Gilli Smyth
- Spoken word
- jazz rock
- space rock[1]
- Poet
- musician
- writer
Gillian Mary Smyth[2] (1 June 1933 – 22 August 2016) was an English musician best known for co-founding the psychedelic rock group Gong with her partner Daevid Allen in 1967. She also released music with spinoff groups Mother Gong and Planet Gong as well as releasing several solo albums and albums in collaboration with other members of Gong.[3] In Gong, she often performed under the name Shakti Yoni, contributing poems and vocals dubbed "space whispers".[4]
Biography
Smyth was born in London.[4] She studied at King's College London,[citation needed] (the liner notes for Voiceprint's 'Mother Gong' CD suggests 'London University') where she gained notoriety as the outspoken sub-editor of "Kings News", a college magazine. After a brief spell teaching at the Sorbonne (Paris) (where she became bilingual), she began doing performance poetry with well-known English jazz-rock group Soft Machine, founded by her partner and long-time collaborator, Daevid Allen, in 1968.[4]
She co-founded Gong with Allen, an outfit that included musicians such as Steve Hillage, Pierre Moerlen and Didier Malherbe. All of the songs on the albums Magick Brother and Continental Circus are listed as written or co-written by her. In her spoken-word poetry, especially within Gong's "Radio Gnome Invisible" Trilogy, she portrays a prostitute, a cat, a mother, a witch, and an old woman, and she was known for wearing costumes for these personas on stage.[4] This became part of a cult mythology, which was written into sixteen albums that the band recorded. Gong developed into a family of bands, including Gongmaison and Mother Gong. Mother, Smyth's 1978 solo album, led to her founding Mother Gong, having left the original band in 1975 to have children.[citation needed]
Mother Gong toured internationally in 1979-81 and 1989–91, either headlining or supporting such artists as Bob Dylan and Big Brother and the Holding Company. Smyth appeared as a solo performer and lecturer at the Starwood Festival from 1992-93. She did voice-overs for commercials, recorded audio books for children, as well as other books and poetry, gave workshops on voice projection and voice as a confidence-raiser, and also performed for many women's groups.[citation needed]
Death
She died in hospital in Byron Bay on 22 August 2016 at the age of 83 of pulmonary pneumonia.[5][6]
References
- ^ "Gilli Smyth: Mother – Album Review". Louder Than War. 8 June 2016. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
- ^ "BMI - Repertoire Search". Retrieved 23 August 2016.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Gilli Smyth". Users.swing.be. Archived from the original on 5 February 2012. Retrieved 31 March 2012.
- ^ a b c d "Gilli Smyth in the Gong Family Maze". Planet Gong. Archived from the original on 27 August 2016. Retrieved 28 August 2016.
- ^ "Gong co-founder Gilli Smyth dies, aged 83". The Guardian. 25 August 2016. Retrieved 21 September 2016.
- ^ "Gilli Smyth, 'Space Whisperer' – obituary". The Daily Telegraph. 29 August 2016. Retrieved 21 September 2016.
External links
- Official website
- Gilli Smyth at IMDb
- Gilli Smyth discography at Discogs
- Terrascope Interview 2007
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- Aiko
- Ron Anderson
- Cotton Casino
- Audrey Ginestet
- Haco
- Higashi Hiroshi
- Ichiraku Yoshimitsu
- Jyonson Tsu
- Kawabata Makoto
- Kitagawa Hao
- Koizumi Hajime
- Magic Aum Gigi
- Mai Mai
- Mano Kazuhiko
- Mitsuru Tabata
- Mori Kimiho
- Mani Neumeier
- Nao
- Okano Futoshi
- Oni
- Ono Ryoko
- Pika
- Satoshima Nani
- Shimura Koji
- Suhara Keizo
- Tabata Mitsuru
- Taigen Kawabe (Sawano Shozo)
- Tsuyama Akiko
- Tsuyama Atsushi
- Tsuchy
- Uki Eiji
- Wolf (S/T)
- Yasuda Hisashi
- Yoshida Tatsuya
- Daevid Allen
- Gilli Smyth
& the Melting Paraiso
U.F.O. cassettes
& the Melting Paraiso
U.F.O. studio albums
- Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O. (1997)
- Pataphisical Freak Out MU!! (1999)
- Wild Gals A Go-Go (1999)
- Troubadours from Another Heavenly World (2000)
- La Nòvia (2000)
- Absolutely Freak Out (Zap Your Mind!!) (2001)
- New Geocentric World of Acid Mothers Temple (2001)
- In C (2001)
- 41st Century Splendid Man (2002)
- Univers Zen ou de zéro à zéro (2002)
- Electric Heavyland (2002)
- St. Captain Freak Out & the Magic Bamboo Request (2002)
- Magical Power from Mars (2003)
- Hypnotic Liquid Machine from the Golden Utopia (2004)
- Mantra of Love (2004)
- The Penultimate Galactic Bordello Also the World You Made (2004)
- Does the Cosmic Shepherd Dream of Electric Tapirs? (2004)
- Minstrel in the Galaxy (2004)
- Close Encounters of the Mutants (2004)
- Have You Seen the Other Side of the Sky? (2006)
- Myth of the Love Electrique (2006)
- Crystal Rainbow Pyramid Under the Stars (2007)
- Nam Myo Ho Ren Ge Kyo (2007)
- Acid Motherly Love (2007)
- Recurring Dream and Apocalypse of Darkness (2008)
- Glorify Astrological Martyrdom (2008)
- Cometary Orbital Drive (2008)
- Interstellar Guru and Zero (2009)
- Lord of the Underground: Vishnu and the Magic Elixir (2009)
- Are We Experimental? (2009)
- Dark Side of the Black Moon: What Planet Are We On? (2009)
- In 0 to ∞ (2010)
- Pink Lady Lemonade ~ You're From Inner Space (2011)
- The Ripper at the Heaven's Gates of Dark (2011)
- Son of a Bitches Brew (2012)
- IAO Chant from the Melting Paraiso Underground Freak Out (2012)
- Cometary Orbital Drive to 2199 (2013)
- In Search of the Lost Divine Arc (2013)
- Astrorgasm from the Inner Space (2014)
- Benzaiten (2015)
- Wake to a New Dawn of Another Astro Era (2016)
- Those Who Came Never Before (2017)
- Wandering the Outer Space (2017)
- Either the Fragmented Body or the Reconstituted Soul (2018)
- Electric Dream Ecstasy (2018)
- Hallelujah Mystic Garden Part 1 (2018)
- Paralyzed Brain (2018)
- Sacred and Inviolable Phase Shift (2018)
- Reverse of Rebirth in Universe (2018)
- How Was the Decisive Moment Recorded? (2019)
- Hallelujah Mystic Garden Part Two (2019)
- Pink Lady Lemonade (Double Sweet Sucker Punch) (2020)
- Reverse of Rebirth Reprise (2020)
- Chosen Star Child's Confession (2020)
- Voices from Ghostwood (2020)
- Zero Diver or Puroto Guru (2021)
- Demi-Demonaic Daemoog (2022)
& the Melting Paraiso
U.F.O. compilation albums
- Acid Motherhood (2004)
- Acid Mothers Gong Live Tokyo (2006)
The Cosmic Inferno
The Pink Ladies Blues
- Psychedelic Navigator (2007)
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