Happy Birthday Pauline!

The 30th of March is an important day, marking the 80th birthday of Pauline Oliveros!

The birthday of a deeply inspirational person who has made unique music aross seven decades. Boundaries seem to have been irrelevant to Pauline. However, this is easy for me to say. To have followed your own vision so consistently is astonishing. I can only hope that I will be as true to myself as Pauline appears to have been to herself.

There are many eloquent tributes out there. I am not grandious enough to compete or repeat. All I will say is, that when the world comes crashing down on me, Pauline creates that space in my head where all of that external nonsense becomes irrelavent. Pauline creates that space where I remember (or realise) where my priorities lie.


These are (as the song goes) a few of my favourite things:

Pauline Oliveros - Four Electronic Pieces 1959-1966

2008 release on Sub Rosa which brings together compositions from between 1959 and 1966.


Four Electronic Pieces


Pauline Oliveros - Alien Bog / Beautiful Soop

Pogus Productions release from 1997 bringing together two compositions from 1996 and 1967.

Alien Soop

Pauline Oliveros - Electronic Works

1997 disc released on Paradigm Discs bringing together three compositions from '65 and '66 including the marvellous "Big Mother Is Watching You".

Electronic Works

Pauline Oliveros / Miya Masaoka - Accordion Koto

Collaboration released on Deep Listening in 2007.

Accordion Koto


Eleh / Pauline Oliveros - The Beauty Of The Steel Skeleton / Drifting Depths

LP released on Important Records in 2008.

Skeleton Depths


Pauline Oliveros, Roscoe Mitchell, John Tilbury, Wadada Leo Smith - Living It Up (Live In Bologna, 2011)

Live performance from the ANGELICA 21 Festival Internazionale di Musica.

Living It Up