The Sonic Weapon of Vladimir Gavreau Source: Borderland Sciences Research Foundation,
Inc. HE listened and closed his eyes as the rolling waves of
sound poured over and through his being. Thrilling, intoxicating, the
hysteria of heaven, the enthralled and frightening flight of angels.
Electrifying. Messaien's organ music signalled messages of meaning,
titanic foghorns ululating among dimly perceived near-worlds. Olivier
Messaien, master composer of musical expressionism, used the ground
thrumming tones of great Parisian cathedral organs to evoke sensations
which may only be called otherworldly. Masterfully macabre. Black
foundations, blue pillars, and rainbow ceilings.
Sound, rhythm, and space. Ultra-chromatic chord frames,
rising like rock walls from the black depths. And immense stellar
crystallizations, radiating tonal perfumes through deep and black
radiant space. Lovely and lyrically swooping melodies, the flight of
birds through delicate limbs. And melodic lines, reaching up toward
unknown depths of space, each had their foundation in ultrabass tones
of rooted depth. The basso profunda of Messaien are the critical
foundations, the strong vertical pillars of an immense architecture
which extends beyond performance walls. He scoured the deep and
unreachable roots of worlds to hold his musical cathedrals together.
Such majesty and grandeur of sound! Rich in the intelligence which
flooded and made the world, the musical currents and the atmosphere of
tones. Fluidic music and meaning.
The most fundamental signals which permeate this world
are inaudible. They not only surpass our hearing, but they undergird
our being. Natural infrasounds rumble through experience daily. There
manifestations are fortunately infrequent and incoherent. Infrasound
is inaudible to human hearing, being of pitch below 15 cycles per
second. The bottom human limit. The plynth. The foundation. Infrasound
is not heard, it is felt. Infrasound holds a terrible secret in its
silent roar.
Infrasound produces varied physiological sensations
which begin as vague "irritations". At certain pitch, infrasound
produces physical pressure. At specific low intensity, fear and
disorientation. Nazi propaganda engineers methodically used infrasound
to stir up the hostilities of crowds who were gathered to hear their
madman. The results are historical nightmares.
At a very specific pitch, infrasound explodes matter. At
others, infrasound incapacitates and kills. Organisms rupture in its
blast. Sea creatures use this power to stun and kill prey.
The swelling bass tones of the cathedral seem as though
they can burst the very pillars which uphold the ancient vaults.
Stained glass windows have been known to erupt in a shower of colored
fragments from the organ's basso profunda. Impulsed ultrabass
tones...thunder. Somewhere in the almost inaudible roll of these
basement sounds there was a devastating and fearful power.
THE ABYSS
The Cold War was on. The United States alone held the
dread secret. The most terrible weapon yet developed was the private
property of one government. The mere existence of the atomic bomb was
threat to nations whose motives were not entirely altruistic.
Motivated, aggressive, and imperialistic, obtaining atomic bomb data
was a priority for several nations. The only manner in which some
nations obtained the secret was by stealing it. When Stalin's science
officers finally developed an atomic duplicate of the American bomb,
pressure suddenly was placed upon every other European nation to
achieve an equivalent or better device.
When one seeks to defend one's borders, the consequences
of releasing weapons of devastation to the world do not seem
important. Weaponry is death-oriented by nature. But there are moral
differences between weapons of defense and weapons of offense.
Previous to this atomic proliferation, competing nations concentrated
their weapons research on truly bizarre and equally deadly means for
defending their national boundaries. A great variety of such deadly
weapons were perfected in rapid succession. This included deadly
variations and combinations of gas weaponry, pathogenic agents, and
radiant weaponry. Stalin's research teams investigated psychic powers
as a possible means for destroying an enemy. Psychotronic warfare was
developed among numerous groups, both private and national, with
measurable success. Information on some simpler psychotronic weapons
have recently been obtained through an increasing process of Soviet
disclosure.
In truth, the larger the weaponry the less safe the
national boundaries truly were. While the superpowers concentrated
their weapons development programs on mass-destructive nuclear
weaponry, others focussed on more practical conventions. The limited
tactical warfare of small battlefields seemed a more immediate need.
While developing their own atomic device, France sought defensive
tactical weaponry on every possible technological front. Short range
weapons would best defend against a conventional national assault. But
other systems were also sought; systems which, though non-nuclear,
were equally invincible. As the great Frankish Knight, Charles "the
Hammer" Martel repelled ruthless invaders from the medieval east, so a
new hammer would be sought to defend France against possible new
enemies from the east. Even as Charles Martel arose from obscurity, so
this strange new "hammer" would arise in equal obscurity.
