Joanna Brouk (February 20, 1949 – April 28, 2017) was an American electronic composer, author, and playwright who was active in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Early life

Brouk grew up in

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

. The name "Brouk" is an alternative spelling of the Dutch name "Broek", a cognate with the English word "brook". She received a B.A. in Creative Writing and Electronic Music from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. Inspired by the cadences of poetry and the human voice, as well as the rhythms and soundings of nature, she began creating music. She went on to receive an M.A. in Electronic Music from

Mills College Mills College at Northeastern University is a private college in Oakland, California and part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it was ...

. While at Mills, Brouk studied under

Robert Ashley Robert Reynolds Ashley (March 28, 1930 – March 3, 2014) was an American composer, who was best known for his television operas and other theatrical works, many of which incorporate electronics and extended techniques. His works often involve ...

and

Terry Riley Terrence Mitchell "Terry" Riley (born June 24, 1935) is an American composer and performing musician best known as a pioneer of the minimalist school of composition. Influenced by jazz and Indian classical music, his music became notable for it ...

Career

After graduating, she went into radio production, and composed music for documentaries and other programs. Brouk self-released a number of recordings on cassette via her own label, Hummingbird Productions. Brouk's first release, ''Healing Music,'' featured the flute of American composer

Maggi Payne Maggi ( or ) is an international brand of seasonings, instant soups, and noodles that originated in Switzerland in the late 19th century. The Maggi company was acquired by Nestlé in 1947. History Early history Julius Maggi (1846–1912) ...

. Her 1981 recording, ''Sounds of the Sea,'' included field recordings of nature sounds, vocals, and manipulated electronic and acoustic instruments. Brouk's music was known in

New Age Music New-age is a genre of music intended to create artistic inspiration, relaxation, and optimism. It is used by listeners for yoga, massage, meditation, and reading as a method of stress management to bring about a state of ecstasy rather than tr ...

circles but did not receive a great deal of mainstream recognition. In 2016, a collection of archival recordings and selections from cassette releases, ''Hearing Music,'' was released by

The Numero Group The Numero Group is an archival record label that creates compilations of previously released music, reissues original albums, and creates album reconstructions from a variety of musical genres. The label, known as Numero, was founded in 2003 b ...

. In early April, 2017, she made her European debut at Festival Variations in Nantes, France.

Personal life

In 1985, Brouk stopped composing and recording music after moving to San Diego, California, where she married and gave birth to a son, and took up the practice of

transcendental meditation Transcendental Meditation (TM) is a form of silent mantra meditation advocated by the Transcendental Meditation movement. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi created the technique in India in the mid-1950s. Advocates of TM claim that the technique promotes a ...

. Under the name Joanne (with an "e") Brouk, she became a prolific writer of historical fiction and plays, as well as a notable producer of Internet content. She died on April 28, 2017, at the age of 68.

Discography

* ''Healing Music'' (1980) * ''The Space Between'' (1980) * ''Sounds Of The Sea'' (1981) * ''Golden Swan'' (1983) * ''The Healing Touch'' (1986) * ''Hearing Music'' (compilation, 2016)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brouk, Joanna 1949 births 2017 deaths American women composers New-age musicians Musicians from St. Louis UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science alumni American women in electronic music 21st-century American women