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

Music | December 2nd, 2015

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