GAVREAU
The central research theme of Dr. Vladimir Gavreau was
the development of remote controlled automatons and robotic devices.
To this end he assembled a group of scientists in 1957. The group,
including Marcel Miane, Henri Saul, and Raymond Comdat, successfully
developed a great variety of robotic devices for industrial and
military purposes. In the course of developing mobile robots for use
in battlefields and industrial fields, Dr. Gavreau and his staff made
a strange and astounding observation which, not only interrupted their
work, but became their major research theme.
Housed in a large concrete building, the entire group
periodically experienced a disconcerting nausea which flooded the
research facility. Day after day, for weeks at a time, the symptoms
plagued the researchers. Called to inspect the situation, industrial
examiners also fell victim to the malady. It was thought that the
condition was caused by pathogens, a "building sickness". No such
agencies were ever biologically detected. Yet the condition prevailed.
Research schedules now seriously interrupted, a complete examination
of the building was called.
The researchers noticed that the mysterious nauseations
ceased when certain laboratory windows were blocked. It was then
assumed that "chemical gas emissions" of some kind were responsible
for the malady, and so a thorough search of the building was
undertaken. While no noxious fumes could be detected by any technical
means, the source was finally traced by building engineers to an
improperly installed motor-driven ventilator. The engineers at first
thought that this motor might be emitting noxious fumes, possibly
evaporated oils and lubricants. But no evaporated products were ever
detected. It was found that the loosely poised low speed motor, poised
in its cavernous duct of several stories, was developing "nauseating
vibrations".
The mystery magnified for Dr. Gavreau and his team, when
they tried to measure the sound intensity and pitch. Failing to
register any acoustic readings at all, the team doubted the assessment
of the building engineers. Nevertheless, closing the windows blocked
the sense of nausea. In a step of brilliant scientific reasoning,
Gavreau and his colleagues realized that the sound with which they
were dealing was so low in pitch that it could not register on any
available microphonic detector. The data was costly to the crew.
They could not pursue the "search" for long time
periods. During the very course of tracking the sound down, an
accidental direct exposure rendered them all extremely ill for hours.
When finally measured, it was found that a low intensity pitch of a
fundamental 7 cycles per second was being produced. Furthermore, this
infrasonic pitch was not one of great intensity either. It became
obvious that the slow vibrating motor was activating an infrasonic
resonant mode in the large concrete duct. Operating as the vibrating
"tongue" of an immense "organ pipe", the rattling motor produced
nauseating infrasound. Coupled with the rest of the concrete building,
a cavernous industrial enclosure, the vibrating air column formed a
bizarre infrasonic "amplifier".
Knowledge of this infrasonic configuration also
explained why shutting the windows was mildly effective in "blocking
the malady". The windows altered the total resonant profile of the
building, shifting the infrasonic pitch and intensity. Since this
time, others have noted the personally damaging effects of such
infrasonic generation in office buildings and industrial facilities.
The nauseating effects of exposure to a low intensity natural or
manmade infrasonic source is now well appreciated.
It has become a routine architectural procedure to seek
out and alter any possible such resonant cavities. The sources often
appear in older buildings, the result of construction rendered faulty
by previous lack of this knowledge. All such "improper" architectural
formats are modified by the additions of sound-blocking materials.
WHISTLES
Dr. Gavreau and his research team now carefully
investigated the effects of their "infrasonic organ" at various
intensity levels and pitch. Changing the spring tension on shock
mounts which held the fan motor, it was possible to change the pitch.
Various infrasonic resonances were established throughout the large
research building. Shutting the windows blocked most of the symptoms.
When the window was again opened, however weak as the source was made,
the team felt the nauseating effects once again.
In the business of military research, Dr. Gavreau
believed he had discovered a new and previously "unknown weapon" in
these infrasounds. Aware of the natural explosives by which
infrasonics are generated, Dr. Gavreau began to speculate on the
application of infrasonics as a defense initiative. The haphazard
explosive effects of natural infrasound in thunderclaps were quite
effective in demonstrating what an artificial "thunder-maker" could
do. But, how could a thunderclap be artificially generated in a
compact system? These thoughts stimulated theoretical discussions on
the possibility of producing coherent infrasound: an infrasonic
"laser".
