Have Boombox, Will Travel: ‘Unsilent Night’ Takes to the Streets in 7 New Cities

UPDATE: As of December 2, the number of cities participating in Unsilent Night has grown to 38 (including six cities in Canada), a record number for one season.

In the winter of 1992, composer Phil Kline had an idea for a public artwork modeled after a holiday caroling party. He wrote Unsilent Night, a four-track electronic piece that was 45 minutes long (the length of one side of a cassette tape). He invited a few dozen friends to gather in Greenwich Village, and together they wandered through the Village, boomboxes in hand, broadcasting Kline's shimmering mobile soundscape to passersby.

Unsilent Night was so popular that it became an annual tradition, and then an international phenomenon. Today, the free holiday event has expanded to more than 33 cities, but Kline still leads the flagship event every year in New York City. This year's NYC event will take place on Saturday, December 13.

Seven new cities will host the innovative new-music holiday event this year: North Adams, Mass.; Ft. Worth and McAllen in Texas; Santa Cruz, Calif.; Norfolk, Va.; North Battleford in Canada, and the University of Central Michigan (Mt. Pleasant, Mich.) A complete list of participating cities and dates is available at unsilentnight.com.

Kline originally intended Unsilent Night to be played by a processional of boomboxes, but has since made it available on CD, mp3, and iPhone and Android apps as well. Participants with mobile devices can download the sound files ahead of time at unsilentnight.com.

Kline will hand out a limited number of boomboxes at the NYC event. "Today most people have digital audio players, so I make the audio available in that format as well-but there's something about the twinkling, hallucinatory effect of a warbling cassette tape that I enjoy," Kline has said.

As a composer, Kline has produced a diverse body of music, ranging from experimental electronica, outdoor happenings and sound installations to compositions in more traditional forms. His early work, including Unsilent Night, often used massive numbers of boombox tape players as a medium.