Tracker Pixel for Entry

Phil Kline’s “Unsilent Night” turns the audience into performers

Music | December 2nd, 2015

photo by Tay Davidson

A different kind of Christmas caroling is headed to Fargo-Moorhead. Phil Kline’s “Unsilent Night” takes participants on a 45-minute journey from Fargo to Moorhead as each participant plays one part of a recorded composition on either their smartphone or a portable CD player.

The free event was organized by MSUM faculty member Kenyon Williams after a friend of his started doing it in Knoxville, Tenn., four years ago. What started with eight students grew to over 100 participants last year. Williams thought this would be perfect for Fargo’s blooming art scene.

“I know Fargo has this thriving art scene and in a lot ways we’re starting to get more and more on the national scope,” Williams says. “I thought it’d be great for us to join this international event.”

The event is about more than just Fargo-Moorhead’s growing art scene. It’s about connecting with the community too.

“I’m looking forward, hopefully, to connecting with some new people in the community and being able to create an event with a bunch of people who don’t really know each other, which ought to be interesting right there,” he says.

“Unsilent Night” was started by composer Phil Kline, who wrote the composition and held the first event in the winter of 1992 in New York City. Since then it has become an annual tradition whose popularity has crossed not only state borders but oceans too. The event has been held in over 101 cities on four continents and draws thousands of people in New York and San Francisco.

Participants will show up at Atomic Coffee in Fargo at 7:30 p.m., bringing with them a cellphone — preferably one with a Bluetooth speaker — or a boom box with a CD player. Complimentary coffee, tea and cocoa will be provided before the group hits play on their devices and sets off for the Moorhead Center Mall. Moorhead Mayor Del Rae Williams will welcome participants when they arrive at the mall and provide more warm beverages before an MSUM van brings people back to their cars on Broadway when the event concludes around 8:30 p.m.

Each track is one part of a complete composition presented as an ambient-electronic piece, or what Kenyon Williams describes as a “holiday type of ambient montage” with shimmering textures. It’s not just the music itself that makes up the piece; it’s what’s happening outside of the music as well.

“One of the things that people really enjoy about this piece is that it’s unique to every city,” he says. “If you’re in a city with a lot of road noise it’s going to have a different performance aspect than a city like Fargo, which might have a quieter downtown landscape at night.”

All four “Unsilent Night” tracks are available for download at unsilentnight.com/participate or through the mobile app available at the Apple store and the Android store. Williams will provide around 20 CDs with one of the four tracks on each disc for those who bring boom boxes. Williams doesn’t envision this to be a stressful, highly organized event, but a relaxing experience.

“Come as you are and be ready to have a good time meeting some folks you might not otherwise get a chance to meet,” he says.

IF YOU GO:

Phil Kline’s “Unsilent Night”

Fri, Dec. 4, 7:30 p.m.

Atomic Coffee, 222 Broadway N #100, Fargo

Recently in:

By Alicia Underlee Nelsonalicia@hpr1.com Ten North Dakota communities will participate in the nationwide No Kings Day of Peaceful Action on October 18. The grassroots movement is a nonviolent protest against President Trump’s…

By Michael M. Millermichael.miller@ndsu.edu I would like to recognize some of the scholarly Germans from Russia from Canada and USA shared on the GRHC website. There are additional names not included here. If you have suggestions…

Friday, October 31, doors 8 p.m. show starts at 8:30 p.m.The Aquarium above Dempey’s, 226 N. Broadway, FargoThe annual Aquarium Halloween Cover Show is back and it is stacked. And this time there are a limited amount of presale…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.com At the end of September, downtown Fargo said goodbye to another old friend; the Spirit Room closed its doors, marking the end of an era. The Spirit Room room has been a fixture downtown for the…

By Ed Raymondfargogadfly@gmail.comAnother public health crisis besides guns: lack of empathyThe Sisters of Charity have finally had enough of their Trumper boss, Roman Catholic Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York. One of the most…

By Rick Gionrickgion@gmail.com Holiday wine shopping shouldn’t have to be complicated. But unfortunately it can cause unneeded anxiety due to an overabundance of choices. Don’t fret my friends, we once again have you covered…

By Rick Gion and Nichole Hensenrickgion@gmail.com The wait is finally over. Those who have visited Nichole’s Fine Pastry & Cafe lately know about the recent major additions and renovations that have taken place over the past…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.com Dakotah Faye is a hip-hop artist from Minot, North Dakota, and he’s had a busy year. He’s released two albums. This summer he opened for Tech N9ne in Sturgis and will be opening for Bone…

By Greg Carlsongregcarlson1@gmail.comNoémie Merlant, working from a script she wrote with Pauline Munier and her “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” collaborator Celine Sciamma, directs herself in “The Balconettes” (the…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.com Gallery 4 downtown recently celebrated its 50 year anniversary, making it one of the longest consecutively running galleries in the country. With different membership tiers, there are 17 primary…

Press release“Shakespeare with a sharpened edge.” To launch its 2025 – 2026 season, Theatre NDSU is thrilled to team up with Moorhead-based organization Theatre B to perform a co-production of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and…

By Annie Prafckeannieprafcke@gmail.com AUSTIN, Texas – As a Chinese-American, connecting to my culture through food is essential, and no dish brings me back to my mother’s kitchen quite like hotdish. Yes, you heard me right –…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comNew Jamestown Brewery Serves up Local FlavorThere’s something delicious brewing out here on the prairie and it just so happens to be the newest brewery west of the Red River and east of the…

By Ellie Liveranieli.liverani.ra@gmail.com When we are sick, all we want is a cure. You go to the doctor, they give you a pill, you take it for a bit, then you are cured. It happens. But unfortunately, it is not always the case. …

By Alicia Underlee NelsonProtests against President Trump’s policies and the cuts made by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are planned across North Dakota and western Minnesota Friday, April 4 and…

By Vern Thompsonvern.thompson@rocketmail.comMoral accountability and the crisis of leadership  As a recovering person living one day at a time for the last 35 years, I have learned not to judge others because I have not walked in…