This project was developed as a faculty-student project using the studios at Malone University. Taking the initial biblical descriptions of the seven days of creation, Jack Ballard, with assistants, Jake Peters and Ben Mariano, wrote and performed seven vignettes or impressions of those seven days. To further develop ideas in electronic music, the collective “band” name, Nizhoni was adopted by Ballard, which is a Navajo Nation word loosely meaning “awesome beauty.” Around that time, he began talks with graphic design professor at Utah Valley University, Brandon Truscott, on the idea of collaborating on an accompanying video, inviting the assistance of his students in a similar capacity to Nizhoni.
Seven Days was first screened in the UVU Ragan Theatre on May 2, 2017.
Credits
Audio performance released October 27, 2015
Jack Ballard: fretless bass, vocals, African drums, African flutes, penny whistle, Iberian bagpipes, shekere, keyboards, mixing
Ben Mariano: recording, mixing, mastering
Jake Peters: guitars, recording, mixing
Desiree Hargrave: vocals on “Day 7”
Day 1 – Light (Ballard/Peters)
Day 2 – Firmament (Ballard)
Day 3 – Land (Ballard/Peters
Day 4 – Stars, Cosmos (Peters)
Day 5 – Waterlife (Ballard/Peters
Day 6 – Creatures and Man (Mariano) Day 7 – Sabbath (Ballard)
Jack Ballard has composed, performed and produced a variety of music: classical, world and film music, jazz and bluegrass, even punk and hip hop. Mentors included Gunther Schuller, Stefan Kozinsky, Arthur Post and David Maddux. The ballet, The Castle, received the Thanatopolis Prize for Memorial Composition for its “Lament,” and most recently, Four Seasons, received finalist in the American Prize in 2019, finalist for Las aguas de las montañas for piano in the Aleanor Composition Competition (2020) and winner of the Festival Fresco Composition Competition for his Agitation for piano trio (2021). Probably the best representation of musical variety is the song cycle The Psalms: “So unique and creative, it breaks new artistic ground” from National Religious Broadcaster. “A great collection:” Moody Monthly. A Fulbright Scholar and Specialist in African Music, his pieces infuse classical and ethnic styles from South America, American folk, Asia, the Middle East and Europe.
Brandon T. Truscott earned a Master of Fine Arts from San Francisco Art Institute with an emphasis in Design + Technology. As an in-house graphic designer in California he worked for an international wholesale company with large corporate accounts such as Nordstrom. As an exhibiting artist in multiple media, he has shown work in multiple galleries, including Best of Photography at the Morris Graves Museum of Art in Eureka, CA. He has won numerous awards for his fine art book design and his hand-made book of drawings won the Artist Book Contest at the Anne Bremer Memorial Library. His art and design has been reviewed by critics in the Times-Standard, Art Business, San Francisco Chronicle, New York Times, featured more than 20 times on the AIGA Member Gallery. Brandon is currently an Associate Professor of Motion Graphics at Utah Valley University, and the Principal & Founder of Oibbio LLC.