“Music for Airports” at Pittsburgh International Airport

Written By David Bernabo

How Things Are

In 2021 the PIT Art in the Airport program featured Herman “Soy Sos” Pearl performing an ambient set in celebration of Brian Eno’s seminal work “Music for Airports”. In March 2025, travelers and staff at PIT will again experience ambient music by Pittsburgh based musicians/creators inspired by Brian Eno’s work, “Music for Airports”, from March 17th – March 31st. Performances are curated by David Bernabo and R.J. Kozain/2020k.

“The airport is a slow teleportation device that allows a person to wake up in one place and dine in another, thousands of miles away. This rush of possibility arouses different emotions: ebullience and ecstasy, stress and annoyance, pensiveness and acceptance. For musician Brian Eno, airports and the act of flying struck a nerve and triggered his mortality salience. To counteract these feelings, in 1978, he released the album Ambient 1: Music for Airports as a way to bring solace to flyers. The slow-moving, loop-based music intended "to induce calm and a space to think." In fact, it may mesmerize. Eno coined the term "ambient" to describe the music and, perhaps, also set it apart from the hollow cheerfulness of muzak and easy listening. Ambient music does not insist on an emotional change. It doesn't insist on anything. Eno wrote, "it must be as ignorable as it is interesting."

At the time, other musicians—Laurie Spiegel, Éliane Radigue, Isao Tomita, and King Tubby—were exploring similar looping techniques and shapes of music, but Music for Airports was a line in the sand. It marked the dawn of a new genre, and its legacy is felt in Pittsburgh today. The music of Last Living Days, trē seguritan abalos, and How Things Are is informed by the history of ambient music, but also by a wealth of musical genres, sounds, and individual experiences. This synthesis of influence, experience, and idea is what makes each of these musical entities a vital part of Pittsburgh's contemporary music scene. For this series, each artist will find ways to bring solace, space, and openness to one specific airport, Pittsburgh International Airport.”

— David Bernabo

David Bernabo
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