightest sign of the ocean on the horizon. We see more and more of Monica on TV and she keeps getting fatter and fatter. I find myself thinking that if I were her I wouldn't wear shorts and the next day there she is in shorts. Clinton looks drawn and tired. I guess we're in for some air strikes soon. I've got used to the desert; a car every hour suits me fine. When we reach Los Angeles I'm scared stiff. There are cars all over the place. We turn off at the beginning of Welshire Boulevard; the hotel is at the other end but at least we're heading in the right direction. An hour later we're still driving. >From certain characteristics signs, it is clear that we're back in civilisation. There are buildings, houses that are not on wheels, even men wearing suits, elegant women wearing makeup, and a piano bar with post-modern music. Friends take us for some wild nights in LA. I continue my recordings I'll be going to the end of the voyage.

Sound recordings: Luc Ferrari, Brunhild Meyer. Voice-over: Brunhild Meyer, Dan Warburton, Gerard Pape and Stéphane Kim. Composed, realised, edited and mixed by Luc Ferrari in his studio "Atelier post-billig". A NPS, Hilversum-Piet Hein van de Poel and Atelier post-billig-Luc Ferrari coproduction. Translation: Gila Walker

Luc Ferrari was born in Paris in 1929. That first sentence makes him begin to wonder. 1929? He has written lots of autobiographies in which he falsified the dates. (Writing drives him mad; it's asking too much of him). And not daring to make himself younger, he made himself older. So there are loads of false dates going around. It was funny at the time. He finds it much less amusing now. Then, 'born in Paris'. The fact of being born in Paris makes him wonder. What if he'd been born in his father's little village in Corsica? And what if he'd been born in Marseilles, where his mother grew up? He wonders what he would have become if he'd been born in Italy, the land of his ancestors. And to all that, there's no answer. (L.F.1994)
1929 Born in Paris, february 5th

1946-1948 Musical studies at the Conservatoire de Versailles

1948-1950 Piano and Composition at the École Normale de Musique in Paris with Alfred Cortot and Arthur Honneger

1953-1954 Class of Olivier Messiaen

1958 Become part of Groupe de Musique Concrète (till 1966)

1958-1959 Cooperation with Pierre Schaeffer in creating the Groupe de Recherche Musicale

1959-1960 Chief of the Groupe de Recherche Musicale;
educational activities
Series of programmes on Musique Concrète

1960-1961 In charge of research on new instruments
Studie of instruments and sonoric bodies (new forms of lute)

1961-1962 Artistic director of an instrumental ensemble conducted by Konstantin Simonovic
Studies in improvisation on a schedule.

1962-1963 Leading a collective composition for tape and orchestra with the participation of all composers of the Groupe de Recherche Musicale.

1964-1965 Soundrecording, musical illustration and cooperation on a series of TV- programmes: Each country honnors there great heroes (Wagner, Shakespeare, Saint-Antoine, Chopin, Jeanne d'Arc, Guillaume Tell, Johann Strauss ....) Broadcasted in TV in France, Germany, Canada.

1964 (october)- 1965(march) Lecturing on composition at the Rheinische Musikschule in Köln (Germany).

1965-1966 Author together with Gérard Patris of a series of French TV-programmes on contemporary music: Great Rehearsals (Olivier Messiaen, Edgar Varèse, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Herman Scherchen, Cecil Taylor).

1966 Professor in experimental music, Stockholm.

1967 Invited by Ford Foundation and DAAD, for one year in Berlin.

1968-1969 Musical responsibillity at the Maison de la Culture in Amiens (France).

1972 Creating Studio Billig, modest electroacoustic place.

1972 Karl Sczuka Prize for his Hörspiel: Portait-Spiel (production Südwestfunk, Baden-Baden).

1978-1980 Professor in composition at the Conservatoire de Pantin.

1982 Founding the association La Muse en Circuit, studio for electracoustic compositions en radiohponic creations.

1986 Organising a series of concerts-spectacles at the dancings of Paris together with La Muse en Circuit, titled: Vue Imprenable sur l'acoustique.

1987 Prix Italia for his symphonic fairytale: Et si totu entières miantenant, made within the framework of the multimedia-operation: Brise-Glace.

1988 Karl Sczuka Prize for his Hörspiel: Je me suis perdu ou Labyrinthe portrait (co-production of Südwestfunk, Baden-Baden and La Muse en Circuit).

