'Tweenty–Nine Thousand Nights: A Communist Life is an unusual chronicle of the personal journey of Nan Berger through her writings, intelligence reports and visual images. From a wealthy middle class Northern family, Berger was drawn to the Communist Party in the 1930s because of her horror of fascism. Shocked by the tactics of the British police at an anti- fascist meeting, she became a lifelong campaigner for Civil Liberties. World War Two brought her into the civil service and she was awarded an OBE in 1948 for her work in the Ministry of Fuel. Nevertheless in the changed post-war world she found herself regarded as lacking qualifications. Through the Communist Party and the National Assembly of Women, Nan Berger became an early critic of gender inequality, writing Woman Fancy or Free? with Joan Maizels. This intriguing exploration of documents from one woman’s life conveys the many unexpected byways of left political commitment in the Twentieth Century, bringing to the surface a wider social history.’ ­– Sheila Rowbotham ‘Nan Berger is no Rosa Luxemburg or La Pasionaria but a conventional Englishwoman with not much in her head, from a respectable Tory home in Southport. Joining the Communist Party emancipates and educates her, opening her eyes to the world’s suffering and inequalities. With its collage of documents, MI5 surveillance reports and contemporary photographs, this is a vivid account of the transforming power of progressive politics in one woman’s life.’ – Alison Light Commissioned for Beyond Words, Ruth Ewan has unearthed an unpublished manuscript of Nan Berger (1914–1998) – international activist, writer and editor, and lifelong member of the Communist Party. Now a forgotten figure she gained brief public recognition for her work in the Ministry of Transport, resolving the coal crisis in the winter of 1947–48 for which she was awarded an OBE. Her autobiography is unfinished, consisting of contemporary notes alongside more detailed accounts of parts of her life: the anti-fascist struggles of the 1930s, pre-war USA, post-war life in Poland, China and her activities with the National Council of Civil Liberties and the anti-apartheid struggle. The gaps are filled by Ruth Ewan with archival material that ranges from MI5 surveillance files, family photographs, archived journals and publications, that presents evidence of an extraordinary life of radical politics and compassion for others. Ruth Ewan is an artist based in Glasgow, and is known for creating context specific artworks. She works with found material, history, collaborators and participants to realise her projects, which are often grounded in focused research into hidden social and political histories.

Cornelius Cardew was a musician of genius for whom Life and Art were as one. He was a radical, both artistically and politically, becoming a tireless activist and uncompromising Marxist-Leninist. Passion and imagination governed all he did: his boldness and humanity continue to intrigue and inspire. John Tilbury, whose close friendship with Cardew dates from their first concert together, in January 1960, has worked for many years on this biography, and brings his subject vividly to life. In doing this, he has drawn extensively from Cardew’s journals and letters, and obtained first-hand accounts from friends and colleagues. The handling of this material is thoughtful and meticulous. Tilbury is a master story-teller and this particular story is of epic scale and character. We begin in 1932, appropriately on May Day, with the first meeting of his parents. Later, we encounter the intrepid schoolboy and student, who impressed sufficiently at the Royal Academy of Music to receive funds to study in Cologne with Karlheinz Stockhausen. The narrative during this period is delightfully picaresque, a colourful prelude to the years of family responsibilities and extraordinary musical endeavour and achievement (AMM, Treatise, the Scratch Orchestra and The Great Learning). As events unfold, discussion of the music is given due weight, but is never unduly weighty. Towards the end, there is an implacable gain in momentum as Cardew’s political work makes increasing demands on his time and apparently limitless reserves of energy. A life unfinished? The final chapter is entitled “12/13 December 1981” and eloquently “vibrates in the memory”.Softcover, 1020pp, 1.5kg Copula Books, Harlow, 2008 Matchless Recordings

36 pages printed in Englandstaple bound14cm x 20cm

January 2023, English/German14×21 cm, 224 pages, 88 color ill., softcover with dust jacket Edited by SERGIO EDELSZTEIN, FANNI FETZER Texts by SERGIO EDELSZTEIN, FANNI FETZER, JEAN-PIERRE REHMRoee Rosen’s film Kafka for Kids is set as the pilot episode for a TV series that perversely aims to make Kafka’s tale “Metamorphosis” palpable for toddlers. In its title, the film Kafka for Kids implies that the intellectual great of modern literature will finally be presented in a way that is generally understandable. Roee Rosen wants to present Franz Kafka, of all people, with his contorted thought constructions, in a way that is even accessible to kids! But unfortunately, that’s not how things turn out: the star writer of the educated middle class is not simplified, but his story becomes much more complex, corresponding to reality, for reality is more complicated than we like to represent using biaxial graphs. Featuring the original script of the movie, readers are invited to dive into a magical story, followed by essays that give a deeper insight in the literary aspects of Roee Rosen’s oeuvre. A stowaway on the journey, Rosen playfully and with wonderful self-irony, does not negate the complexity of the present, but takes it to the next level by exploring how all things are interlinked. Rosen neither doubts the complexity of our reality, nor does he oversimplify to a fault.

