Friend - for EXAUDI by AbelMGE published on 2020-02-11T20:39:49Z Performed by EXAUDI vocal ensemble. Conducted by James Weeks. Friend sets a text of the same name by Ryûsei Hasegawa (Eng. Tr. Hiroaki Sato) and random reorderings of its word content. We hear these reorderings delivered in a variety of modes (e.g. speech, recitation) against the text presented in the correct order, which is sung. In this way we hear multiple alternate versions of the piece presented simultaneously. The poem 'Friend' by Ryûsei Hasegawa originally appeared in BOMB magazine, issue 16, summer 1986. Used by permission. All rights reserved. © Bomb Magazine, New Art Publications, and its Contributors. Friend I. Birds that don’t call are perched on every branch, their single-layer eyelids wide open. Beyond the great sea of leafage that wordlessly falls along with the weak, the warmth of ash. Send my friend ahead who doesn’t know how to vocalize his thoughts, send my friend ahead who doesn’t awaken on the morning he gets torn apart, a friend’s ethics is such as this. Shove the {other} [superior] one off the cliff. II. … Friend who turns back, walks back, the abyss of death is in the direction in which you’re walking back. In the pool of fading sun I kill my friend.