Fri 12/13 @ 7PM
Sun 12/15 @ 5:45PM
Phil Kline’s Unsilent Night debuted in 1992 when composer/sound artist Phil Kline, a native of the Akron area, wrote a piece of music to be played simultaneously by multiple people in the streets of Greenwich Village in New York, where he’s based. Originally each participant got an Mp3 (!), CD (!!) or cassette (!!!) of one of four pieces of music, to be played on a boombox (!!!!!!!) while walking around a selected space to create a “mobile sound sculpture.”
The event now takes place in more than 170 cities on five continents, where in some locations it attracts thousands of participants.
This year, there will be two chances to take part. The annual Cleveland Unsilent Night, gathering at the Gazebo in Tremont’s Lincoln Park, will take place on Friday December 13, while another will launch from Hometown Bank Plaza in downtown Kent on Saturday December 15.
Bring a boombox, if you even know what that is, or your smart phone and Bluetooth speakers (more likely), to play one of four parts of the music which you’ve downloaded in advance. Then start walking a pre-determined route. You’ll probably want to arrive at last 15 minutes before the events’ scheduled start time to get oriented. The walk starts exactly on time! In Kent they’ll have speakers set up on the plaza for those who aren’t participating in the walk to listen to, and at 5:45 you can meet Krampus and enjoy hot cocoa before the walk starts at 6pm.
Download the music here.
Cleveland, OH 44113
Kent, OH 44240