ISBN: 9781904607762 Published: 25 Apr 2008 Format: Paperback 528pp Publisher: Birlinn Ltd  The Highland bagpipe has long been a central strand of Scottish identity, but what happened to the Highland bagpipe in the two centuries following Culloden? How was its music transmitted and received? This study presents contemporary evidence and uses a range of methods to recreate the changing world of the pipers as they influenced and were influenced by the transformation in Scottish society. This book is intended for pipers exploring the achievements and musical concerns of their predecessors; for the general reader interested in a music whose history is akin to that of Scotland's poetry and song; and for all students of the process of tradition.Combining newspaper and manuscript evidence from the pipers themselves with a wide range of historical sources, the author harnesses the insights of the practical player to those of the historian and provides a fresh account of the players and their musical traditions, which have previously been the subject of much myth-making. This is the first history of the musical culture of the worldwide piping community.

180 x 255mm, 24 pages, two colour risograph printed interior, saddle stitched, letterpress printed softcover, 2023   Published by The Grass is Green in the Fields for YouTHEY SAID! simmers, boils and simmers again on the 1981 solo vocal composition Prelude to the Holy Presence of Joan d’Arc. Language, listening and voice are at the core of the essay. As is the relationship between Julius Eastman and Joan d’Arc which, as readers, we’re invited not to divide into two individual histories but encouraged to consider a singular position which both figures may have inhabited across distances. The essay opens with an exclamation mark which weaves through the text, alive with an open sense of speculation and inquiry as we explore the many facets of Prelude. Letter (writing) is a central reference — given Eastman’s penchant to put pen to paper, bringing the personal into the open — and the text itself reads like a letter being written or a conversation unfolding. It is swift and agile, carrying us along as it joins the dots, while breaking at times for a moment of improvisation, silence, or a prompt to speak. Formally, we hear the voices not just of Jessica, but of Eastman (of course!), Joan of Arc, Gertrude Stein and scholars of Eastman’s life, which offer a gentle introduction for those who may not be familiar with his life and work. An engagement with letters — as in correspondence as well as units of language — are at the core of our reading of the song. Complexity and simplicity were central to Eastman’s practice and character in the same way a letter can “tell all”, an exclamation mark can give a little more.

Paperback, 240 x 180mm, 176pp. Prototype, 2024 With contributions by Galia Admoni, Louis Bailey, Eloise Bennett, Jen Carter, Imogen Cassels, Kat Chimonides, Helena Fornells Nadal, Miruna Fulgeanu, Zsuzsanna Gahse (trans. Katy Derbyshire), Eiffel Gao, Mica Georgis, Matthew Halliday, Jordan Hayward, Hasib Hourani, Aria Hughes-Liebling, Dominic J. Jaeckle, Rozie Kelly, Alex Mepham, Lucy Mercer, Duncan Montgomery, Angélica Pina Lèbre, c.f. prior, Oisín Roberts, Rochelle Roberts, James Rodker, Jacqueline Rose, Leonie Rushforth, Irina Sadóvina, Agnieszka Szczotka, Maya Uppal, Stephen Watts, Jack Young and Kate Zambreno.The sixth instalment of Prototype’s annual anthology: a space for new work, open to all and free from formal guidelines or restrictions. Poetry, prose, visual work and experiments in between.

