I came across a copy of Charles Spearin’s Happiness Project today and feel so much richer for it. Spearin, founding member of Do Make Say Think & member of Broken Social Scene has put together an album based around the melodies of everyday conversation. For this, his first solo project, Spearin recorded interviews with people in his neighbourhood (including his own daughter) on the subject of happiness and then set about writing music to match the cadence of the voice; cadence and vocal inflection driving the creation of the music. The result, Spearin describes as neighbourhood melodies… the natural, unselfconscious music of speech.
As a poet, this concept really drew me in, as this is something we explore (or should) in the creation of every poem… the music words make when spoken. This is a truly unique spoken word album and one well worth delving into. Get all the news here at The Happiness Project.
Another Lost Shark 
That is such a cool project – the music of speech. I often think of it in relation to accents such as the Nordic languages (and my frustration with Australian speech) and the strange prosody that some kids with autism exhibit. And the topic of happiness is great. Thanks for the link.
My pleasure Gabrielle. It is a CD well worth getting your hands/ears on… and happiness is such an overlooked concept at times.
Wow those Canadians, eh? But gah! _please_ can we call this something other than “spoken word” which is so fraught with preconceived ideas. Can we come up with a new word?
You know to avoid (hilarious) conceptions like this?!:
hi jacqueline! great question… so great in fact I had to blog about it. look forward to your response. g
nice one, graham. sweet lil thing going on there. many thanks for spreading the love around…m
my pleasure matto… projects like these need to be championed!