The first devices Dr. Gavreau implemented were designed
to imitate the "accident" which first made his research group aware of
infrasonics. They designed real organ pipes of exceedingly great width
and length. The first of these was six feet in diameter and seventy
five feet long. These designs were tested outdoors, securely propped
against protective sound-absorbent walls. The investigators stood at a
great distance. Two forms of these infrasonic organ pipes were built.
The first utilized a drive piston which pulsed the pipe output. The
second utilized compressed air in a more conventional manner.
The main resonant frequency of these pipes occurred in
the "range of death", found to lie between three and seven cycles per
second. These sounds could not be humanly heard, a distinct advantage
for a defense system. The effects were felt however. The symptoms come
on rapidly and unexpectedly, though the pipes were operating for a few
seconds. Their pressure waves impacted against the entire body in a
terrible and inescapable grip. The grip was a pressure which came in
on one from all sides simultaneously, an envelope of death.
Next came the pain, dull infrasonic pressure against the
eyes and ears. Then came a frightening manifestation on the material
supports of the device itself. With sustained operation of the pipe, a
sudden rumble rocked the area, nearly destroying the test building.
Every pillar and joint of the massive structure bolted and moved. One
of the technicians managed to ignore the pain enough to shut down the
power supply.
These experiments with infrasonics were as dangerous as
those early investigations of nuclear energy. Dr. Gavreau and his
associates were dangerously ill for nearly a day after these
preliminary tests. These maladies were sustained for hours after the
device was turned off. Infrasonic assaults on the body are the more
lethal because they come with dreadful silence. The eyesight of Dr.
Gavreau and his fellow workers were affected for days. More
dangerously were their internal organs affected: the heart, lungs,
stomach, intestinal cavity were filled with continual painful spasms
for an equal time period.
Musculature convulses, torques, and tears were the
symptoms of infrasonic exposure. All the resonant body cavities
absorbed the self-destructive acoustic energy, and would have been
torn apart had the power not been extinguished at that precise moment.
The effectiveness of infrasound as a defense weapon of frightening
power having been demonstrated "to satisfaction", more questions were
asked. After this dreadful accident, approaching the equipment once
again was almost a fearful exercise. How powerful could the output of
an infrasonic device be raised before even the operating engineers
were affected?
With greatest caution and respect for the power with
which they worked, Dr. Gavreau began recalculating all of his design
parameters. He had grossly misjudged the power released by the pipes.
He had, in fact, greatly lowered those calculated outputs for
diagnostic purposes. Never had he imagined that these figures were
actually far too great in the world of infrasound!
Empirical data being the only way to determine how
infrasonic energy correlated with both biological and material effect,
the tests were again attempted with a miniature power supply. First,
the dimensions of these devices had to be greatly reduced. Their
extreme length was objectionable. In order to provide absolutely safe
control of the deadly blasts, several emergency cutoff switches were
provided. These responded to the radiated infrasonic pressure wave.
the intensity could be absolutely limited by use of automated
barometric switches.
In an attempt to achieve more compact and controllable
infrasound generators, Dr. Gavreau designed and tested special horns
and "whistles" of various volumes. These were each remarkably simple
flat circular resonant cavities, having a side output duct. They were
simply the large analogues of foghorns and police whistles. These flat
forms were volumetrically reduced in successive design stages because
it was found that their output was far too great. The infrasonic
foghorns could produce a frightening two kilowatts of infrasonic
energy, at a pitch of one hundred fifty cycles per second.
The flat "police whistles" were more easily designed to
required specifications. Their overall characteristics were quite
simple to determine, a mathematical formula being devised for the
purpose. The whistle's resonant pitch was found by dividing its
diameter into a numerical constant of 51. Increasing the depth of the
whistle effectively increased its amplitude. A whistle 1.3 meters in
diameter produced an infrasonic pitch of 37 cycles per second. This
form violently shook the walls of the entire laboratory complex,
though its intensity was less than 2 watts infrasonic power.
DANGER
Not much amplitude is required for infrasound to produce
physiological malady. Several researchers accidentally did themselves
great harm when, by deliberate intent or accident, they succeeded in
generating infrasonic vibrations. Tesla used vibrating platforms as an
aid to vitality. He delighted in "toning the body" with vibrational
platforms of his own design. Mounted on heavy rubber pads, these
platforms were vibrated by simple motorized "eccentric" wheels.
