Lydfabet

  • sound montage · with Vagn Steen
  • 15′
  • 2006–09

The Lydfabet is a sound-poetry piece created in collaboration with the Danish poet Vagn Steen. A series of 29 vignettes each lasting 30 seconds. A journey through the Danish alphabet within a quarter of an hour.

A 1 , B 2 , C 3 , D 4 , E 5 , F 6 , G 7 , H 8 , I 9 , J 10 , K 11 , L 12 , M 13 , N 14 , O 15 , P 16 , Q 17 , R 18 , S 19 , T 20 , U 21 , V 22 , W 23 , X 24 , Y 25 , Z 26 ; Æ 27 , Ø 28 , Å 29

  1. (vi siger) A

    a-a-a

    afgjort

    andre

    absolut

    gabt

    man skal aldrig sige ALDRIG

    a-a-a

    ↩

  2. B i bide

    bed

    bedst

    b i byde

    bøffer til børn

    buldre

    bumle

    i båd med

    bårer

    b-b-b

    ↩

  3. C i cirka

    cerut

    centrum

    cyst

    C i Carl

    Christian

    Charles

    chat

    c-c-c

    ↩

  4. D som godt DUM

    DUM som en direktør

    DUM som en dommer

    DUM som Don Juan

    DUM som en digter

    dum dummere og DUMMEST

    dum dum

    dum dum

    d-d-d-d

    ↩

  5. e-e-e

    eeeeeeeeeeee

    vi finder fisk

    Erik Edith

    evig eros

    eeeeeeeeeeee

    e-e-e

    ↩

  6. lille fugl og fe

    fugl der fisker

    fugl der flyver

    fugl der fanger

    fugl der finder

    fugl der fugler

    fugl der føder

    og kommer først

    ↩

  7. G i gidder

    vi har gæld

    og guldfisk

    G i gal

    Grethe

    Gurli

    Gorm Gunnarsen

    og Glas og Glad og Glæde

    ↩

  8. vi siger H

    h-h-h

    huu hej Hekse

    hå-hå-hå hovsa

    hi-hii-hiiilsen

    hu-hu-hu Hulke

    hø-hø-hø høst

    hå-hå-hå-hånlig

    hy-hy-hy-hyyyleskægt

    hu hej vilde hyl

    h-h-h-h

    ↩

  9. iiiiiiii

    i i dirk

    pirk

    i Iris’ iris

    i i ivrig

    i Sidsel og Stine

    i tidsel

    og ilde og ild

    iiiiiiiiiii

    ↩

  10. J med JA

    JA-siger

    JA tak

    JA-snak

    JA-kabale

    JA JA

    JA

    JA JA

    ↩

  11. vi siger K

    k-k-k

    Kirsten sidder i Kulden

    of Kyser Katten ud

    hun siger Kåbe

    Kårde

    hun køber Kørvel

    og Kalder på Karl

    ↩

  12. vi siger L

    og holder tungen

    Lige i munden

    llllllllllllllllll

    Der er Lys og Lus

    der er Løbesod hos Lone

    der er lørdag og låneloft

    latteren er lammet

    lllllllllllllllll

    ↩

  13. vi siger M

    Og Emma

    vi siger MUUUU-UUU

    MÆÆÆÆÆH

    MIAUUUUU

    Vi ser en mandig martyr

    og en måbende moster

    i Møgeltønder

    mmmm

    ↩

  14. vi siger N

    nnnnnnnnn

    næ-næ-næ Niels

    nø-nø-nø Nanna

    nej nej Nynne

    naaa(r) Naaa(r) Normann

    nu nu NU-HANSEN

    ↩

  15. (vi siger) O

    ooooooooo

    Oh Ove

    Oh Olsen banden

    Oh Olivia

    Oh for en solo

    Oh la la

    Ole Bole gik i skole

    ↩

  16. vi siger P

    p-p-p

    p som pære

    p som post

    p som pive

    p som Puste

    p som PYT med det

    p-p-p

    ↩

  17. qu-qu-qu- quinde

    qu-qu-qu- quæde

    qu-qu-qu- qualer

    qu-qu-qu- quiz

    qu-qu-qu- quickstep

    qu-qu-qu- Q-8

    qu-qu-qu- sq (sgu)

