the peyote dance

MUSIC SOUNDWALK COLLECTIVE with PATTI SMITH soundwalk collective’s stephan crasneanscki traveled to the cave in the sierra tarahumara mountains where french poet antonin artaud experienced the peyote ritual and conceived the book “the peyote dance.” crasneanscki recorded sounds of stones, sand, and plants, and mixed them with native instruments, capturing the sonic ambiance that artaud may have experienced under the influence of peyote. patti smith read, sang, and improvised on artaud’s texts, letting him speak through her and giving life to his trance- like experience, which long preceded the beat generation’s satori, or state of enlightenment. here, patti smith and stephan crasneanscki relive their creative process. STEPHAN CRASNEANSCKI — Antonin Artaud used to say that he had burned up 100,000 human lives already, from the strength of his pain. PATTI SMITH — The will of that man, the energy. If we, the living, send out radio and energy waves, the…