Their mild use, for a minute, could be pleasantly
stimulating. The effects invigorating the whole body for hours
thereafter. Excessive use would produce grave illness however,
excessive aggravations of the heart being the most dangerous aspect of
the stimulation. The entire body "rang" for hours with an elevated
heart rate and greatly stimulated blood pressure. The effects could be
deadly.
In one historic instance, Samuel Clemens, Tesla's close
friend, refused to descend from the vibrating platform. Tesla was
sorry he had allowed him to mount it. After repeated warnings, Tesla's
concern was drowned out by both the vibrating machine and Clemens'
jubilant exaltations and praises. Several more seconds and Clemens
nearly soiled his white suit, the effects of infrasound being "duly
recorded".
Tesla often went to great lengths in describing the
effects of infrasounds to newspaper reporters who, behind his back,
scoffed at the notion that a "little sound" could effect such
devastations. Yet, it was precisely with such a "little sound" that
Tesla nearly brought down his laboratory on Houston Street. His
compact infrasonic impulsers were terribly efficient. Tesla later
designed and tested infrasonic impulse weapons capable of wrecking
buildings and whole cities on command.
Walt Disney and his artists were once made seriously ill
when a sound effect, intended for a short cartoon scene, was slowed
down several times on a tape machine and amplified through a theater
sound system. The original sound source was a soldering iron, whose
buzzing 60 cycle tone was lowered five times to 12 cycles. This tone
produced a lingering nausea in the crew which lasted for days.
Physiology seems to remain paralyzed by infrasound.
Infrasound stimulates middle ear disruptions, ruining organismic
equilibrium. The effect is like severe and prolonged seasickness.
Infrasound immobilizes its victims. Restoration to normal vitality
requires several hours, or even days. Exposure to mild infrasound
intensities produces illness, but increased intensities result in
death. Alarming responses to infrasound have been accurately recorded
by military medical experts.
Tolerances from 40 to 100 cycles per second have been
recorded by military examiners. The results are sobering ones. As
infrasonic pitches decrease, the deadly symptoms increase. Altered
cardiac rhythms, with pulse rates rising to 40 percent of their rest
values, are the precursors to other pre-lethal states. Mild nausea,
giddiness, skin flushing, and body tingling occur at 100 cycles per
second. Vertigo, anxiety, extreme fatigue, throat pressure, and
respiratory dysfunction follow. Coughing, severe sternal pressure,
choking, excessive salivation, extreme swallowing pains, inability to
breathe, headache, and abdominal pain occur between 60 and 73 cycles
per second. Post exposure fatigue is marked. Certain subjects
continued to cough for half an hour, while many continued the
skin-flush manifestation for up to four hours.
Significant visual acuity decrements are noted when
humans are exposed to infrasounds between 43 and 73 cycles per second.
Intelligibility scores for persons exposed, fall to a low of 77
percent their normal scores. Spatial orientation becomes completely
distorted. Muscular coordination and equilibrium falter considerably.
Depressed manual dexterity and slurred speech have been noted before
individuals blackout. Just before this point, a significant loss in
intelligibility is noted.
The findings of Dr. Gavreau in the infrasonic range
between 1 and 10 cycles per second are truly shocking. Lethal
infrasonic pitch lies in the 7 cycle range. Small amplitude increases
affect human behavior in this pitch range. Intellectual activity is
first inhibited, blocked, and then destroyed. As the amplitude is
increased, several disconcerting responses had been noted. These
responses begin as complete neurological interference. The action of
the medulla is physiologically blocked, its autonomic functions cease.
WATCHMEN
Infrasound clings to the ground, a phenomenon well known
in the animal world. Female vocalizations and those of their young,
take their traceable routes through the air. High pitched sounds are
aerial in nature. This makes females and young natural targets for
predators. Low pitched tones cling to the ground, being "guided" along
the soil layers. Male vocalizations cannot be localized by predators.
Male sounds "hug the ground", diffusing out from their source. Some
males rumble the ground with voice and hooves. These are
communications signals which they alone comprehend.
The fact that the ground draws and guides low frequency
tones is a remarkable gift to the animal kingdom, enhancing the
survival of male leaders. When herds are attacked by predators, the
males can continue to give guidance to their companions, while
remaining completely "invisible" and elusive. Predators cannot locate
the voices and rumblings of male leaders because their low pitched
signals ar impossible to pinpoint. They are therefore also impossible
to attack. Predators are often overtaken by the males who maintain
their diffusive communications across and through the ground.
