Ok, I’ll faint ignorance on this one but is it enough for me to pass up this opportunity? No. For all of my life, I’ve never stepped inside the realm of Swarovski. From a distance I’ve seen their impeccably lit stores, full of impossibly well lit, spotless floors, salespersons decked out in formal attire, and impossibly shiny, bejeweled wares and thought: “Ah, that’s not for me”. Equal parts luxury and gaudiness, just taking a peek inside from the outside would make most swear off ever taking a step within. But like everything in life, not all things we judge from afar should remain so distant. Case in point: Daniel Goldberg’s outstanding background ambient music for Swarovski’s VIP Lounge, made in 2004, specifically to promote its “Out Of Africa” collection.
In 2004, Swarovski launched an Autumn-to-Winter collection of home decor and jewelry that took design inspiration from continental Africa. Wooden bowls, rhodium-plated metal boxes, and crystal animal figurines were some of the highlights. Handbags, bracelets, and key holders featuring giraffe skin patterns and amber, black and brown hues put their vision into apparel you can wear. Setting aside the somewhat ridiculously tone deaf plight of a huge multinational company commodifying the African experience into kitsch, Swarovski realized they needed something to soundtrack its collection when displayed in stores. Thankfully, the music itself was far from the original vision.
A diamond in the rough, as they say, it was saved from a stack of Swarovski-curated music CDs hoisted upon floor sales staff to listen to as they hawked the latest Swarovski creations, never intended to be sold or distributed outside of it. And now, thanks to one of these listeners, we can listen to Daniel Goldberg’s Out Of Africa (Swarovski Lounge Vol. 1) a double-disc set of contemplative fourth world ambient and ambience music that is far too good to be left in that kind of VIP section. According to them, who shall remain nameless, it was this CD that would instantly transform the store into something that was a more bearable place to work in — at least when it shuffled into rotation.
One disc, dubbed African Harmonies, contained around an hour of meticulously-created, African-tinged “lounge” music. The other dubbed African Ambience contained over an hour of environmental music that drew from African-continent field recordings and inspired electro-acoustic sound design. Joining both discs were “crystal”-themed sonics to keep the concept very much on brand.
Never released commercially, Out Of Africa (Vol. 1), appears to have been a commissioned work sent to one Daniel Goldberg, an ex-Argentinian modal jazz guitarist who had decamped to America for a while. Some of you might know him by his most notable work with Pino Marrone, 1983’s Metropolis. For a bit, Daniel was part of the same experimental Buenos Aires music scene that produced Gabriela and Pedro Aznar amongst others. Those would also be some of the hallmarks that would be brought to bare on Out Of Africa (Vol. 1).
“Music can convey emotions that reach us directly. Hardly any other art form is less assessed than it is more experienced.”
– Daniel Goldberg, Composer
The Swarovski Lounge is a collection of CDs with music for the sales floor, to contribute to a pleasant atmosphere in the shop.
Volume 1 is devoted to the theme collection Out Of Africa.
African Harmonies are gentle, expressive rhythms with African musical instruments (e.g. marimbaphone, kalimba, congas, shakers) and crystalline chimes (e.g. celesta, xylophone, triangle) that connect Africa with Swarovski.
African Ambience is a music piece featuring crickets, buffalo weaver, ground hornbill, etc., that creates an ambience.
Set the volume so that the sounds can just barely be heard.
– From Liner Notes to Out of Africa (Swarovski Lounge Vol. 1)
If I could think of a close analog to Daniel Goldberg’s work it would be to Kerry Leimer’s work in Land Of Look Behind. In both works we hear not entirely the music of the regions they took inspiration from but the atmosphere and sonic ideas of said areas. Standouts like “Elephant Dreams”, “Friends Waters”, and “Ride Through The Grey Valley”, ride that delicate balance of going beyond pastiche, to really use environmental sounds (elephants, primates, insects, etc.) as intricate material to weave into music that uses the instruments of Africa to create this other nebulous “chill” music.
A whole disc of “African Ambience” does actually sonically paint a picture of a world far from the confines of a Swarovski lounge. Taken as a whole it actually does make sense as a Swarovski product. It’s insane for me to say this: but now I kind of wish I could experience this whole meeting of mind, body, music and product under one roof. Kudos to Daniel for getting, at least, me there.