M a r t i n X S. X G o t f r i t XXXXXXXX[works]

A X l X l X X t X h X e X X K X n X o X w X i X n X g

My fascination with electronic music was sparked in the early 1960s by the gift of a small tape recorder. It was in those years that the precious bit of tape that opens and closes All the Knowing was made. The recording is of my father cajoling my grandparents, Sarah and Max, into speaking and singing so that they might hear their voices on tape.

Max Gotfrit 1890 - 1981

All four of my grandparents came to Canada before World War I and so managed to escape the Holocaust. It was, nonetheless, a palpable presence in our lives. Drawn to the sounds that constitute my childhood impressions of the Shoah, I constructed All the Knowing from railway cars, steam whistles, dog barks, marching feet, shouts, and speeches.

The title comes from a question from Max’s great grandson. One day Jesse asked me why "all the knowing of all the people in the world" couldn't be collected so that all of our problems might be solved. I wonder too why we could not then, and cannot today, prevent such horror.

I dedicate this work to my maternal grandmother Eva, still alive at this writing and one of the last of her generation.

Eva Gold (born 1906) and her great grandson Jesse (born 1995)