    ↩

  18. rrrrrrrr

    r som rive

    riverasende

    riverosende

    riverød

    riverusten

    riverigtig

    rivegilde

    rivejern

    rrrrrrrrrr

    ↩

  19. ssssssssss

    S som Slange

    SlangeSug

    SlangeSøgen

    SlangeSpøgen

    SlangeBøsse

    SlangeSlang

    Slangebid

    ssssssssss

    ↩

  20. T som tak

    takketale

    takketorden

    takkelyn

    takketrick

    takketider

    takkelage

    T takker af

    ↩

  21. U som ud

    ud med ugler

    ud med ulve

    ud med udenrigsministeren

    ud med utøj

    ud med urkraft

    ud med ugeblade

    uuuud med uuuuuuuu

    ↩

  22. V som Vagn

    V som vej

    vej til Vildskab

    vej til Vipperød

    vej til Verden

    vej til Vandet

    vej til Virkeligheden

    ↩

  23. w i walkman

    w i wc

    w i weekend

    w i wigwam

    w i wok

    w i world wide web

    ↩

  24. X som ti

    XX tyve

    X som Xtra

    Xtra AXel

    Xtra faXe

    Xtra Xantippe

    Xtra straX

    xxx

    ↩

  25. y som yndig

    yndigt y

    yndigt n

    yndigt d

    yndigt i

    yndigt g

    yndefuldt ord

    yyyyyyyyyyy

    ↩

  26. z som zipzap

    zap til zar

    zip til zulu

    zap til Zoo

    Zip til Zink

    Zapzigzag

    ↩

  27. opdagelse

    oplevelse

    opfyldelse

    opstandelse

    opkaldelse

    opvældelse

    opførelse

    opgørelse

    optagelse

    opforstørrelse

    ↩

  28. øndigt y

    øndigt n

    øndigt d

    øndigt i

    øndigt g

    øndefuldt ord

    øøøøøøøø

    ↩

  29. Å som Århus

    Ålborg

    Horsens

    som overstyrlig

    overdådig

    orke

    snorke

    som

    Otto og Oscar

    å-å-ååååå

    ↩

Background

During 2005 I first discovered and found inspiration in the sheer joy and playful creativity in the works of the Danish poet and author Vagn Steen. During the sixties he was one of the first Danish poets to make use of a computer in composing a poem and in our digital age I have found some fascination in the hands on aspect of the cardboard punch cards that were used to program computers at the time.

punchcard

Many of his poems are structured by their (typo)graphic layout and I was wondering how these graphic poems might be presented through the medium of sound alone.

vagnsteen

The Lydfabet

With the idea that it might be interesting to record Vagn reading some of his poems and then use the recordings as the basis for a series of sound pieces I suggested that we use the alphabet as a means of ordering the large pile of poems available.

In the event Vagn ended up composing a new series of short poems based on each letter of the Danish alphabet. With the scheme of a poem a day for the month of April 2006 we began a daily ritual of recording and listening to the results. It soon became clear just how different the sound of the Danish language is from its written form and Vagn often returned to the writing board and made the appropriate adjustments or re-compositions. After this initial process of writing, reading, recording and listening I began to dissect and reassemble the sound files of the final poems in order to further bring out various aspects of the sound of each letter.

Lydfabet.CD

Structure:

The short poems which provided the point of departure for the Lydfabet are in their electronic extensions placed against a structural grid based on a numerological table which assigns a number to each letter of the alphabet:

1 = a i j q y

2 = b k r

3 = c g l s

4 = d m t

5 = e h n x

6 = u v w

7 = o z

8 = f p

This table has been used in assigning a tempo and time signature as well as reverberation/delay time to each letter.

Form:

The basic material was originally intended for use in semi-improvised live electronic performances and exists as a ‘set’ - put together with Ableton’s ‘Live’ software - which means that within the defined set structure there is freedom to improvise and shape the materials in various ways depending on mood and context.

The final form for the fixed recording found here is a series of 29 vignettes of 30 seconds each. A journey through the alphabet within a quarter of an hour.

PREMIERE

The Premiere of the Lydfabet at Møllegade’s Book Shop, Copenhagen, 23.05.09.

lydfabet-mbh1
lydfabet-mbh2
lydfabet-mbh3

eBOOK

Download the Lydfabet as an eBook for listening/viewing in iBooks on your iPhone/iPad or Mac.

(Other eBook readers should work too but haven’t been tested yet.)

MORE:

See some of Vagn’s poems in versions for the web by Christian
Yde Frostholm

Also take a look at some very inspiring examples of Swedish concrete poetry from CYF’s website: afsnit p.

For an interesting example of concrete poetry taking place at the other side of the world see South African Willem Boshoff’s KYKAFRIKAANS which has also recently been given an aural interpretation.

And to round it all off: one of my favourite visual representations of the alphabet on the web – Oliver Reichenstein’s iABC.