The same analogies would apply to an infrasonic defense
system. First, infrasound does not lose its intensity when travelling
very long distances across the ground. They remain at the same
intensity as when released from their deadly sources. Also, because of
the ground clinging effect, infrasonic sources cannot be located
without special appliances. This would work well for those who used
the weaponry of infrasound. But suppose some hostile force were
themselves using infrasonics? Infrasonics are inaudible. The battle
would be over before anyone knew it had begun. How would one know of
an infrasonic attack? The first line of defense would therefore be the
detection of the "unperceived enemy". The development of an adequate
infrasonic weapons systems would first require an infrasound detector.
Dr. Gavreau first concentrated on developing infallible
infrasonic detectors for the personal safety of his operators as well
as for eventual tactical deployment. He experimented with several
designs which followed the arcane analogues of old wireless detectors.
One such design used enclosed flames to detect infrasonic pitches.
They were reminiscent of those flame detectors developed by Lee De
Forest just before his invention of the triode. The flame detectors of
Gavreau employed variable resonant cavities. Flame amplitudes shifted
with specific infrasonic pitches. He could calibrate the infrasonic
intensity as well as the pitch with these detectors. But, flames are
dangerous and fickle, not being very reliable in battle.
Dr. Gavreau next experimented with enhanced mechanical
barometers. These coupled large resonant cavities with very fine
barometer tubes. They displayed great sensitivity. Steady increases in
barometric pressure were registered when large cavity bellows were
compressed by infrasounds. The sensitivity of these barometers
increased as the bellows capacity was increased. They were adequate,
but frail.
Another embodiment resembled the early mechanical
television designs of John Logie Baird. It utilized large tympani
skins, mirrors, lights, and photocells. A mirror was fastened to the
tympanum. A light beam flickered when infrasound struck the mirror.
The photocell recorded these flickers as an electrical signal. This
detector system was very reliable.
By far, the most advanced detectors which gavreau
designed and tested utilized an electrolytic process. In this analogue
of systems developed by Fessenden to measure faint wireless signals,
chemical solutions and fine wirepoint electrical contacts were used.
Chemical solutions, separated by an osmotic barrier, were forced to
migrate through the barriers whenever infrasound traversed the system.
This chemical mixture was then measured as an increased electrical
conductivity in a sensitive galvanometer. This system was reliable and
accurate. All of these systems suffered from one possibility. The
offensive use of an incredible infrasonic amplitude would burst them
into vapor.
ARMOR
Claims were issued by french authorities, stating that
Dr. Gavreau was not developing weapons at all. Several patents,
however, betray this conspicuous smoke-screen. While it is impossible
to retrieve the actual patents for the infrasonic generators, Dr.
Gavreau is credited with extensive development of "infrasonic armor".
Why would he "waste" such time and expense if not for an anti-weapons
program?
Thus use of infrasonic weaponry necessitates the
development and implementation of infrasonic shields. Dr. Gavreau
spent more time developing infrasonic shields than on developing
efficient infrasonic horns. Infrasound could not adequately be
blocked, as Dr. Gavreau discovered early in his research. Infrasonic
devices require extremely large baffles.
Furthermore, no one would dare initiate an infrasonic
barrage on any invasive force without adequate protection. Infrasonic
horns can project their sounds in a given direction, but natural
environments "leak" portions of the sound in all directions.
Infrasounds saturate their generators, flooding and permeating their
sources in a few seconds. They "work their way back" toward those who
dispatch their deadly signals. Infrasounds "hug the ground" and spread
around their sources. Unfortunately, those who would release
infrasonic energy would themselves be slaughtered in the very act.
The first method of Gavreau involves the conversion of
infrasound into successively higher pitches, until the infrasonic
pitch is "lost". This was achieved in his passive "structural" method,
an enormous layered series of baffles and resonant cavities. This form
is "passive" since it merely stands and waits for infrasonic barrages,
absorbing and converting them into harmless audible tones.
The second method of Gavreau is more active and
"aggressive". It actively engages and nullifies any offensive
infrasonic power. The nullifier uses a well known physical principle
for its operation. As an "active" shield, it transmits tones whose
opposing wavefronts destructively interfere with incoming infrasound.
Infrasonic attacks are nullified, or at least brought to much weaker
levels.
