Brian Eno: The original conception of Ambient music

Eno was interviewed in June, 2011 by Riz Khan on his show, "One on One." The full interview (25 min) can be seen on the Al Jazeera website: www.aljazeera.com/programmes/o...
“Yes, that was another very important full stop for me, actually. In fact, that was the most valuable one, because a particular incident happened while I was convalescing. (That's when I got this scar, actually, from that accident.) A friend of mine came over to see me, and I was confined to bed, I couldn’t move. But as she left she said, ‘Shall I put a record on?’ And I said please. And she put a record on, and then left. The record was much too quiet. But I couldn’t reach to turn it up. And it was raining outside, and so - it was a record of 18th century harp music, I remember. And so I lay there at first kind of frustrated by this situation. But then I started listening to the rain, and listening to these odd notes of the harp that were just loud enough to be heard above the rain. And this was a great musical experience for me, and I suddenly thought of this idea of making music that didn’t impose itself on your space in the same way, but created a sort of landscape that you could belong to, you could be part of. And this, I called this - I pompously gave it a new name, which I called ‘ambient music.’ And it became - something I no longer recognize.”

[@laurencegoldman4639]

Exactly. Brilliant. How does natural sound hit the body? It’s never invasive. Even loud birds. Or rain. The body naturally receives these sounds in openness without having to defend. It relaxes. It has to do with spacing and timber. “Regular” music is INVASIVE. It’s some human’s idea: listen to me, listen to what I’ve done. Even the stuff you love. Drums are especially annoying to me. It’s impossible for me to stay open in the total space and listen to music at the same time. Until Brian Eno. The looped sounds arise the way nature arises. It’s amazing. And he hardly DID anything. What’s weird is that nobody else’s so-called “ambient music” does the thing (as far as I’ve heard so-far). Because they’re “making” ambient music. Brian Eno is not. He’s doing something ENTIRELY DIFFERENT.

[@DwigtArmyOfChampions]

Has anybody been able to identify the album of 18th century harp music that Brian Eno was listening to when he thought of the idea for ambient music?

[@scruffyp9480]

Wow that perfectly described the sound of his music. What a moment that must have been.

[@haroldofcardboard]

MOMENT - minimilism ... perfect!

[@pengefikseret]

Eno likes to go where "no one has gone before" apparently. It just seems to me that every "new" thing he has ever done, had already been done by the so called "krautrock" musicians in Germany. Think about. Bands like Popol Vuh and Tangerine Dream were making ambient electronic music way before he released ambient one, Holger Czukay was doing samples of ethnic music before "my life in the bush of ghosts" and Can were doing the sort of ambient "studio as an instrument" rock before "Another Green World" was released. I am not saying he is uninterresting, but i dont think he is as "innovative" as many people claim. And i wonder why he never mentions the krautrockers in interviews, i mean, he did live and record with Harmonia and Cluster for a while. But sure it sounds cooler to be inspired by "the rain and barely audible harp music"

[@ronroffel1462]

Sigh, another commenter who wants to 'one up' the subject of this interview by claiming others were there before him. That may be true to an extent, but he has done things his own way and will remain an innovator in the arts long after the German krautrock acts are forgotten.

[@krisscanlon4051]

Indeed Eno very familiar with Czukay/Can's work. I think Eno gave it a different platform...really never dove completely into Krautrock perhaps compromise and call it Eurorock? Krautrock will be around as long as Eno both and are rather niche-y.

[@MikeUIibarri]

His story continues to be a long one. Long may you ride, Sir!

[@limesquared]

Satie+ George Winston+Tangerine Dream+Philip Glass+Brian Eno

[@Ashes2Ashes_Blush2Blush]

Amazing Its amazing how God gives us these hardships but great minds always create something out of them

[@Scriabinfan593]

What about lesser minds? It's not amazing that God gives us hardship, I never asked God to be born and he's giving me hardships for not reason. And I'm a lesser mind so I won't be able to make anything out of those hardships.

[@derawaqe3597]

sounded familiar..... "In his own words, [Erik] Satie sought to create "a music...which will be part of the noises of the environment, will take them into consideration. I think of it as melodious, softening the noises of the knives and forks at dinner, not dominating them, not imposing itself. It would fill up those heavy silences that sometime fall between friends dining together. It would spare them the trouble of paying attention to their own banal remarks. And at the same time it would neutralize the street noises which so indiscreetly enter into the play of conversation. To make such music would be to respond to a need." [Wikipedia: Ambient music]

[@liaisons6227]

Yes! Satie's musique d'ameublement (furniture)!

[@0reminescente0]

Hi can someone put down a transcription from 00:26"a particular accident happened..." till the end of interview? I can't get all the words and I need to write it down without mistakes....thank you

[@davidgoodman6663]

Fatal accident, an interview from beyond the grave lol.

[@0reminescente0]

..a particular accident happened while a was ..(?) the ..(?) that’s how I got the scar actually from that accident. A friend of mine came over to see me and I was confined to bed and I couldn’t move and, as she left, she said: “Shall I put a record on?” and I said: “Please..” She put the record on and than left. The record was much too quite but I couldn’t reach it to turn it up and it was raining outside so… was a record of 80’s(?) pop(?) music(?) and…so I lay (it) there ..(?) kind of frustrated by this situation but than I started listening to the rain, listening to the..these all ..(?) notes of the heart (bit) that was just loud enough to be heard above the rain and this was a great musical experience to me and I suddenly thougth of this idea of making music that didn’t impose it self on your space in the same way but creating a sort of landscape that you could belong to, you could be part of and this, I called this..I..(?) this new name which I called ambient music..and became something that I don’t longer recognise… Can someone help me to fill the gap and correct possible mistakes?... bless

[@0reminescente0]

+Nico Pareidolia 18th century harp music....the rest?

[@0reminescente0]

thanks ;-)

[@axenicely]

+Nico Pareidolia - Thanks for doing that work. I completed your transcription and added it to the video description.