July/August 2010
What you’re into if you’re into sound and music
EXTREME N RTH NEW SC TTISH N ISE
STRIKING OUT MATMOS AND SO PERCUSSION
HOW TO...
EXPLORE ELECTRIC CELLO
The magazine of
Welcome to the September issue of INTO After a month away, INTO is back with a new issue to start the autumn. As part of the regular round-up of Sound and Music news, this month we’re pleased to announce details of SAM’s autumn programme of London events, which celebrate experimentation in music in a number of ways. With improvised music from Styria and the UK at Aplenglow, US and Japanese noise at The Lowest Form Of Music, an exploration of radio as sound source at Cut & Splice, and the cutting edge of middle-eastern music at Mazaj, this series of weekend events – including performance and discussion – emphasise that ‘experimental’ is not a genre, but rather a process or represents a state of mind. The artists featured in this issue of INTO are carrying out experiments of their own, with electronica duo
Published by Sound and Music www.soundandmusic.org Contact: into-magazine@soundandmusic.org
Matmos and percussion ensemble So Percussion building new compositions from their shared expertise, both live and on new record Treasure State; Abi Bliss finds out how they worked together. Meanwhile, Daniel Spicer continues his quest for underground sounds, this time exploring the fertile ‘post-noise’ scenes of Glasgow and Edinburgh. Cellist Johannes Moser talks through the possibilities of electric cello in this month’s How To, and Richard Thomas rounds up a selection of music made with or inspired by sensory data. Along with the usual selection of news, opportunities and audio and video links, we’ve also been keeping up to date on the progress of Sound and Music Shortlist composers, with the latest news on residencies and concerts in the SAM News section. Frances Morgan Editor
Managing Editor: Shoël Stadlen Editor: Frances Morgan Designed by: Martina Dahl Original Design: PostParis, www.postparis.com
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Cover Image:Ruaraidh Sanachan, aka Nackt Insecten, photography by Alex Woodward www.crimsonglow.co.uk The opinions expressed in INTO are those of the authors and not necessarily those of INTO or Sound and Music. Copyright of all articles is held jointly by Sound and Music and the authors. Unauthorised reproduction of any item is forbidden.
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CONTENTS
C ntents WHAT WE’RE INTO PAGES 6–7
SCOTTISH POST-NOISE PAGES 18-25
NEWS PAGES 8–17
MATMOS & SO PERCUSSION PAGES 26-31
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CONTENTS
HOW TO...EXPLORE ELECTRIC CELLO’ PAGES 32-35
SENSORY OVERDRIVE PAGES 36-37
OPPORTUNITIES PAGES 38-41
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WHAT WE’RE INTO
Clogs, ‘Last Song’
Sound Development
What we’re INT What we’re INTO is a small monthly round-up of some of the new music and sound that we’ve been enjoying at Sound and Music. Follow the links to see and hear our audio, video and interactive selections. If you would like to submit your work for consideration, see the open call on our website.
Exotic Pylon Radio
Oriol, new Planet Mu signing
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The Sound Of Eye film and music blog
SEPTEMBER 2010
WHAT WE’RE INTO
Spanish avant-garde music from AVANT, via Ubuweb
Machine Project community space
Kerry Andrew’s We Are Wolf video
Kickstarter
NMC’s Songbook Map
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NEWS
NEW NEW APPROACHES AT WYSING ARTS Martin Creed, The Owl Project, Kaffe Mathews and Bob and Roberta Smith are among the artists and musicians featured at Be Glad for the Song Has No End – a Festival of Artists’ Music, which takes place at Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridgeshire, on 11 September. The festival celebrates unlikely approaches to both sound and visual art, with a mixture of live performance, film and installation, and a focus on artists who generate work from unusual sources, such as The Owl Project’s wooden electronic instruments. A record exchange, an UbuWeb soundsystem and Kim Gordon and Jutta Koether’s Reverse Karaoke project should add to what curator
THE OWL PROJECT
Andy Holden describes as a “Cageian spirit, with many things happening simultaneously.” The film programme includes works by Luke Fowler, Matt Stokes and Iain and Jane Pollard among others, and reflects, says artist and musician Holden, a growing body of video work that “explores music as a cultural, historical and personal phenomenon.” www.wysingartscentre.org
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NEWS
ALPHA-VILLE SHOWCASES DIGITAL SOUND AND VISION
ACTRESS
New organisation Alpha-ville present two days of music, film, installation and workshops at London’s Whitechapel Gallery and Rich Mix Centre from 17 to 18 September. Dedicated to supporting new digital arts and culture, Alpha-ville Festival will feature performances from acclaimed sound artist Scanner alongside emerging talents like Subeena and Actress. Numerous film screenings will take place over the course of the festival, with a series of ‘live screenings’ that incorporate musical performances from artists such as Zan Lyons and Pixel. Workshops include a focus on digital music technology specifically for girls aged 14 to 19. Alpha-ville have also launched a call for a new film work on the festival’s theme of Visionary Cities, details of which can be found on the festival website. www.alphavillefestival.co.uk/
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NEWS
NEW CAGE’S SONG BOOKS BROUGHT TO LIFE AT RNCM
BBC NOW PREMIERE NEW PÄRT CONCERTO
Royal Northern College of Music’s América season, an autumn programme featuring music from North, Central and South America, opens with a free event on 24 September celebrating the work of John Cage. RNCM students and staff will perform parts of Cage’s Song Books in locations throughout the RNCM’s public spaces. Song Books was first published in 1970 and includes songs, electronics and directions for theatrical performance. The pieces in the collection use texts from writers including Marshall McLuhan and Henry David Thoreau and can be interpreted in a number of ways: Song No 3 creates a song by interpreting a journey using a map of the town of Concord, Massachusetts; Song No 23 amplifies a game of cards; and Song No 51 features a recording of a forest fire. www.rncm.ac.uk
