Powerful Christmas Greeting from Lynn Coull in South Africa.

Lengthy dogwalk this morning down to the river followed by a bout of Christmas shopping. I decided to mark the violence of the the second Temple Period � the period of Judaism into which the nativity fell - by getting battle DVDs for some family members � Stalingrad and Agincourt � from HMV.

Then big test was in la Senza � one f-m had suggested that I try there for to match certain present request and two other family members suggested I didn�t have the bottle. I found the best way to tackle the existential challenge was to prepare myself in advance in HMV with Undercurrents � the Hidden Wiring of Modern Music � a set of essays published by the Wire. (Since going to L-ton I have been Wire-deprived). So whilst I queued in la Senza to pay for the selected item I could focus my attention on the following passage without worrying where else to rest my gaze:

�Edgar Varese praised the jazz band as a tiger. To his ears the symphony orchestra was a dropsical elephant. Density 21.5 composed in 1936 anticipated the advanced techniques published by Bartolozzi in the mid 1960s. The piece implies an unfamiliar freedom � a continuation of the potentiality unlocked by Debussy in 1913 by Syrinx evoking the randomness of reeds sounded by the wind.

(Toru Takemitsu wrote in 1971 � Now we can see how the master shakuti player striving in performance to recreate the sound of the wind in the bamboo grove reveals the Japanese sound ideal: sound in its ultimate expressiveness, being constantly refined approaches the nothingness of the wind in the bamboo grove.)

Varese�s solo is full of tension and uncertainty, sudden stops and abrupt leaps shrill high pitches and labyrinthine structure. After composing this piece he devoted ten years to unrealised projects searching for further advances that would express any thought at the speed of thought.�

In fact that ten year period ends at the time where he begins to hang out with the Abstract Expressionists and the New York School composers. (Syrinx was written at a point of transition in Debussy� style.)

There is also a chapter in the Hidden Wiring on the history of free jazz in the NYC between the 1960s (Ayler, Trane, Coleman, Taylor) and the present. There was a nadir in the early 1980s as interest switched to the neo-conservatism of New Orleans but the resurgence was assisted by a variety of factors � the emergence of John Zorn, the formation of the Knitting Factory, the vision of Sonic Youth and the realisation that hardcore rock, avantrock and free jazz shared agendas which met at certain points � the continued exploration of the sonic possibilities of the electric guitar. The author stresses that even in NYC the scene is comparatively small and an album that sells 5000 copies does extraordinarily well.

Of course once can�t resist charting ones own interests and experience against this � say from hearing Chris Macgregor and Archie Shepp in the Autumn of 1967 through experiments in the next three years with matching freer jazz and rock. By 1974 we had gone neo-classical � a stance which was gradually disrupted by electronica. Mick Beck made a big impact when I meet him again in the mid 1990s - as an example of someone who kept faith in the UK with the free agenda of the 1960s. I was telling Paul W last week how to concentrate on Mick�s music I had to think in images. The Dhorn is the another major factor � odd that I acquired it in Tokyo in pursuit of a traditional Japanese flute.

Another chapter in the Wiring looks at the use of drone techniques and concludes that of all the different approaches the LmY circle of collaborators have got furthest because their practice was linked to the richest theory.

It seems the VU demos I listened to yesterday do come smack between the Dream Syndicate � in April 65 Cale and Maclise are playing drone music with with LmY � and the first VU gig in November at the Summit High School with Cale Morrison Tucker and Reed. This is before the team up with Warhol and Nico and do the Exploding Plastic Inevitable.

Writing this I am listening through again to the CD which will make its way to Gilbert next year. There are three pieces with Fifths drones trying to recapture the LmY timbres but in a way which has more harmonic drama. Mark�s development has a heavy rock rhythm , Robin�s uses this rhythm in places but has female and child voice timbres and the third has a kind of hard bop Spanish guitar from Gilbert around some piano interjections from P Boulez. The idea that comes out reading the Wire essays is the viability of configuring these there pieces as a set. At the next level up you can point to Wollheim�s ideas on the relationships between art objects and text and context.

