Stoane Psuupe exists as a revolving ensemble with a central core, much as in the legend of 'stone soup' wherein the flavour is determined by what the village contributes. (In brief; the basic story has three wandering monks, or trickster/thieves, coming to a poor village where everyone is unwilling to trust each other in fear of losing what little they have. The monks eventually get each villager
to contribute a little of what they have and so everyone ends up with more than they began with.) But, there must still be certain essentials; cauldron, water and fire.The stone is the ineffable, the abstract quality of mystery and the unknown which is central to both soup and song.There are always two or three members of Stoane Psuupe at each session but there must be at least one new or revolving person present to help prevent complacency. This keeps Stoane Psuupe from becoming too familiar with each others styles and thusly attempting to predict or control the musickal direction. This keeps the musick true to the moment in which it was created. Stoane Psuupe exists primarily to create sonic worldes, aural landscapes, places for listener and player to explore. 85% to 95% of its output is, or should be, spontaneous. It is grounded in the aesthetics of free-improvisation, wherein the players are working beyond the parameters of training; ever reaching for a purity of musick unconfined by notation and ego. A free musick played for the joy and ecstasy of creation, not bound by convention, unconcerned with the need to impress. Elements of sublime beauty may occur in the playing of the members, as in a solo, but this is not the basis of the musickal journey. The players must put their All into the creation of the musickal worldes without letting pride intrude. Much as in a jigsaw puzzle it is the overall effect that is paramount. Ultimately, the playing of musick should never intrude on the musick being played. The trick is to harness one's skills and equipment to the moment, not to one's conception of the moment. Expectation and desire are the handmaidens of disaster in the musick of the Free. In this arte of creation there is not always success (often, actually) but that is not the point. It is not for results that life grows, it is for the act of being. All this being said, Stoane Psuupe is not a free-improv group in the traditional sense. Much of the spontaneous improvisation tends to have the aroma and spices associated with psychedelic musick, or more precisely psychotropic realms, i.e. affecting the mental state through musickal means. Both free-improv and psychotropic musick require much from the listener. Neither is a passive musick and without active listeners and players making the connections there is an appearance of chaos. With engaged, active listening there is created a higher, subtler universal order. Another way Stoane Psuupe differs from traditional free-improv (if such a thing exists)is the willingness to play in the realm of structure. Upon occasion someone will spontaneously begin a song and the group may join in. More often than not the song will be transformed in the 'psuupe-pot' or may become a mere point of departure, or weigh station, in the larger musickal journey. We also may take a previous 'open jamm' and remold it into a psuedo-song form. These structures must remain open to expansion so as not to become stuck in a rigid arrangement. All of this is but a small portion of the group's output, the majority (85% -95%) as previously mentioned, of Stoane Psuupes musick remains in the moment. TO SUMMARIZE 1) Someone (semi-) new present. 2) No overdubs. 3) Without expectations or ego. 4) Primarily spontaneous.
