Simon Wickham-Smith

Simon Wickhamsmith
Background information
Birth name Simon Wickham-Smith
Born (1968-02-02)February 2, 1968
Origin Rustington, England, United Kingdom
Genres Experimental, digital,
Occupation(s) Musician, translator, academic
Instruments Vocals, computer, various
Years active 1987–present
Labels Disposable Thumb, Pogus, Tape Drift VHF Records
Website www.wickhamsmith.net

Simon Wickham-Smith (born Rustington, East Sussex, 2 February 1968) is a British musician, translator, academic and sometime astrologer. He first came to the attention of the experimental music underground with the release of Lake, a collaboration with Richard Youngs issued under the moniker R!!!S!!!. He and Youngs would go on to make many more albums including Ceaucescu, Pulse Of The Rooster and Metallic Sonatas for labels such as Forced Exposure, Majora and VHF. He has also released a handful of solo albums, including Love & Lamentation.[1] He is an occasional member of the Helsinki Computer Orchestra, an indication of his move towards computer-based music during the late '90s and early part of this decade. A new collaboration with Richard Youngs was released in 2006, the product of a five-year plan in which the duo recorded just 10 minutes of music each year. The album was titled 5 Years.

In 2006, with Pekka Kumpulainen, Wickham-Smith began the Inari Festival of Experimental Music (iFEM) in northern Finland. This small scale musical festival is thought to be the world's most northerly music festival.

In addition to his musical activities, Wickham-Smith is a member of the Association of Professional Astrologers and, since 1998 has been researching the astrology of transgender and intersex people. He intends to publish a book on this subject.

In the early 1990s, while living in Davis, California, Wickham-Smith began studying Tibetan and Mongolian as a hobby. Towards the end of that decade, he decided to concentrate on Mongolian literature, and although without an academic degree in this field embarked upon a translation into English of the complete poetry of Danzanravjaa, the fifth Noyon Khutughtu of the Gobi (1803–1856), which was published in 2006. In 2005 he spent several months in Leipzig, Germany at the department of Central Asian Studies to publish a book about Tibetan folk Tales with the help of students. He has since published translations of many works of contemporary Mongolian literature, including Golden Hill (Altan Ovoo) by Mend-Ooyo Gombojav[2] and The River Flows Gently (Gol Us Namuuhan Ursana) by O Dashbalbar.

In addition to these translations, Wickham-Smith is the international director of two Mongolian cultural organisations, the Mongolian Academy of Poetry and Culture and the Danzanravjaa Foundation, and a co-director of the Orchuulga Foundation, an organisation dedicated to the translation of Mongolian literature and the Center for Central Asian Literatures in Translation. He received his PhD from the University of Washington in Seattle (dissertation topic: "The Interrelationship of Humans with their Environment in G.Mend-Ooyo's 'Altan Ovoo'", supervised by Professor Ilse Cirtautas).

He was also for some years a Tibetan Buddhist monk and has extensively researched the life and work of Tshangyang Gyatso, the sixth Dalai Lama (1683-1706/46).

In 2008, he was one of eight recipients of the PEN Translation Fund Grant from PEN American Center for his translation of the work of O Dashbalbar, and was recognised as a Leading Cultural Worker (Soyolin Terguuni Ajiltan) by the Government of Mongolia for his translation work.

He is currently a lecturer at Rutgers University in New Jersey, USA.

Recordings

Recordings of Simon Wickham-Smith's music can be purchased from, among others,

- Frog Peak (A Composer's Collective)

Discography

Vinyl

10"

LP

DNA

Bibliography

Articles

Translations

Tibetan:

Mongolian:

2006

2007

2008

References

  1. ↑ Cianciotta, Aurelio (10 November 2008). "Simon Wickham-Smith Love & Lamentation". Neural.it. Retrieved 30 August 2011.
  2. ↑ "New translations of books to provide greater understanding of Mongolia for English readers". Mongolia Web News. 8 May 2007. Retrieved 30 August 2011.
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