ARVO PÄRT
BBC National Orchestra of Wales join the celebrations for Arvo Pärt’s 75th birthday with a concert of his work at BBC Hoddinott Hall, Cardiff, as part of the Vale of Glamorgan Festival on 9 September. The programme includes two world premieres: a piano concerto and In Spe, for which BBC NOW will be joined by the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir. The concert will be recorded by BBC Radio 3 for broadcast in October 2010. www.bbc.co.uk/orchestras
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NEWS
FOUR DAYS OF NEW MUSIC AT KINGS PLACE FESTIVAL the London Sinfonietta, Endymion and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment; programmes from jazz and folk collectives such as F-IRE and Magpie’s Nest; series of concerts including Latin American jazz and Indian classical music; spoken word and comedy; and workshops and educational events.
JOHN BUTCHER
The third Kings Place Festival takes place from 9 to 12 September at Kings Place, London, with over 100 performances over the four days. It is a varied and eclectic line-up that includes performances from ensembles such
One highlight is an evening curated by improvising saxophonist John Butcher, on 11 September. Entitled Breathe, the event brings together three of the UK’s foremost improvisers as Butcher performs with percussionist Eddie Prévost and John Edwards on bass, and will include a solo set by Prévost playing a custom-made drum. www.kingsplace.co.uk
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NEWS
NEW BUILD A UNIQUE GUITAR AT CORSICA STUDIOS Experimental luthier Yuri Landman leads a workshop in instrument-making at London’s Corsica Studios on 14 and 15 November. Landman, who has made guitars for bands such as Sonic Youth and Micachu, was a comic-book artist before turning his attention to stringed instruments inspired by Glenn Branca and Harry Partch, and his guitars, with names like the Moonlander, Springtime and Moodswinger, are striking to look at as well as listen to. Participants in the workshop, organised by London promoters God Don’t Like It, will be able to invent their own instruments over the two-day course, culminating in a performance on the second day. www.goddontlikeit.co.uk
SOUND AND VISION CONVENTION LAUNCHES IN NORWICH Norwich Sound and Vision is a new music and multimedia convention taking place for the first time in Norwich between 16 and 18 September. The event will consist of a festival and a conference with speakers from radio, film, music, TV and the games industry. Experimental folk duo Pumajaw are one of the bands booked to play at the festival, while the conference covers practical advice on music making, promotion, touring and licensing, and includes a talk on new music radio with guests from Resonance FM and Last.fm. www.norwichsoundandvision.co.uk
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NEWS
LONDON SINFONIETTA EXPLORE MUSIC OF CONFLICT with Pauw’s video footage and the words of former young fighters performed live on stage by Ugandan actor Arthur Kisenyi.
Rolf Wallin and Josse de Pauw’s Strange News is an audio-visual composition on the harrowing subject of child soldiers, of which there are estimated to be 250,000 worldwide, combining Wallin’s orchestral score
The London Sinfonietta perform this unique piece of concert theatre on 3 October at Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, as part of a programme also featuring the Exaudi singers in a performance of Iannis Xenakis’s Nuits, a modern take on classical Greek tragedy dedicated to Greek political prisoners of the 1960s, and Maldon, Michael Finnissy’s setting of an Anglo-Saxon war saga. www.londonsinfonietta.org.uk
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SOUND AND MUSIC NEWS
NEW NEW TRANSMISSIONS FROM SOUND AND MUSIC THIS AUTUMN ADD PHOTO CAPTRIO
Sound and Music’s autumn 2010 season brings together music and sound from disparate cultures, locations and art forms through four London events. First up is Alpenglow, at which some of Austria’s leading improvisers and experimental musicians team up with their counterparts in the UK for concerts at Cafe Oto over the weekend of 24-26 September. Alpenglow is a chance to hear noted British improvisers such as Steve Beresford, Hugh Metcalfe, Maggie Nicols and John Russell playing in unfamiliar combinations. The Lowest Form Of Music (22-24 October) is Sound and Music and No-Fi’s celebration of LA’s underground noise scene as personified by the Los Angeles Free Music Society, established in the 1970s by musicians including cult group Smegma, who perform at this threeday festival. The LAFMS’s influence on noise worldwide is marked by performances from Japanese artists Incapacitants and Hijokaidan, and panel discussions, chaired by Edwin Pouncey and David Toop. Cut & Splice, produced by Sound and Music with BBC Radio 3, returns to Wilton’s Music Hall from 4 to 6
ANTON LUKOSZEVIEZE OF APARTMENT HOUSE
November with the theme of Transmission, paying tribute to the use of radio in experimental music. Apartment House perform Cage and Stockhausen, while Keith Rowe brings to life Earle Brown’s graphic scores for radio, alongside installations by Jacob Kierkegaard, John Wynne and Esther Johnson. Taking place on 18, 20 and 21 November, Mazaj introduces experimental artists who are redefining middle-eastern musical and sonic culture, with a day-long conference and a weekend of performances. Sound artist Hassan Khan, DJ Mutamassik and composer Raz Mesinai are among the artists appearing at Mazaj, which is produced in collaboration with the Zenith Foundation. www.soundandmusic.org/
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SOUND AND MUSIC NEWS
A CHANCE TO WRITE FOR THE BBC SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
MANCHESTER CAMERATA PERFORMS SHORTLIST COMPOSERS
Sound and Music’s new artist development programme, Embedded, kicks off with an opportunity for emerging composers to write for the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Four composers will be invited to attend BBC SO rehearsals and performances, and will get the chance to workshop parts of their compositions with the orchestra. Two of these composers will then have the chance to develop their works further with the orchestra in 2011, culminating with a performance at Maida Vale studios in early 2012.
