Monk: Northern Lights, Chinook

The multi-talented Meredith Monk's early works are primarily for solo voice, or voice and piano. Her wide-ranging vocal techniques blend American Indian styles with Balkan singing and other non-Western traditions. Her text is often repetitive – one work uses solely the word "meow" and another only "vacation"! In her 1973 work Our Lady of Late, Monk accompanied herself by playing a wine glass, taking a sip of wine between songs to alter the pitch of the drone.