#Julius eastman full#
(In the Walker’s New Music America program, Eastman’s titles were printed in full as the artist desired.) Eastman addressed the topic in his introductory remarks at Northwestern: “There is a whole series of these pieces. After protests on campus led by black students and faculty members, who found the language derogatory, the titles were omitted from the January 1980 concert program.
A few weeks prior to the Walker’s New Music America Festival, Eastman was an artist in residence at Northwestern University, where he performed three compositions: Evil Nigger, Gay Guerilla, and Crazy Nigger. Allowing a variety of sonic experimentations to coexist together, from jazz to minimalist sound (admittedly, as they do in the real world), the Walker’s festival built upon, deepened, and expanded the concepts that fueled the New Music festival held a year prior at the Kitchen, New York, and ambitiously increased the scope of its geographical locations by presenting events at a number of carefully selected venues across the Twin Cities.Though Eastman was relatively unknown to most outside of niche music circles until recent years, his compositions Evil Nigger and Gay Guerrilla, performed as part of the New Music America Festival in 1980, today are among his most celebrated works. The festival included an array of musical happenings-from traditional music concerts to environmental performances, sound sculptures, and installations-and featured a diverse range of artists, including Maryanne Amacher, Laurie Anderson, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Robert Ashley, Anthony Braxton, Julius Eastman, and Julia Heyward, among others.Īccording to Redden, “The New Music America Festival was founded on the principle of ‘us’ and ‘them’-it was a kind of rally cry for American experimental composers who were often overlooked and shut out of traditional concert halls because their work was seen as oppositional.” Devereaux, “The Twin Cities-Twelve Years After ,” 14. See Kent Devereaux, “The Twin Cities-Twelve Years After,” in New Music Across America (Valencia, CA: California Institute of Arts, 1992), 13. The Walker’s iteration was more expansive and included a more diverse range of projects in order to investigate the breadth of avant-garde music at the time. In 1979, the Kitchen presented New Music, New York, a ten-day series of performances and panels. The Walker’s 1980 New Music America Festival was not the first of its kind. The event, which was presented by the Walker in conjunction with the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and the Minnesota Composers Forum, included more than seventy-five composers, performers, and ensembles from throughout the United States in an attempt to represent the stylistic diversity of experimental music at the time. In a 1980 handwritten letter to Nigel Redden, the director of Performing Arts at the time, the composer and vocalist Julius Eastman (US, 1940–1990) details what he will perform at the Walker’s 1980 New Music America Festival. Yours, Julius Eastman Julias Eastman, handwritten letter to Nigel Redden, director of Walker Performing Arts about the artist’s requirements and plans for his performance as part of the New Music America Festival, Spring 1980, Walker Art Center Archives. Let me know by phone if these things are possible. I will arrive the day before the first rehearsal, and I am to receive the agreed in cash on the day of arrival. The instruments to be used are 4 violins, 4 violas, 3 celli, 1 Bass.
Īs agreed upon the two works to be performed are Gay Guerrilla & Evil Nigger, the lengths of the pieces are 28:30 and 19:35 respectively, a total 48:05. IV of the Living Collections Catalogue (Minneapolis: Walker Art Center, 2020). Jackson, “Julius Eastman at the Walker,” in Creative Black Music at the Walker: Selections from the Archives, ed.
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