Shortlist composers Nina Whiteman and Gavin Higgins will both have works performed by Manchester Camerata in September and October, as part of Manchester Camerata’s Urban Symphonies season taking place on 25 September and then 20-23 October.
This unique opportunity is open to any composer under the age of 35, and the closing date for submissions is 27 September 2010. Full details and submission information can be found here www.soundandmusic.org/ network/opportunities/130968
Nina Whiteman takes the city of St Petersburg as the starting point for her composition, and in particular the river Neva that runs through it. Gavin Higgins, meanwhile, has been inspired by the city of Prague and the ossuary of Kutna Hora, where 40,000 skeletons inhabit the 14th century crypt, as well as the city’s famous astronomical clock. Details of both performances and links to the composers’ blogs can found on the Sound and Music website www.soundandmusic.org/ activities/events/manchester-camerata-urban-symphonies.
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SOUND AND MUSIC NEWS
NEW CHARLOTTE BRAY PREPARES FOR BCMG CONCERT Sound and Music’s BCMG composer in residence project culminates with a major performance in November, when shortlist composer Charlotte Bray’s new violin concerto is premiered at a concert for Mark-Anthony Turnage’s 50th birthday, performed by Alexandra Wood and conducted by Oliver Knussen. As the year-long residency draws to a close, INTO spoke to her about her experience of being a composer-in-residence. How did the new piece develop? “I was commissioned by BCMG for their family concerts in April. They asked me to write a solo violin piece, and my concerto’s based on ideas from that solo piece. So it was an interesting process to work closely with Alex [Wood] on just the violin line, then write the concerto. The piece was for solo violin, but it was conducted by Peter Wiegold and involved the ensemble improvising round the violin
part. I gave ideas, but left it up to Peter and the players to see what happened. I obviously heard it a lot by the end of the six performances. At first I wanted to notate everything they were doing, then I found that I actually wanted to compose it.” This is your first residency – has it lived up to your expectations? “Yes, they’re such a fantastic group. I’ve been to so many rehearsals and concerts, and that really helps you get to know the players before writing the piece. I think that’s important and has shaped how I’ve written the piece. Also during the residency I’ve written two pieces, for solo oboe and solo cello; the solo oboe piece was initiated from Jenni [Phillips], BCMG’s oboist – she asked if I had a piece that she could give to her students at Birmingham Conservatoire.” What’s the main thing you’ll take away from the residency? “Probably the contact with the players – having the option to write a piece, show them, and then have feedback straight away.” www.bcmg.org.uk/
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INCOMING
Incoming A news feed direct from Sound And Music’s composers from around the UK, with details of new projects, forthcoming concerts, academic appointments and much more. If you’re a composer or artist and would like to let us know what’s going on in your world in 45 words or less, get in touch at incoming@soundandmusic.org. Kerry Andrew will be the new Handel House composer in residence, succeeding Duncan McCleod in running educational projects, curating a concert series and commissioning. Stephen Mark Barchan has been commissioned by Thursday Film Ltd to score upcoming short film Gaps. The music will be performed and recorded by the Azalea Ensemble and the film will be launched at Shaftesbury Avenue Cineworld on 22 November. Edd Caine is working with director Nik Morris on another promotional film for the University of York TFTV department. The commission will start in October, to be aired early next year. Edd Caine has started a new music group called cat*er*waul, who have been engaged to perform in Lauren Redhead’s opera Green Angel next January www.caterwaul.co.uk Fung Lam’s latest commission from the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Rong, receives its premiere at the Shanghai World Expo in September, while he will be conducting the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra in the Asian premiere of Yong, originally written for the LSO, in October. Nicholas Peters has recently returned from the Darmstadt Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik where his string quartet Scattered Polaroids was played in a reading session by the JACK Quartet. Garrett Sholdice’s production company, Ergodos, has released a debut CD, Dubh, by Amsterdam microtonal music ensemble Trio Scordatura, featuring new works by young Irish composers. http://ergodos.iew Piers Tattersall is back from a course in Sardinia, and has started writing a ballet based on the story Rumpelstiltskin for London Children’s Ballet.