1989 Retrospective at the Manca Festival in Nice (France). Grand Prix National of the Ministry of Culture.

1990 International Serge and Olga Koussewitsky Prize for his symphonic piece: Histoire du Plaisir et de la Désolation.

1991 Obtaining the Prix Italia (special prize of RAI) for his radiophonic creation L'Escalier des aveugles co-produced by Radio Nacional de España and La Muse en Circuit.

1993 Invited by the electronic music studio of WDR, Köln (Germany).

1994 At april 21st: withdrawing from his responsibillities as president of La Muse en Circuit.

1995 (october) Parcours confus (retrospective) in Groningen, and concerttour in the Netherlands. Commisioned by NPS Radio to create a radiophonic composition, which became: Far-West News.

LIST OF COMPOSITIONS

1952 Suite pour piano
1953 Antisonate
1953/54 Sonatine Elyb
Quatuor
1955 Suite hétéroclite
Lapidarium
Huit pedtites faces
1956 Tête à terre
Visage I
Visage II
1957/58 Visage III La prose du Transsibérien by Blaise Cendrars
Visage IV - Profils
1958 Étude aux accidents (Musique concrète)
Étude aux sons tendus (Musique concrète)
1959 Music for theatre: Passage pour mimes (Musique concrète)
1958/59 Visage V (Musique concrète)
1960 Filmmusic: Égypte ô Égypte I
1959/60 Tête et queue du dragon (Musique concrète)
1961 Tautologos I (Musique électronique)
Tautologos II (Musique concrète)
Filmmusic: Forme Bleue
Filmmusic: Étude
1962 Spontané I
Spontané II
Spontané III
Spontané IV
Filmmusic: Chastel
Filmmusic: Égypte ô Égypte II
6 pour 4 (for four-channel tape)
1962/63 Composé Composite
Filmmusic: Les Pèlerins
1963 Flashes
Filmmusic: Portrait d'une autre
1964 Filmmusic: Dernier Matin by Edgar Allen Poe
1963/64 Hétérozygote (stereo-tape)
1965 La musique à l'envers (text by Pierre Scheaffer)
Société I
1965/66 Five documentairies for TV: Les Grandes Répétitions
Und so weiter
1963/66 Symphonie inachevée
1967 Filmmusic: So (Musique concrète)
Société II. Et si le piano était un corps de femme
Interrupteur
Filmmusic: Tinguely (Musique concrète)
Filmmusic: Les jeunes filles ou Société III.
Société IV - Mécanique Collectivé Individu
1968 La Havane, Cuba
1964/69 Music Promenade (electroacoustic music)
1967/69 Société V - Participation or not participation.
1969 Société VI - Liberté, liberté, chérie, for solo-audience
Tautologos 3 ou Vous plairait-il de tautologuer avec moi?
1960/69 J'ai été coupé (stereo-tape)
1969 J'ai tort,j'ai tort, j'ai mon très grand tort
1969/70 Le dispositif et son disnégatif
1967/70 Presque rien ou lelever du jour au bord de la mer (stereo-tape)
1970 Tautologos 3
1971 Portrait-Spiel (stereo-tape)
Unheimlich Schön (stereo-tape)
Pornologos 2
1964/72 Les réalisable et le journal d'un autobiographe
1971/72 Allô, ici la terre
1972 Film: Kennen Sie Schönberg?
Programme commun pour clavecin et bande
Journal d'un journaliste amateur (stereo-tape)
1971/73 Danses organiques (stereo-tape)
1972/73 Five documentaries in two parts: Presque rien ou le désir de vivre
1973/74 Petite symphony intuitive pour paysage de printemps (stereo-tape)
Allô, ici la terre (second chapter)
1974 Éphémère
1975 Labyrinthe de violence (stereo-tape and slides)
Force du Rythme et Cadance Forcée
1976 Algérie 76 numero 1. La révolution agraire
1976/77 Algérie 76 numero 2. Belghimouze, Village Socialiste
Tuchan village numero 11350
1977 Place des Abbesses (filmmusic)
Les Apprentis (filmmusic)
Loin de l'équilibre
Et tournent les sons dans la garrigue
Exercices d'improvisation
Presque rien numero 2.
1976/78 Algérie numero 2: La Société Nationale de Sidérurgie
1978 A la recherche du rythme perdu
1976/78 Promenade symphonique dans un paysage musical. Algérie numero 4: El Oued
1977/78 Chantal, ou le portrait d'une villageoise
1978 Ce qu'a vu le Cers
Apparition et disparition mystérieuses d'un accord
1972/79 Bonjour, comment ça va?
1978/79 Entrée
Le Dernier Soleil (filmmusic)
Le Petit Pommier (filmmusic)
1979/81 Histoire du plaisir et de la désolation, for symphony orchestra
1981 Ateliers (filmmusic)
1981/82 Chronopolis (filmmusic)
Jetzt, radiophonic composition
1980/82 Journal intime
1982/83 Sexolidad
1978/84 Une Soirée avec Matricia Perséverse
1984 Patajaslotcha
Doialogue ordinaire avec la machine (stereo-tape)
1985 Collection de petites pièces
Strathoven (stereo-tape)
1986 Les émois d'Aphrodite
En un tournement d'amour
1986/87 Et si tout entière maintenant (stereo-tape)
1987/88 Je me suis perdu or Labyrinthe portrait (stereo-tape)
1987 Un Calypso pour Colette
1987/88 Conversation intime
1988 Tango-Pas
Créamaille 88 (stereo-tape)
1988/89 Musique dans les spasmes
1989 Conte Sentimental numero 1 (stereo-tape)
Extraits du corps
Photophonie (stereo-tape)
Presque rien avec filles (stereo-tape)
1989/90 Le Freischütz (tape-music)
Solitude Transit (stereo-tape)
Italie mon amour
Labyrinthe Hôtel
1990 La remontée du village ou les sons attrapés par la queue (stereo-tape)
1989/91 Comme une Fantaisie dite des Réminiscences
1991 Berceuse d'illusions
L'escalier des aveugles (stereo-tape)
Clap (for Mauricio Kagel)
1991/92 Cahier du soir
1992 Fugue de J.S.B.
1993 Ouvert-Fermé (stereo-tape)
Bistro (stereo-tape)
1992/93 Porte ouverte sur ville
1988/94 Chansons pour le corps
1994 Portrait de femmes
Fable de la démission et du cendrier
Je courais tant de buts divers
1994/95 Potrait de Michel Portal
1995 revision of Fragments du journal intime
Quatre femmes hollandaises (radiophonic composition)
Hold still keep moving (installation)
1994/95 Pénétration harmonique
1995 Déchirure
1995/96 Scintillements-Ondulations
1998/99 Far-West News 1-3 (radiophonic composition)
Coming up: Soirée X
Tautologos
Madame de Shanghai