This method requires high speed detection and response
systems. The process involves determination of an attack pitch,
generation of the same, and projection of the pitch "out of phase".
The active nullifier method is not completely accurate or protective
by any means. A highly modulated, mobile infrasonic source would be
nearly impossible to successfully neutralize without extremely
sophisticated electronics.
But an elegantly simple approach was imagined, one which
would not require the defender to be exposed to his own infrasonic
projections. While fixated on the old notion of gun installations and
stations, Gavreau and the team had momentarily forgotten their first
research endeavor. Robotics!
THE HAMMER
Let us recall that Dr. Gavreau and his team of pioneers
were in the business of robotics. They developed industrial and
military automaton systems. How difficult would it have been to couple
his newfound weaponry with robotic applications? Dr. Gavreau combined
the organ pipe and whistle format. The device was housed in a block of
concrete. It was less than a cubic meter in volume. The primary
whistle was poised within its interior. At its flared opening were
placed several resonant pipes. The device was operated by highly
compressed air. Its output was frightful. It was capable, in a
conventional engagement, of utterly destroying an aggressor.
This infrasound whistle design was once sealed in an 880
pound concrete pier for tests, a concrete baffle placed over its
projective end. Even with these precautions, the device succeeded in
absolutely shaking a fan-shaped portion of Marseille. It broke through
its supportive concrete pier and destroyed the baffle covering in an
instant. Macabre. No sound was ever heard.
This design demonstrated great pitch selectivity, power,
and directivity. In this last feature, Gavreau and his team achieved a
safety factor of greatest value. Infrasonic defensive armaments could
now be safely directed away from the operators against any foe. This
weapon was a remarkably compact and efficient device. Its efficiency
was gauged by the destructive output and the weapon volume.
A later embodiment of this terror disclosed another
compact cube. The infrasonic whistle was presumably housed therein.
Proceeding from the front plate were some sixty pipes, flared horns
aimed in deadly forward array. It was said that this device alone,
remotely guided into an arranged artificial battlefield, burst heavy
battlements and tank interiors open with a hideous effortlessness. In
addition, several other more frightening and unmentionable disruptions
were observed with equal effectiveness. In each, not a sound was ever
heard.
The device was mounted and mobilized. A robotic vehicle.
Powered by diesel engines or compressed gas, the almost insignificant
unit would be a bizarre foe for an army to engage. Preliminary
experiments had proven the extreme danger of loosing infrasonic power
among Gavreau and his workers. Without automatic remote control
mechanisms each technician would succumb to the deadly sound and die,
while the machine kept broadcasting its deadly sound. As defensive
weaponry, such a device would be terrible and effective. The system
would be a true deterrent for those who would be foolish enough to
attempt ground assault on any nation so armed. Armies would fall flat.
Once the infrasonic horns were unleashed against the foe, the battle
would not even begin.
Such a war engine would be impossible to locate. None
who saw its size would believe it to contain such a lethal power. Most
would overlook the device completely. A flood of such devices, each
emanating a peculiar highly modulated blend of infrasound, would be an
unstoppable wall. Robotic tanks equipped with infrasonic generators
could sweep an area with deadly infrasound, destroying all opponents
to within a five mile radius. These terrible infrasonic weapons could
easily be secured in drone jets, where aerial assaults could quickly
and methodically waste any offensive approaching army.
Deterring would-be aerial attackers could be equally
devastating for the offenders. Infrasonic beacons could sweep and scan
the skies with a deadly accuracy. Infrasound passes through all matter
with equal effectiveness, seeking out offenders with deadly
consequence. The intensities which the Gavreau devices effectively
broadcast into the environment are frightening. In these devices we
see the perfection of phenomena which never naturally occur in such
dangerous intensities. This is why these weapons must be deployed by
remote control, operating as automatons at great distances from their
operators.
Weapons are made to defend, not to offend. In Gavreau's
own words: "There does not exist complete protection against
infrasound. It is not absorbed by ordinary matter, walls and chambers
do not suffice to arrest it". And so, once again, we stand at the
cross-roads. We are called, summoned to appear before two pathways. On
the one, we hear Messaien and the musical messages of peace. On the
other, Gavreau and the musical messages of war. And again we choose.
And again we must choose. Whose music will it be?
Copyright © 1997 Borderland Sciences Research
Foundation, Inc.
by Gerry Vassilatos
http://www.borderlands.com/archives/arch/gavreaus.htm
All Rights Reserved.