018 Photography: Alex Woodward NACKT INSECTEN
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SCOTTISH POST-NOISE
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SCOTTISH POST-NOISE
EXTREME N RTH The thriving underground music scenes of Glasgow and Edinburgh are breeding artists with a new take on noise. Daniel Spicer likes what he hears from the Scottish ‘post-noise’ community.
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Over the last decade, Scotland has emerged as a fertile outpost in underground experimental music. DIY CD-R and tape labels such as Unverified, Sick Head and Giant Tank have documented the defiantly under-the-radar output of a diverse array of artists, ranging from the free-scuzz-rock quartet Muscletusk and the one-man vocal ‘activist art’ of Wounded Knee, to the harsh powerelectronics of Kylie Minoise and the blissed-out drones of Fordell Research Unit. Until recently, it was convenient to describe most of this psychedelically informed, largely improvised experimentation using the umbrella term ‘noise.’ But, now that the tenuous notion of noise as a genre has been exploded, it’s clearer than ever that there’s a wealth of sophisticated sonic art being made north of the border. In a post-noise world, might it be possible to see some of the Scottish underground moving out of the basement and into the spotlight? Edinburgh-based Ali Robertson is someone with a good grasp on the Scottish situation. Since 1997, he’s been responsible for Giant Tank, a name applied to both an underground label and a strand of experimental gigs. Since 2003, his primary artistic outlet has been in the duo Usurper alongside acclaimed
SCOTTISH POST-NOISE
cartoonist Malcy Duff. Together, they make a unique form of ultra lo-fi electroacoustic improv using primitive tape recorders, contact mics and everyday household objects, and junkshop detritus. Robertson admits that his endeavours began strictly low-key. “Giant Tank was a teenage strop, conceived in a teenage bedroom in Fife,” he says. “By the time I swapped my Giant Tank nappy for my Usurper workpants, I was a wizened old 24-yearold, living in Edinburgh, but business was still being done in the same way: a lot of photocopying, accepting every gig offered, even if it meant sharing the bill with some dull indie rockers who didn’t care for us and vice versa.” But things seem to be changing for Usurper. In May this year, they took up a weeklong residence at the Ptarmigan art space in Helsinki, incorporating an exhibition, workshops and performances. They’ve also, after dozens of tapes and CD-Rs, just released their first LP, Let’s Just See What Happens, on REL records, with more vinyl due this year. Yet Robertson brushes aside accusations of newfound artistic respectability. “Sometimes it feels like we’re getting our trumpets blown in high places but…if you filled a room with random people
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SCOTTISH POST-NOISE
Photography: Alex Woodward
ALI ROBERTSON
and played them anything from our back catalogue then I’m sure it’d be 95 per cent loathed. Ultimately things are the same as they ever were. Once in a while we get a ‘bigger’ gig, which pays – but there’s still a dozen in between where we pretty much pay to play to a handful of weirdos in a pub basement, so we’re still always broke.” Even so, it’s clear he still enjoys the live context. “The Edinburgh scene is a comfy, cosy thing at the moment,” he says. “There are plenty of folks interested in all things leftfield these days. Gone are the times of a decade ago when I would feel obliged to organise shows for every avant-vagabond who was passing through town. Things are much more supportive now, there’s a ready-made audience keen to slurp this stuff up.”