In addition � on the CD - there are four stylistically varied pieces � the long version of BBC 500, the piece based on the unrecorded Reich tune from 64-65 and a piece with acid jazz rhythms, variable drone and quite hard-edged dialogue between Dhorn and heavy jazzrock rhythm guitar. These three each having Gilbert on them playing in different ways. Finally there is a piece which has shifted in a chromatic direction from early John Adams � and is a kind of companion piece to Dayindayout . Both of these two are conceived as imaginary musical gatherings in a NYC loft � with people from different traditions and perspectives seeking common ground � this especially true of Dayindayout where Minimalism as overt form rubs up against each of drone, Brill Building pop and free jazz.

Normally at this time of year I am producing stuff like fury but instead I am reflecting on the sounds and thinking about meta-narrative. You might think that the m-n is solely after the event but I think it may influence how one groups things � whether they get developed and what one choses to work on next.

Robert preached a short sharp to the point sermon at the midnight service � acknowledging that most people feel a lack of anything related to lightness or resolution but describing recent moments when he was able to envision a difference.

Anyway here's a Christmas story: .

" South Africa has received a R160-million Christmas gift from Oprah Winfrey. She will have distributed her message of hope and about R70 million worth of gifts to 50 000 South African children by the time the dust settles on Sunday on the children's Christmas party she is co-hosting with Nelson Mandela at his home in Qunu. On top of this, her Oprah Winfrey Foundation has committed R90-million to the erection and maintenance of an Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in Gauteng. What was initially conceived by Oprah Winfrey as an opportunity to spread Christmas cheer among poor children in South Africa has developed over the past three weeks into a long-term commitment to raise international awareness of the plight of Aids orphans. 'The orphans will change the face of this country and the continent' "I don't know where it will end up," Winfrey said in an exclusive interview for Independent Newspapers. "I originally came with the idea of giving gifts, but the very first day here (she hosted a children's party at the Expo Centre in Joburg) was a life changing day for me." In 20 gruelling days, Winfrey has hosted 12 ChristmasKindness parties for 63 schools in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape, she has hosted parties at orphanages and for orphans, visited hospitals and came face to face with the poverty and squalor in which so many South Africans still live. "Before I came I didn't know where this would lead, but that first day's experience with children from the orphanages and clinics, many of them with HIV/Aids, made me realise there was a higher calling for me. "Ultimately, my work here will involve helping to create stability for the orphans, and for girls. What went on there was far bigger than anything I've ever done." Winfrey said she had been thrilled by the spirit of South Africa's youth and angered by the non-availability of antiretroviral drugs in public hospitals, but what struck her most, she said, was the number of children denied the opportunity to be children because of the death of their parents. 'I have a very strong connection to Madiba' "What happens to a generation of children left to fend for themselves? Unless someone does something now the orphans will change the face of this country and the continent," she said. "When we go home next week and begin to download this experience, it is my intention to work out how best to use my name, my resources and access to other resources to benefit the crisis of orphans in this country," Winfrey said. She will have distributed her message of hope and about R70-million worth of gifts to 50 000 South African children by the time the dust settles tomorrow on the children's Christmas party she is co-hosting with Nelson Mandela at his home in Qunu. Winfrey said her decision to visit and share her wealth and knowledge with SA was because of her historic identification with the anti-apartheid struggle, her friendship with Nelson Mandela and her love for the country which she has visited twice before. She originally broached the idea of doing something special in SA with the former president in New York earlier this year. Mandela linked her up with his Nelson Mandela Foundation, which helped put the trip together. Winfrey said: "I have a very strong connection to Madiba. He is my greatest living mentor. It is one of the great honours of my life to spend time with him. I gain strength from his strength. The idea for this entire initiative was inspired by the parties he hosts every year at his home."