as it came into my little attic

CD Between Music and Ritual. - Music Information Centre Lithuania, MICL CD111, 2021

The work of DOMINYKAS DIGIMAS (b.1993) displays conspicuous influences of Eastern music and American minimalism, as well as his keen interest in literature and philosophy. For his piece as it came into my little attic (2019), he used a fragment from the memoir, or diary, I had nowhere to go (1991) by Jonas Mekas (1922-2019). In this fragment, Mekas – one of the most famous Lithuanian artists who settled in the United States in 1949 and lived there until his death, earning widespread renown as “the godfather of American avant-garde cinema” – speaks about his relationship and experience with music as a once-active musician (he stopped playing the violin because his family mocked him, calling him Paganini). The composer explained that “this story prompts us to think about the extent to which we are able to resist the feeling of being constantly judged by others, to respond to it and adapt to it, without losing anything important.” In the recording part, Mekas’ text is recited by Yiorgis Sakellariou, a Greek composer and sound artist currently living in Lithuania, while the emotional backdrop of this narrative is further reinforced by a minimalist piano part.

Vítězslav Mikeš