If anything, Glasgow’s live underground scene is even healthier. While Edinburgh struggles against a lack of venues willing to risk tourist dollars by allowing ‘weirdos’ to play experimental sounds instead of ‘traditional’ folk, Glasgow boasts a more supportive network of pubs and venues interested in actively boosting local music. Certainly, Glasgow-based musician, promoter and curator of Sick Head Tapes, Ruaraidh Sanachan, has noticed a growing sophistication in local gigs. “Things have evolved a bit over the past five years,” he says. “Perhaps people aren’t inclined to sit through a noise or drone set just for the sake of it. We’ve all seen it done well loads of times, so sub-standard material isn’t going to be given any attention. When noise is done
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‘WHEN N ISE IS D NE WELL, IT STILL GETS ME JUST LIKE IT ALWAYS DID’ – RUARAIDH SANACHAN well, it still gets me just like it always did, but I’ve seen a lot of uninspiring noise sets too.” Perhaps this noise-saturation also partly explains Sanachan’s own recent development as on artist. As a youngster, he’d played drums in punk/metal bands but, by 2004, he was looking for a change in direction. “I started to feel restricted by the kit and wanted to try something new so I started farting about with other junk that was lying around – radios, delay units, guitar, whatever. I didn’t intend to record or play live originally. I was just amusing myself but it took on a life of its own, mostly due to finding like-minded weirdos in Glasgow and all kind of egging each other on.” Since 2005, he’s performed and recorded prolifically as solo noise act, Nackt Insecten, releasing a string of CDs, CD-Rs and tapes. Over the years, Nackt Insecten evolved from a minimal, static drone project to something with more texture, density and movement. But Sanachan surprised himself last year when he
realised the project had begun sounding like a full band, with an even more dense, multi-layered sound. “When I got my head round that, I decided it made more sense to just start playing in bands again,” he says. Armed with an electric guitar, he hooked up with a couple of locally active musicians – Andreas Jönsson on keyboards and Peter Kelly on drums – and performed a few shows as Nackt Insecten Trio. This year, however, they’ve gone one step further, changing the group name to Moon Unit and releasing their debut vinyl LP, New Sky Dragon, on Krayon records. The album will be a treat for fans of the early-70s Kosmische Musik of German groups such as Ash Ra Tempel: an acid-drenched, trance-inducing dose of astral rock that brings the urge for transcendence that lies at the heart of so much noise back full circle to its psychedelic roots. For Sanachan, it’s almost a return to the days of being in a conventional band – but not quite. “It’s all improvised, so
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Photography: Alex Woodward
USURPER RUARAIDH SANACHAN MOON UNIT
NACKT INSECTEN
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‘GLASG W IS N T MUCH DIFFERENT T BROOKLYN, EXCEPT IT’S G T LESS CHEESY MULLETS AND VERY SMALL CHANCE THAT THURST N MOORE IS G ING T SH W UP T VALIDATE THE COOLNESS F A GIG’ – FRITZ WELCH I guess that goes against some folks’ idea of ‘proper’,” he says, “but then we use kind of traditional instruments and blatantly musical elements like rhythm at times, which kills some of the experimental crowd’s buzz stone dead. I think it’s fun to have some folks struggling with the concept of improvisation or finding the whole thing far out and unlistenable, while others think it’s kind of square.” If you want a fresh perspective on a local scene, it often pays to ask an outsider – which makes the opinions of American vocalist/percussionist Fritz Welch all the more illuminating. Born in Atlanta, Georgia, he spent formative years in Texas and New York. When he moved to Glasgow in 2008, looking for a quieter environment to raise his family, he brought with him a wealth of experience in the international underground. “I have groups with people based in Berlin, Jerusalem, Osaka, New York City,” he elaborates. “I do loads of collaborative recording projects with people from New Zealand, Brooklyn, and Brighton and contribute material to radio stations in the Ukraine and Tel Aviv.” Foremost among his projects is the drone-rock-Improv trio Peeesseye, with electronicist Jaime Fennelly and guitarist Chris Forsyth – both still resident in the US. Active since 2002, the group grew
out of the same Brooklyn scene that spawned Improv-pranksters, Talibam!, with whom Peeesseye have collaborated on a self-titled LP, released this year on Smeraldina Rima records. Peeesseye have also, this summer, released another vinyl offering, a punk-psych blast called Pestilence & Joy, on Evolving Ear records. Welch is a powerful live performer, as happy behind the mic as he is at a drum kit or a ceremonial Burmese gong – and his presence has been strongly felt in Scotland since his relocation. Among other collaborations, he now performs in Brittle Hammer Trio, with Usurper’s Ali Robertson and Euan Currie – member of Muscletusk and founder of Edinburghbased CD-R label, Unverified. “I was really pleased to move here and immediately be able to find likeminded freaks,” he quips. “There are some true individuals critically powering through with primitive zeal. In Scotland, there is a strong tendency towards a self-created language of putrefied expectations.” Cut through Welch’s gnomic jivetalk and you find an endorsement for a Scottish underground that is not only producing some vital and unique artistic voices, but which can increasingly hold its own on the global stage: “I don’t think there’s much difference between scenes
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SCOTTISH POST-NOISE
Listening post
Brittle Hammer Trio
Nackt Insecten
FRITZ WELCH
in different urban zones, and it all comes down to individual determination to coagulate splintered vibrations. The scene in Scotland is small but thriving. Glasgow is not much different to Brooklyn, except it’s got less cheesy mullets and headbands and very small chance that Thurston Moore is going to show up to validate the coolness of a gig. The weirdo music scene is essentially international at this point, sound ideas spread like bedbugs with yeast infections. The specifics of place are becoming irrelevant. The ooze cannot be contained.�
Kylie Minoise
Moon Unit
www.evolvingear.com
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MATMOS AND SO PERCUSSION
Striking Out As Matmos, Drew Daniel and Martin Schmidt have constructed playful electronica using everything from vintage synthesisers to recordings of plastic surgery. Their latest collaboration is with percussion quartet So Percussion, more commonly found performing compositions by Steve Reich and Fred Frith. Abi Bliss finds out that the two groups have a lot in common, however, not least a fondness for eclectic source material.