published by Tenement Press & Prototype, 2023 Paperback; 140 x 216mm; 444pp; black-and-white images throughout Mario Dondero, Erica Baum, Jess Cotton, Rebecca Tamás, Raúl Guerrero, Stephen Watts, Helen Cammock, Salvador Espriu, Lucy Mercer, Olivier Castel, Lucy Sante, Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Ryan Choi, John Yau, Nicolette Polek, Chris Petit, Sascha Macht, Amanda DeMarco, Mark Lanegan, Georgia May Jaeckle, Vala Thorodds, Richard Scott, Jonathan Chandler, Joshua Cohen, Sandro Miller, Hannah Regel, Nick Cave, Matthew Shaw, Daisy Lafarge, Jeffrey Vallance, Holly Pester, Matthew Gregory, Emmanuel Iduma, Joan Brossa, Cameron Griffiths, Levina van Winden, Imogen Cassels, Hisham Bustani, maia tabet, Aram Saroyan, Velimir Khlebnikov, Natasha Randall, Edwina Attlee, Jason Shulman, Aidan Moffat, Lesley Harrison, Oliver Bancroft, Lauren de Sá Naylor, Yasmine Seale, Will Eaves, James Hugunin, Glykeria Patramani, Cass McCombs, Will Oldham, Antonio Tabucchi, Elizabeth Harris, Nina Mingya Powles, Isabel Galleymore, Preti Taneja, Stanley Schtinter, Sophie Seita, Ralf Webb, Wayne Koestenbaum, Iain Sinclair, SJ Fowler, David Grubbs, Agustín Fernández Mallo, Pere Joan, Thomas Bunstead, John Divola, Adrian BridgetSeven Rooms brings together highlights from Hotel, a magazine for new approaches to fiction, non-fiction & poetry which, since its inception in 2016, provided a space for experimental reflection on literature’s status as art & cultural mediator. Co-published by Tenement Press and Prototype, this anthology captures, refracts, and reflects a vital moment in independent publishing in the UK, and is built on the shared values of openness, collaboration, and total creative freedom.

A4, 32 pages#contemporarycomics #comicart #poetrycomics #musiccomics #noaudienceunderground #graphicpoetry #graphicpoem #experimentalcomics #freejazz #noisemusic

16 essays in English, 10 in German, with musical examples,296 pp, paperback  wolke, 2012Cage & Consequences brings together analytical essays by scholars of different disciplines, artists“ contributions, and conversations with composers and associates of John Cage. They represent the diversity of Cage“s spheres of influence on the following generations of artists, as well as his significance for musicology, art theory, and media studies. The contributions are presented in their original language, English or German.

edited by M.J. Grant and Imke Misch 164 pp., Pb Wolke, 2018Karlheinz Stockhausen was one of the most influential and prolific composers of the twentieth century. His legacy extends far beyond his extensive catalogue of musical works to his achievements as a pioneer of electronic music, as a writer and thinker on music, and as a teacher. In this volume, various aspects of Stockhausen“s legacy are discussed, including his influence on the creative work of others, and the influences he likewise derived from some of his closest associates. Central theoretical tenets of his work are revisited and new evaluations made regarding the significance, impact and potential of Stockhausen“s contributions in this area. Compositions discussed in the volume extend across the whole span of the composer“s life, with several essays dealing explicitly with the musical, conceptual and theatrical background to Stockhausen“s work from the opera cycle LICHT onwards. Interdisciplinary in approach and drawing on a number of recent studies of Stockhausen“s music, many of which are not otherwise available in English, the volume is a significant contribution to Stockhausen scholarship which—looking forward—provides new impetuses for the future understanding of his musical legacy.

walter-wolfgang sparrer wolke, march, 2020 pp.304 deustch, korean, english large format hardback, 32cm x 30, weight 1.7kgThis book is the first pictorial monograph about the Korean-German composer Isang Yun, who was born in southern Korea in 1917 and died in Berlin in 1995. It was first in Germany, with influence from what around 1960 was then the avant-garde that he developed an individual musical language of his own. A little later Yun was drawn into the field of tension between political advocacy motivated by humanitarian, societal concerns and responding to ideological incitement, between imprisonment, torture, and reparation. It was in his compositional work that he found a place of refuge. His music proceeds from the primacy of melody and the sustained tone, which he found preformed in the traditional music of his native Korea and then succeeded in developing heterophonically and spatially. The resultant works were characterized by unusual intensity and rich tone colors.

Deutsch und Englisch160 S./pp., Fotos, pb., € 28.–, The Hungarian-Swiss pianist Géza Anda (1921-1976), together with Annie Fischer, György Cziffra and György Sebök, is regarded as one of the most important personalities of 20th-century pianism to emerge from the great tradition of the Hungarian school. Anda’s interpretations of the Classical, Romantic and modern repertoire, especially of the piano concertos of Mozart and Bartók, have long been regarded as authoritative. As a teacher, he had a lasting impact on subsequent generations of pianists. The Concours Géza Anda, founded in Zurich in 1979, has achieved worldwide renown while successfully continuing Anda’s legacy as an artist and a pedagogue. This book, published by the Géza Anda Foundation in Zurich to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Géza Anda’s birth, offers a panorama of his life, work and legacy based on many biographical documents, some of which are presented here for the very first time.

