Kuksu Dance

When I composed Kuksu Dance, I was in a deep state of depression, unlike anything I’ve experienced since. Most of the music I composed in my early to mid-twenties I’ve since abandoned, but this piece has a special kind of sincerity and simplicity. I’ve considered changing the title, as it references a Native American culture I had no knowledge of and no business appropriating, but I’ve decided to leave it maybe as a testament to my wacked out mindset at the time. I imagined this music as a healing rite, for physical, spiritual, and emotional cleansing/renewal, an escape route from suffering. The notated music is minimal. Performers are invited to use the notated score as a springboard to create their own unique orchestrations and sound worlds. I recorded this in Lyon, France (where I was living at the time) with accordion and cassette tape recordings of AM/FM radio sounds.