GRACEHOPER & the SOMMERFOOL
contact: hello at antidelusionmechanism.org
With:
Vilbjørg Broch, voice and interactive computer music,
Jacob Plooij, Violin
+ occasional guest performers .
About:
Pure Data, Voice, Violin,
Harmony/ Microtonal/ Spectral
text: Kafka - James Joyce
About the Performers
Jacob Plooij
Violinist, improvisor, composer, specialized in music post 1980. Not afraid
of microtones or new inventive harmonic and rhythmic structures. Well
versed in electronic sound worlds and and free improvised structures:
Electra String Quartet (aus), Zephyr Kwartet(nl) DNK, 3 journeys for violin
and electronics, 5de snaar project, kraakgeluiden. Spectral music from
Horatiu Radulescu.
Vilbjørg Broch
Is a singer, soprano, dancer and computer-musician. Worked with amongst
others, Noise Maker's Fifes (B), Anti-Delusion Mechanism (NL), Yann Keller
(D) .. Out of many important influences I would like to mention my dear
teachers : Katie Duck, improvisation at the School for New Dance Development,
Amsterdam;; Marianne Blok, coloratura soprano;; Enrique Pardo (Roy Hart
Theatre and Pantheatre) text and theatre.
LISTEN mp3s
1- Said K,, live at the iLLuseum , Amsterdam, march 10 2010 ,,,25min14,
2- PD-Strings,
live at the iLLuseum , march 10 2010,,, 8min05 ,, with Wen Chin Fu , cello
3- Poetic Consequence,,
6min13, violin+overtones from december 2009
5-My
wnderful kingdom and its loops of loveliness, , Finnegans Wake, 200811min
About the texts
F. Kafka - The Trial:::::
Kafka did not value his own work much at all, though after close to 100
years the text of 'The Trial' shines extraordinary brightly with its clarity
and humor. Fearlessly Kafka entered the mythological and psychic world
of the bureaucracy and its covert power structures. --- The entire text
forms a basis for the musical performance of this project. For each specific
piece a certain theme within this whole is brought to the front.
J. Joyce - Finnegans Wake
Like the dream, transcending all languages and the realms of death and
of life. Through the last 2 decades of his existence James Joyce brought
forth this stream of consciousness which became his great work Finnegans
Wake. The text surpasses time, place and singular meaning. With all respect
for the extensive wholeness of the work, the text offers an inexhaustible
source of pieces for musical performance. Joyce traversed the comical
depth of the many worlds by interlacing sound and significance.
The sound elements of the performance consist of the acoustic inputs from violin and voice and the computer generated sound which is controlled by sound-interactive patches build in the programming environment PureData. Tonal structures are formed by algebraic algorithms. Some of these structures are inspired by the nature of the overtone-series. Others are abstract constructs inspired by the equal tempered tuning, as being the 12th roots of 2, but taking this idea manyfold into the micro-tonal realm. Also rhythmical and dynamic information from the acoustic inputs is being recorded and processed. The patches are endlessly variable within these systems due to build-in random flexibility, hence a non-predictable response though within the chosen harmonic system. Composed into the performance is in the beginning an initiating 'seeding' of the psuedo-random series through the dynamics of the first acoustic piece, this ritual will determine the computers response for the rest, though the possibilities are far too great to be grasped with the rational human mind. Also -lets say- a mystical - experience of the properties and qualities of numbers has an impact when choosing numerical inputs for the algorithms.
the project is aimed at smaller to medium spaces; for an audience of 20 to 400
the audience must preferably have the possibillity to sit down
- sound: 2 lines to well-defined power-amplification (in case this is not available we are able to bring our own PA)
- light: 3-5 lamps for the smaller spaces will be sufficient
please contact us with any questions