author N.Andrew Walsh,  published Wolke, 2021 500pp, photos, paperbackThe phenomenon of “graphic” scores has been a subject of fascination, controversy, and a flourishing of artistic talent since its inception in the aftermath of the Second World War. The scores of that age, despite their compelling visual presence, nevertheless remain elusive: the means of performance are obscure, and they resist conventional analysis. This study reconsiders graphic scores from the perspective of Information Theory, derived from studies of “ergodic” texts: the ergodic score requires non-trivial effort from the participants in its realization, becoming a cybernetic object that challenges our beliefs about what music is, how it works, and where to find its meaning. The sounds of a musical performance are the field in which a larger metamorphosis takes place: like the labyrinth, the journey to the heart of ergodic scores entails both risk and transcendence. This study illuminates ergodic scores from their theoretical foundations: the abstract theory of how they work, the history of exemplary figures from the postwar avant-garde—including such luminaries of the art as Yoko Ono, Roman Haubenstock-Ramati, Anestis Logothetis, Pauline Oliveros, and John Cage—and concrete analysis of selected repertoire. Using pioneering theoretical insights—and with the benefit of original archival research, interviews with the artists themselves, and decades of experience as a composer and performer of graphic scores—the author establishes one of the great attainments of the twentieth century as a living art.

Omnibus Press, 2024, 432 pp"An oral history of the Scottish indie music scene from 1983 to 1995. By 1983, many of Scotland’s post-punk bands had broken up or moved south to chase the major labels in London. That vacuum was filled by an influx of young musicians who were determined to remake the scene in their own image. In this compelling and dynamic oral history, Grant McPhee chronicles the radical transformation of Scotland’s independent music scene from 1983-1995. Including archival photos and drawing from over 100 interviews with the key players of the time, Grant McPhee allows them to set the scene in their own words; including the Cocteau Twins, Shop Assistants, Teenage Fanclub, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Primal Scream and many more. Postcards from Scotland is the definitive story of the radicals, misfits and experimentalists who made independent music what it is today." “A truly deep dive. Like the best rock and roll, not everyone will get this. And thank God for that.” John Niven “This is a brilliant account of one of the most fruitful periods of Scotland’s musical heritage. The cast list is longer than Norman Blake’s hair circa 1992. Devour!” Marc Riley

August 2023, English/Portuguese19×31 cm, 216 pages, 43 color and 19 b/w ill., hardcover DESIGNStudio Remco van BladelCOPUBLISHERdocumentaExhibition catalogue of Pedro Neves Marques‘s solo project ‘Vampires in Space’ at the Portuguese Pavilion, 59th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia 2022. “In space it’s always night.” A family of vampires travels through space, carrying life to a faraway planet. Alone, they recall their past, offering an open-ended narrative about the role of fiction in our lives, with a special care for transgender experiences. This book includes an interview, film scripts and poetry by Neves Marques, curatorial texts by João Mourão, Luís Silva, alongside visual documentation and other contributions by Manuela Moscoso and Filipa Ramos.

published by Drawing Room, April 2024 Edition of 265, full colour 64 pages 280mm x 217mmThis publication accompanies the exhibition The Time of Our Lives and focuses on the pioneering drawing practices of women artists and their impact on feminist activism from the 1980s until today. It examines drawing’s versatility as a medium and the ways it has been used by women to raise consciousness around social and political issues, such as reproductive justice, sexism, racism and other forms of oppression. The publication features full-colour reproductions of the artworks in the exhibition by participating artists:  Sutapa Biswas, Sonia Boyce, Kate Davis, Margaret Harrison, Claudette Johnson, Jade de Montserrat, Lizzy Rose, Monica Ross and  Soheila Sokhanvari.

written by Douglas Macintyre & Grant Mcphee with Neil Cooper  Orion Publishing, 2022464pp  Hungry Beat is a definitive oral history of these labels and the Scottish post-punk period. Covering the period 1977-1984, the book begins with the Subway Sect and the Slits performance on the White Riot tour in Edinburgh and takes us through to Bob Last shepherding the Human League from experimental electronic artists on Fast Product to their triumphant number one single in the UK and USA, Don't You Want Me. Largely built on interviews for Grant McPhee's Big Gold Dream film with Last, Hilary Morrison, Paul Morley and members of The Human League, Scars, The Mekons, Fire Engines, Josef K, Aztec Camera, The Go-Betweens and The Bluebells, Hungry Beat offers a comprehensive overview of one of the most important periods of Scottish cultural output and the two labels that changed the landscape of British music.