TRANSMISSION ART ARCHIVE

From Scratch (Fidelity)

2001, 19:28 min.
Sherre DeLys
Sherre DeLys produced From Scratch (Fidelity) for The Listening Room, a celebrated radio art program at the Australian Broadcast Corporation. Sherre DeLys’ describes the piece, "[From Scratch (Fidelity) is] a meditation on two archival recordings, Zulu's Ball by King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band in 1923, and a 1948 interview with Helen Keller and her assistant Polly Thompson by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Peter McGregor on the occasion of Keller's 1948 tour of Australia. [The piece] also features a recording from around 1976 of Clara Rockmore playing Tchaikovsky's Valse Sentimentale on the theremin, an instrument played without touch. Tony Baldwin as narrator." From Scratch (Fidelity) is a piece I listen to again and again for its associative structure, its musicality and way it plays with themes of recording and touch. - Described by Wave Farm Radio Artist Fellow 2019/2020, Karen Werner.