Eduard de Boer: Homage to Julian Assange, for brassband, Op. 104 (2024) скачать в хорошем качестве

Eduard de Boer: Homage to Julian Assange, for brassband, Op. 104 (2024)

For more information about this composition, see: https://www.eduarddeboer.org/homage-t.... At the time this composition began to take shape, Assange had been in solitary confinement in His Majesty’s Prison Belmarsh, near London, for five years, 23 hours a day all alone, even though he had not been formally convicted of anything. He had only been charged with alleged “crimes” such as disclosing “sensitive material”. I read the book 'Guilty Of Journalism, The Political Case Against Julian Assange' by Kevin Gosztola, as well as the 2011 'Unauthorized Biography' on Assange. This material, supplemented by various videos and articles that can be found on the Internet, gave me the idea of writing a composition consisting of a theme, followed by a number of short “variations” of sorts, concluding with a fugue. I decided to write the work for brass band. The result has become a composition consisting of eleven short interlocking movements, each highlighting a facet of Assange’s life and work, and centering on an idée-fixe motif derived from the letters of the word ASSANGE. The various movements culminate in a fugue, in which motifs from preceding movements return. An overview: 00:00 I. Youth. The theme presented here, which is the starting point for variations that follow, is based on the Australian folk song 'The Overlander'. About 'Overlanding', the following can be found on Wikipedia: Historically, “overlanding” is an Australian term to denote the droving of livestock over very long distances to open up new country or to take livestock to market far from grazing grounds. And, a little further on in the article: Overlanding (…) is getting ever more popular, (…) with routes crossing some intensely difficult terrain. 01:39 II. A ‘Family’ Member. Little is known about the period of Assange's life from age 8 to 16. According to the Unauthorised Biography, during this time, he and his mother lived as refugees and were forced to move again and again: ‘My mother became involved with a person (...) of the Anne Hamilton-Byrne cult in Australia, and we kept getting tracked down (...) and having to leave very quickly to a new city (...)’, until the 16-year-old Assange finally confronts the pursuer and summons him ‘to fuck off.’ Other sources tell different stories. Be that as it may, it seems to be a time when the aforementioned cult, called The Family, played an important and somewhat dark role. 03:05 III. Hacktivism. As a teenager, Assange develops a fondness for the fairy tale world of computers and learns the art of hacking. With a musical nod to an ancient Microsoft Windows Startup Sound. 04:22 IV. Collateral Murder. A musical painting of what is seen in the video that brought Assange and WikiLeaks worldwide fame: an incident in which U.S. soldiers in Iraq shoot unarmed civilians, including children, from a helicopter, acting as if they were engaged in a computer game. Central to this movement is the Iraqi national anthem Gulli Ya Hilu: 'Tell me, oh sweet one, where did God take you from, in order to put you onto my path? The wound in my heart has been stored with your torture deep inside it.' 07:06 V. Wanted. The U.S. government accuses Assange of disclosing secret “sensitive” information. Accompanied by sounds from the Battle Hymn of the Republic, he is hunted down in London. Sweden (the music now features the Swedish national anthem) joins the manhunt, due to charges of (alleged) rape. Then England (God Save the Queen) also joins the manhunt. But then, just in time, looms the building of the Ecuadorian embassy, rendered in the music as Ecuador’s national anthem. 08:12 VI. Contained. The beginning of a period in which Assange is locked up; a period that will turn out to last 14 years. 09:57 VII. A Tent in an Embassy. In the building of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, Assange and his girlfriend and later wife Stella experience romantic moments. When inside a tent, you can imagine that the tent is outside in the wild. 11:20 VIII. Solitude. The government of Ecuador prohibits Assange from receiving any more visitors. Even Stella and his children (conceived in the embassy) are no longer allowed to visit him. 13:05 IX. Arrest. A short while later, the Ecuadorian government denies Assange access to their embassy, whereupon he is arrested. 13:23 X. Isolation. In intensified form, his isolation is now continued in the “Hell Wing” of His Majesty’s Prison Belmarsh near London. Here he will spend five years in an isolation cell, 23 hours a day all alone. 15:35 XI. Finale: Breaking Free. Starting from the nothingness with which the previous part ended, there is a build-up to a big, positive climax, underscoring that the sacrifice Assange has made has not been in vain, and that justice will always prevail in the end.