“We had a good moment with Terry Riley”, laughs Martin Schmidt down the phone line from Frankfurt, where he and fellow Matmos member Drew Daniel are in the middle of an intensive stint creating music for a group of contemporary dancers. Reflecting upon the contrast between the Baltimore-based duo’s background as self-taught electronic musicians and playful interrogators of musique concrète, and their increasingly frequent encounters with the more formally trained sectors of the arts world, he reveals that such meetings have not been entirely glitch-free: “Some very enthusiastic Italian music curators invited us to play with him and an Italian quartet called Alter Ego. On the first day, we all had a great lunch with Terry – fabulous, amazing guy – and then it comes down to time to work. And he hands us all sheet music. And Drew and I look at this
sheet music and we look back at him, like, ‘I’m really sorry, but I have no idea what any of this means.’ And he gets this look on his face...and then says the words, ‘Well, what are you doing here then?’ And I said, ‘I don’t know, they just invited us!’ We were lucky that it was Terry Riley and not someone more uptight.” Happily no such misunderstandings dogged the collaboration documented on the latest Matmos record, Treasure State, a joint release with So Percussion, the New York-based quartet who are as at home delivering virtuosic performances of Steve Reich works as they are extending the scope of percussive repertoire through their own compositions. Despite the contrast between the two acts’ backgrounds, Treasure State captures the joy of musicians discovering how much they have in common. Or, as Drew Daniel puts it, “Even though they’re the result of conservatory training and a really deep awareness of classical music traditions, whereas Martin and I are kind of self-taught charlatans, we share a love of hitting things and turning it into something worth listening to more than once.” The first chimes and rattles of what would become Treasure State date back to 2006, when So Percussion’s Jason Treuting visited San Francisco, where Schmidt and Daniel were living at the time. “The day that I met Jason and his partner Beth”, Daniel recalls, “I’d
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‘WE REALLY WANTED TO MAKE A RECORD THAT NEITHER BAND WOULD MAKE ON THEIR OWN’ – JASON TREUTING, SO PERCUSSION Photography: Michael Semensohn
started making a song out of aluminum objects and Beth is a viola player, so she immediately started bowing the objects and Jason started drumming on the aluminum. We started the song that became ‘Aluminum’.” A tentative first concert together was followed by a joint tour, with both acts enjoying the collaborative encores. “It was so much fun coming up with those that we thought, ‘Well, there’s really something here’ and it blossomed into an album without us seeing it coming,” says Daniel. “We really wanted to make
a record that neither band would make on their own,” adds Treuting by phone from Princeton, where So Percussion host an annual summer school for student percussionists. The album started to take shape in summer 2007 when both convened at SnowGhost studio in Montana, where Matmos had previously been working with Zeena Parkins. Over the following months, tracks were sent back and forth between San Francisco, New York, Baltimore and Montana, with former So Percussion member Lawson White
MATMOS AND SO PERCUSSION LIVE AT THE POISSON ROUGE, NEW YORK
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‘WE SHARE A LOVE OF HITTING THINGS’ – DREW DANIEL, MATMOS
contributing production. Thanks to the mutual trust built up from playing live, when differences in the musicians’ approaches to creating music emerged, they were greeted less as culture shocks than as opportunities to push everyone beyond their comfort zones. “Jason would write notated pieces and then send us the MIDI files, so he’s starting from music that you write sitting at the table with a pen and paper, whereas Martin and I always start from sound itself, from noises and objects, and notes might arise, but they might
not,” Daniel explains. “It is very different, but it helped us both. There are pieces that we would never make on our own that are the result of sharing responsibility and not being such control freaks.” Some tracks, such as ‘Aluminum’ and ‘Shard’ – where So Percussion’s tinkering with pieces of broken ceramic is manipulated by guest laptop musician Dan Trueman – are concentrated explorations of particular sound sources. Others, such as ‘Cross’, ended up more as collage-like collisions of all the participants’ skills. Originally a Matmos track made out of glitchy samples of swing bands, ‘Cross’ evolved to incorporate an abrasive solo by former Acetone guitarist Mark Lightcap, drums and handclaps by So Percussion and Schmidt’s startling impression of female elks in heat using calls purchased from a hunting store. “We had these hilarious DVDs that teach you how to do various animal calls, with these dudes with big moustaches in camouflage sitting in the trees making these sounds like Evan Parker, but it’s like, free jazz for rednecks,” Daniel says. The track was then edited by longstanding Matmos friend Wobbly, aka Jon Leidecker: “Wobbly took what we did and then pushed it a lot further by just
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MATMOS AND SO PERCUSSION
‘VIBES, STEEL DRUMS, ACOUSTIC GUITAR, AMPLIFIED WATER, AMPLIFIED CACTUS... TOURING THIS STUFF WAS REALLY FUN, BUT YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN THE LOOK ON SOME CLUB OWNERS’ FACES’ – DREW DANIEL
SO PERCUSSION
slicing and sliding and nudging things around in ways that I don’t think I would have had the patience to do.” Although less high-concept than previous Matmos albums such as the surgery-sampling A Chance to Cut is a Chance to Cure or the object-led sound portraits on The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of a Beast, Treasure State – a title often given to Montana – does take inspiration from both real and imaginary aspects of the United States. For instance, ‘Needles’ gets to grips with Montana’s landscape in a bravely literal manner, as Treuting explains: “In Montana, the idea of doing something with a cactus came to mind, as there were cacti all around and John Cage wrote
