A vocal journey through the language of zaum

Abstract

Coined by Russian mathematician and writer Velimir Khlebnikov, the term zaum means beyond mind. It is used to describe experiments in sound symbolism and linguistic creation stemming from Russian Cubo-Futurists of the early 1900s, including the work of poets Alexei Kruchenykh and Vasily Kamensky. This trans-rational language was born out of aesthetic ideas that epitomized a vision of a society to come, one based on the revolutionary fervour of the time. My argument concerns its relevance within a contemporary context of the twenty-first century, in which new aesthetic parameters are being created and defined. I shall develop this thesis by means of material taken from two of the above authors that threads its way through a series of performance projects based on my own practice as research. Questions on the role of zaum in interdisciplinary vocal studies will be outlined and then addressed throughout the course of this journey in a process of analysis from the perspective of my compositional ideas and methodologies. My aim is to reveal the existence of clear evolutionary links between what was essentially a voco-sonic invention and contemporary artistic practices of alterity, multiplicity and fragmentation.