Far-West News

Zurück in Paris und nach Abhören der Aufnahmen, verschärft sich die Kontur einer Realisation in drei Episoden, jeweils gleichartig aufgebaut, doch mit unterschiedlichen Ereignissen.

Dann, ... was ist dazu zu sagen?... Es handelt sich weder um eine Reportage, noch um eine Klanglandschaft, noch um ein Hörspiel, noch um ein elektroakustisches Werk, noch um ein Portrait, noch um ein Exposé von Aufnahmen aus der Wirklichkeit, noch um eine Transgression der Wirklichkeit, noch um eine impressionistische Narration, noch ... es ist eine Komposition.

Zuerst dachte ich, es ist manifest, doch ein mildes und ernstloses Manifest. Auch dachte ich, meine "radiophonen" Kompositionen waren eine neue Art, ein biographisches Buch zu schreiben. Schliesslich nannte ich das Stück Klangpoesie einer wirklichen Reise, sollte die Poesie mit der Wirklichkeit wie auf dem Akkordeon spielen können, und in soweit die Komposition in gewissen Fällen, besonders was mich betrifft und fortschreitend mein Leben entlang, ein perverses Spiel mit der Wahrheit ist.

Was mehr dazu sagen? ... Dass der Untertitel lauten könnte: "Klangpoesie nach der Natur".
Was mehr noch?

Luc Ferrari, Paris, den 23. Mai 1999

Far-West News Nr. 1 (März 1999)
vom 11. bis 16. September 1998
von Santa Fé bis Monument Valley
29 Minuten 30 Sekunden

Far-West News Nr. 2 (Mai 1999)
vom 17. bis 24. September 1998
von Page bis Grand Canyon
29 Minuten 45 Sekunden

Far-West News Nr. 3 (Juni 1999)
vom 25. bis 30. September 1998
von Prescott bis Los Angeles
28 Minuten

Tonaufnahmen: Luc Ferrari, Brunhild Meyer
Komposition, Realisation, Schnitt, Mischen und Technik: Luc Ferrari in seinem « Atelier post-billig »
. Koproduktion: NPS, Hilversum - Piet Hein van de Poel und Atelier
post-billig - Luc Ferrari

Sprecher (off): Brunhild Meyer, Dan Warburton, Gérard Pape und Stéphane
Kim.

Far-West News