a beautiful piece called Child of Tree that uses an amplified cactus. So we thought it was a nice homage to where our musical roots were, but also a material we could mess around with.” “’Needles’ is also the name of a town in California,” Daniel adds. “It’s an incredibly hot, unpleasant, harsh place. So there are geographical references hidden in the record, like Easter eggs.” Was there ever a danger that he and Schmidt would view So Percussion more as isolated sound sources than as autonomous musicians with a sophisticated group dynamic? “I’ve been tempted sometimes to just sit and have them make every sound they can make on their vibraphone and sample it”, he replies. “But part of it is that they are steeped in a minimalist tradition of playing these fast, complex yet melodic phrases, and I don’t write that kind of music. They really brought a whole skill set and a particular kind of melodic thrust to the album.” So Percussion, meanwhile, were relaxed about the relatively fragmented approach to shaping the music. “I think
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MATMOS AND S0 PERCUSSION
Listening post
MATMOS
a lot of classical groups don’t realise that a recording is different from a performance”, Treuting says. “We recorded Steve Reich’s Drumming, which is an amazing piece of live music, but very much tracked it all, because that’s how it would come out best.” In any case, he says, the group’s performance skills have come to the fore in concerts: “Recreating a record live is always tricky but because the four of us have a strong sense of ourselves as a group and coming from the kind of chamber music background, there’s a lot of moments in the show where we can really bring that alive, even with things that were constructed on the record.” It seems, however, that one sector of the music industry has not yet caught up with such genre-bridging performances. “Vibes, steel drums, acoustic guitar, amplified water, amplified cactus...” says Daniel. “Touring this stuff was really fun, but man, you should have seen the look on some of these club owners’ faces when we’d pull up and start unloading. They were expecting a laptop.”
Matmos and So Percussion at SnowGhost studio and performing live
‘Needles’
Matmos, ‘Germs Burn For Darby Crash’, from 2006 album The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of a Beast:
So Percussion, Imaginary City
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HOW TO
H WT
EXPLORE THE ELECTRIC CELLO Cellist Johannes Moser’s performances combine well-known repertoire with new music that explores the extended possibilities of the instrument. He takes INTO through the basics of electric cello, from advice on amplification to experimenting with a Nintendo Wii.
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While the electric cello has not yet achieved the status of the electric guitar or even the electric violin, it has the capacity to give the 21st century cellist and composer another platform for creativity, expression and performance. As I venture further into the world of the electric cello, I frequently collaborate with composers who share my curiosity for the expressive capabilities of the instrument. Since it is still relatively new, the combined efforts of composers, performers and technicians are necessary for its evolution, in the way that pioneers like Beethoven and CPE Bach contributed to the evolution of the harpsichord into the hammerklavier. The following article is written from a cellist’s perspective; however, these techniques are easily done on electric violins, violas and upright basses. ELECTRONIC VS AMPLIFIED Because the electric cello has no resonating body, the sound produced without amplification is almost inaudible. Once amplified, one can get a nearly completely isolated signal through a PA rather than deal with the competition of the acoustic cello’s natural sound versus its processed sound, as one would have with acoustic cello amplification. For instance, I use a grain delay for microtonal pitch bending, and this effect would be lost if the fingered note sounded in
HOW TO
addition to the processed note. One should keep this in mind when choosing between amplified acoustic and electronic instruments for smaller venues. For me, the most obvious advantage of playing an electric instrument is its built-in pickup, which makes mic-ing unnecessary and one no longer has to worry about sound feedback. In addition to the popular Yamaha Silent Cello models SVC-110 and SVC-210, I also enjoy playing on a 5-string, Ned Steinberger electric cello with an additional low F-string. The Steinberger does away with the cello frame and is a basic, stringed fingerboard that can be mounted on a tripod, or hung from the shoulder which makes it possible to play while standing or walking. The unconventional design can be slightly disorienting since there is no cello frame indicating the position for the thumb in fourth position, making blind shifts difficult; however, markings on the fingerboard similar to those found on electric guitars give players a visible reference. Additionally, the absent cello frame significantly reduces overtones and one must make minor adjustments in basic techniques, such as playing ponticello or sul tasto in a more extreme fashion. The Steinberger’s 3-way pickup allows me to isolate and capture vertical or horizontal string vibrations, so I am able to draw an incredibly deep, long-lasting pizzicato sound similar to that of a
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HOW TO
Today, with thousands of effects just a mouse-click away, one can virtually do anything imaginable. The difficult question is choosing which effects are appropriate when the options are limitless – in my case, I deliberately limit myself to a handful of effects per set and experiment with being as creative and expressive with the chosen settings. fretless bass, and am also able to create two different bowed sounds – that of a traditional, acoustic cello and one that sounds more ‘electric’. I compare these sounds to a clean sine wave form one would get from a synthesizer, and this creates a tone perfect for further processing. Additionally, the pickups allow me to incorporate many techniques that are usually associated with an electric guitar, like tapping (the tapping of fingers against the fingerboard without plucking or bowing), which on an acoustic cello would be barely audible (even with amplification) but is a clear, concise sound on the electric cello.
