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THE NISNA
Dimidium totus
‘Being that as half is whole.’

lyrics

THE NISNA
‘Being that as half is whole.’

A simple case of addition by subtraction,
The Nisna is an unfinished dream: half-
thought, half-life, half-assed, half-cocked,
half-blood, half-breed, half-aware, half-
awake, and half-asleep.
A phantom limb.

DESCRIPTION:
A partial completion.
It leaves where it goes, destined for less.
Enough.

VOICE:
Drops off.

HABITAT:
Here & there. A beach in Borneo.

On an island in the Sea of Es-Seen is an eye;
half its tongue lies twisted in the sand.

Head, heart and hand are spread apart,
dropped or abandoned on the Bornean shore,

dead. With fragile agility, the splintered self
persists, hops on in the pitch: a single, limber

limb growing lighter at each step, and searching
for no other, better half. None of it is missing,

yet littered on the beach. Its trail following
the way of all flesh, its tail drags along

discarded sweetmeat. This being, far from cured,
is endowed with speech, can tell a tale:

“Saint Anthony of Padua, patron of amputees,
gave a famous sermon to fishes on the bank

of the Brenta River. Heretics never heard,
cuz their ears were alike. With vocal cords

of vanilla beans, burnt matches & tear jerky,
the word was made silver! O blessed tongue

that St. Bonaventure held in his tender hands
to kiss! Fish listened! The man married limbs!”

credits

from Necessary Monsters, released October 16, 2021
Music by Carla Kihlstedt
Words by Rafael Osés

The players:
Rafael Osés - spoken voice
Carla Kihlstedt - voice, violin, piano
Chris Fisher-Lochhead - viola
Theresa Wong - cello, piano
Nina Rolle - accordion
Cole Kamen-Greene - trumpet
Freddi Price - National resonator guitar
Jon Evans - electric bass, guitar
Michael Mellender - electric guitar
Matthias Bossi - drums

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about

Carla Kihlstedt image

Carla Kihlstedt Falmouth, Massachusetts

Make things. Brake things. Start from scratch. Scratch the surface. Let it bleed a braid of music, sound & words.

Bands:
Rabbit Rabbit Radio, Tin Hat, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, 2 Foot Yard, Minamo, Causing a Tiger

Composed for: ICEnsemble, ROVA, SFGirls Chorus, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Variant Six, inkBoat, Present Music

Faculty:
NEC Contemporary Improvisation Dept., VCFA MFA Music Comp Dept. ... more

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