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Aired on May 24th 06:15 CEST 2025
Polyphtong
Genre: Spoken Word
Duration: 45 min
Polyphtong is a purely vocal piece with no electronically generated sounds. It was conceived as a quadraphonic piece for live performance. It was premiered at Stanford University in March of 2012, and solely based on live voice sounds fed into a MaxMSP patch.
The origin of the title is: an extension of ‘diphtong’.
In the summer of 2013 I radically reworked the piece to create the stereo version presented on this CD.
All sounds heard in it are based on my vocal and other mouth sounds. In some cases attacks were changed, which make the sounds less recognizable as vocal. Algorithmic composition was used to create the layering of sounds.

Aired on May 24th 09:30 CEST 2025
Vocalor
Genre: Spoken Word
Duration: 60 min
Recorded December 1997 at Centre PRIMUS of Strasbourg University by Othon Schneider, with assistance of Nathalie Parrenin, Olivier Loutz and Irénée Lapierre
Edited by Nathalie Parrenin
Mastered at Centre PRIMUS
Produced by Georges Bloch and Jaap Blonk
Photography by Arthur Nieuwenhuijs
Graphic design by Yvonne Willems
Many Thanks To Abigaïl, Anne & Georges Bloch
Released as Staalplaat STCD112
Gone out of print in 2008

Liner notes from 1998:

Like its predecessor ‘Flux de Bouche’ (STCD 046, 1993), ‘Vocalor’ features a number of versions I made of texts by great pioneers of sound poetry.
Velimir Khlebnikov’s “Kolokol Uma”, from the teens of this century, is written in his invented language ‘Zaum’ (‘Outside Reason’). It is made up of a repetition of the word ‘um’ (‘reason’, ‘mind’ or ‘spirit’), furnished with many different prepositions to create neologisms like ‘downreason’, ‘byspirit’ and the like. The harmonics seemed to me a nice image for the bells inside the mind. “Canto VII” is the last poem of the cycle ‘Altazor, or the Parachute Voyage’, written 1919-31 by the Chilean surrealist poet Vicente Huidobro. It is probably the earliest published example of South American sound poetry.
On my previous recording I included ‘Axtherastical’ by Guy de Cointet, which I knew from Richard Kostelanetz’ great anthology ‘Text-Sound Texts’. Last year in Los Angeles I discovered De Cointet’s 70s book ‘Espahor ledet ko uluner!’, of which ‘Axtherastical’ turned out to be the second chapter. So what else could I do now but record the first chapter, “Nonomotihur”. As with ‘Flux de Bouche’, I chose to end this new album with a piece for the more seasoned listener. It is Man Ray’s 1924 “Lautgedicht” (‘Sound Poem’). To me it looks like a poem crossed out by a violent censor, that’s how I found the sound.
Georges Aperghis, French composer of Greek origin, wrote his series of 14 “Récitations” for solo voice around 1980. Nr. 11 uses short snatches of everyday French speech for a text.
In case the “Ad” convinces you to buy it, this record brings you several other pieces that are completely my own.
Of these, “Kulo quasi” was inspired by talking drums conversations. The 5-movement suite “Geen Krimp” is based on my native Dutch tongue. It uses some of the sounds that are notoriously resistant to those brave enough to try and learn the language. The title has to do with ‘not giving in’.
After ‘Rhotic’ and ‘Frictional’ “Labior” is my third Phonetic Etude. Several years of experimentation led to this choice of favorite lip sounds, making use also of the stereo possibilities of the mouth. One day when I sat down to write a new poem in my extended Phonetic Alphabet, the signs didn’t obey me and made faces at me. I responded with “facial”, a string of 7 small portraits in speech framed by plof and retroplof.
The title “a isla da” is concrete poetry shorthand for ‘a la isla aislada’ (‘to the isolated island’). Its text, which I treat in a loosely improvising way, is made up of the syllables of about 70 Cuban song titles of the 20s and 30s.
“Hommage à A.A.” is dedicated to the visionary French poet and theatre pioneer Antonin Artaud. He wrote a large part of his devastating work during a 10-year stay in a mental institution. His French texts are interspersed with fragments of phonetic poetry, which he used to recite in his cell for hours on end, accompanying himself on little drums. Finally, “suavecito” is one of those endearing diminutives that abound in Latin American Spanish. It does not give the word ‘suave’ a smaller meaning but rather makes it gentler and more loving.

Tenderly,
Jaap Blonk
Medellín, Colombia, January 1998
credits

Featuring:

Jaap Blonk

Jaap Blonk (born 1953 in Woerden, Netherlands) is a self-taught composer, performer, poet and visual artist. His unfinished studies in mathematics and musicology mainly created a penchant for activities in a Dada vein, as did several unsuccessful jobs in offices and other well-organized systems.
In the early 1980s he discovered the power and flexibility of his voice, and set out on a long-term research of phonetics and the possibilities of the human voice. At present, he has developed into a specialist in the creation and performance of sound poetry and a unique vocal improviser, supported by a powerful and uninhibited stage presence. He has performed and taught around the world, on all continents. With the use of live electronics and sometimes projection of visuals the scope and range of his concerts has acquired a considerable extension.
Blonk’s recorded / published output comprises some 75 titles: CDs, vinyl, cassettes and books.
From his sound poetry scores he developed an independent body of visual work, also supported by his renewed interest in mathematical procedures. It has been exhibited in various countries, and selections have been collected in books by publishers in Germany, Ireland, Canada, the United States, Sweden and Brazil.

The 2025 edition will be broadcast online from 8 pm on May 23 to 8 pm on May 25 (CET)