July 2001, early morning. I pass through an intersection in a quiet neighbourhood and walk along a street that appears impossibly green, even for Toronto. As I look in all four directions I see no one else. The light is golden, the air still cool and I have a rare unobstructed view into the distances.… Continue reading Up on Garrison Creek
Category: Memoir
Birthday Music
Today would have been the 85th birthday of my father Samuel Lawrence (Larry) Russell. He died two months short of his 65th, so this year is also the twentieth anniversary of his passing. Although as a transracial adoptee I have travelled on an outlying cultural path from that of my adoptive family, they are the original… Continue reading Birthday Music
Quarter-Tone Study
This piece was composed and recorded when I was a student at York University, most likely a partial result of attending the late James Tenney’s course on the music of Charles Ives and hearing the latter composer’s Three Quarter-Tone Pieces. Although I took the time to prepare a neat modular score (see below), my involvement… Continue reading Quarter-Tone Study
Queen Peace
Today is Philip Glass’ birthday, my birthday and also the birthday of my first child, Aderemi. In honour of the last celebrant, I’m posting a piece from a suite I wrote for her in the year of her birth. Aderemi is a Yoruba name and translates “the crown brings peace.” This is a very simple,… Continue reading Queen Peace
Dream Decade
Tuesday, September 11, 1991 (Journal entry) My late grandfather was actually Igor Stravinsky with a changed identity. He did not die in 1971 but continued on in a secret life. When he did eventually pass away in 1986 (as my grandfather did in real life), I was shocked to learn his true identity and was… Continue reading Dream Decade
Cage Centenary
August 12, 1992 (Journal entry. Transcription by Nehal El-Hadi, September 4, 2012) John Cage died today at 79. I have somehow been expecting this news, as if it were confirmation that a certain era of progressiveness or revolution was truly now over. Cage, more than any other single figure in the arts, was one to… Continue reading Cage Centenary
Li’l Minimalist
(written in March 2010) One sunny late winter evening, I pick up Queen Peace after work. Nattily attired and chipper, she skips just ahead and then whirls around to ask, “Do you want to see my favourite dance?” Of course, I answer. Her skip turns into a side to side stride, her arms swinging wide,… Continue reading Li’l Minimalist
There is no past, only palimpsest
I once asked Madra, then in her late 80s and living in a retirement home, to tell me stories of her early days. She told me, “I’m too tired.” After she passed away, I cherished the short memoir she had written earlier in her life, and I typed it up. It was about nine pages… Continue reading There is no past, only palimpsest
Superscription
“Sequence, symmetry & simplicity”–my composer’s motto, 1996. 15 years later, inspiration strikes and the same schemes still seem sparkly.
Canon on Four Notes
This is as close to a personal musical symbol as I get: c’/f f’/d d’/g g’/c (1994)
EL MAHBOOB 