Description and Creativity conference

Approaches to collaboration and value from anthropology, art, science and technology

A conference at King's College, Cambridge

3rd - 5th July 2005

Fiction and culture: humans and computers in concert

This concert of music by composer Viñao and others, was linked to the talks held earlier in the day on the use of technology in contemporary composition, the human voice, mimicry and description.

Programme

Chant d’Ailleurs, for soprano and computer by Alejandro Viñao
Frances Lynch: soprano; Sound diffusion by the composers.

The Daughters of Sarah, for soprano and computer by Andrew Lovett.
Frances Lynch: soprano; Sound diffusion by the composers.

The World we know, computer composition by Alejandro Viñao.
Sound diffusion by the composers.

Borges y el Espejo, for soprano and computer by Alejandro Viñao.
Frances Lynch: soprano; Sound diffusion by the composers.

Notes

Chant D'Ailleurs ( 1st Prize 'Golden Nica' Prix Ars Electronica )

Chant D'Ailleurs (Chant from Elsewhere) is a set of 3 song-like chants from a fictional culture which has developed technology in spite of having remained rural. This improbability accounts for the ritualistic and at times monodic nature of the singing, coupled to a computer part which seeks not to harmonize or orchestrate the songs but rather to extend the phrasing and timbre of the voice beyond it natural acoustic means. The computer is also part of the imaginary style. The vocal sounds it manipulates and the new timbres it creates are articulated and 'performed' in a way which is consistent with the chanting style of the singer.

The Daughters of Sarah

This piece derives from my opera: “Abraham On Trial”, which was recently premiered at The Junction Theatre in Cambridge. The opera juxtaposes the Biblical story of Abraham and Isaac with a contemporary story set in California.

This piece - The Daughters of Sarah - follows the emotional arc of one of the modern characters, Rosa, a role created by Frances M Lynch in the original production. Rosa’s husband John is on trial for killing their daughter, having believed that he was commanded to do so by God. In a series of short scenes, extracted from the opera, she investigates her grief, guilt and anger, finally venting her deep frustration on the Patriarch, Abraham, the father who was first willing to obey a command to sacrifice a child.

The vocal sounds in the computer part were recorded by Frances M Lynch and members of the Electric Voice Theatre. Other sounds include samples of a shofar (or ram’s horn) and cello.

I am especially grateful to Frances for her help in devising this piece.

The World we know

In The World We Know I was interested in exploring musical clichés taken from diverse sources such as the classical, electroacoustic and popular traditions. In the beginning of the piece the common ‘concrete’ sounds of the world organise themselves into a hip-hop rhythm. Eventually, the hip-hop rhythm is itself modified by the sounds coming from the concrete sound world. In the second half of the piece I subjected the different sounds and patterns of the hip-hop rhythm to a process of deconstruction.  This is the first piece where I chose to work not only with sounds that I find immediately attractive but also with sounds that I find ugly, disliking their resonance and timbre.

Borges y el Espejo

Loosely based on a Turkish semi-classical song. I used the simple repetition of melismatic singing to generate complex rhythms and to create an ever changing perception of pulse. The Turkish melismatic phrases are copied, repeated and transformed by mirrors which multiply them into the perfection of symmetry or the abysm of obsessive repetition. Mirrors and the Islam, two of Borges' favourite subjects and in a metaphorical sense, the subject matter of this work too.

For more general information about the composer see www.vinao.com