My Ableton Live sets usually include two to three send busses with delay, a pitch shifter, and reverb, which I assign to a controller like the AKAI APC40 or the MPD24. A looper such as the one on Ableton allows endless layers to be added while still preserving the integrity of the sound. I find this to be the main advantage over hardware loopers because after recording five or six layers, the sound starts to crackle and overdrive unless you record very softly to begin with. This leaves you with a very limited dynamic range. CONTROLLERISM
PROCESSING SOFTWARE
In conjunction with my laptop, I use various controllers such as the AKAI APC40, Nintendo Wiimote, and Percussa Audio Cubes. Controllers are a great way to modify your sound without losing contact with the audience. The Nintendo Wii-mote has a built-in motion sensor that enables every twist and turn of the hand to be read, which
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makes it an intriguing sound modulator. The built-in motion sensor sends a signal to the computer via Bluetooth that is translated through software called OSCulator, resulting in a midi signal that can be routed to any DAW software. For example, I enjoy using the Wii-mote as a controller for the Ableton looper, assigning buttons to the ‘Start/Stop’ and ‘Reverse’ functions and control the looper’s speed based on the controller’s horizontal tilt. In order to play and control the Wiimote simultaneously, I use the tapping technique with my left hand and control the Wii-mote with my right hand. With time, I have found a way to hold both my bow and Wii-mote in the same hand.
HOW TO
enough to do very detailed operations – the MIDI code from 1-127 has to fit within about 10 centimeters reach. These cubes not only generate midi signals, but also receive and translate them into different colors created by LEDs. While this may appear to be a gimmick, it is an easy way to add a visual element to a performance that can be controlled by your DAW.
Johannes Moser performs with Sophie Cashell at Kings Places Festival on 11 September, with a programme including a new, improvised work for e-cello, music box and Nintendo Wiimote. The Percussa AudioCubes are small, colourful cubes that light up in the dark, with infrared sensors on each side that sense distances and read another cubes’ sensors. The data is then translated into a midi signal. I like to use the cubes for triggering clips or samples, but they can do anything one wishes to pursue with a midi. Due to the nature of the sensors, the accuracy is not precise
www.johannes-moser.com www.soundingofftour.com www.youtube.com/jjmomusic
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From the blogs: an expanded interactive feature from the Sound and Music website
SENSORY OVERDRIVE
Richard Thomas explores music made using sensors Lately there seem to have been quite a few projects involving live creation of scores from sensor data, including John Eacott’s Flood Tide, generating a score by processing data gathered from a flow sensor in a river, and The Open Boat Orchestra, which Jana Phillips mentioned in a recent blog post. Another project I came across via We Make Money Not Art was the Heart Chamber Orchestra, which used data from the performers themselves to generate the material, creating a feedback loop.
Although these projects have all been realised using modern computer technology, they are by no means new ideas: Alvin Lucier’s Music for Solo Performer (1964) uses the performer’s alpha brainwaves; they are amplified to a degree that they will move mechanical
FROM THE BLOGS
objects such as beaters in order to hit percussion instruments. The equipment used to detect them is an EEG machine, which detects electrical activity in the brain. In this case only the electrodes and amplifiers are used, directly amplifying the brainwaves into mechanical motions. EEG machines have been used in the medical environment for over 100 years and have been very expensive, but there are mass produced commercial versions starting to be produced and even a DIY project (we can’t be held responsible for any accidents…). James Tenney’s Metabolic Music (1965) also uses a biofeedback system. Another seminal work using sensors is Heinz Holliger’s Cardiophonie (1971), for oboist and 3 “magnetometers” (an EKG, detecting electrical activity in the heart). This piece really allows you to see what is physically happening to the performer while they play; it’s a lot more ‘high energy’ than the Heart Chamber Orchestra: heavy breathing and running are involved, resulting in much larger fluctuations in heart rate.
These systems, however, don’t even need technology to work: the process in which improvising performers work is by similar principles. They listen to what is going on around them and then make conscious musical decisions in what
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FROM THE BLOGS
FLOOD TIDE
to do (or not to do) based on this, making a continuous feedback loopwhere any of their actions may affect the shape and direction of the music. Scoring using sensor data is also not a new thing (although putting it in front of performers ‘on paper’, is more recent). Charles Dodge’s Earth’s Magnetic Field (1970) was made by taking magnetic field measurements of the earth throughout the year 1961 and converting them into pitches. He took 2920 readings of the Earth’s Kp index and mapping the magnitude each of these readings to a musical pitch, whilst taking an extended interpretation of the same readings and using this data to determine the tempi, and dynamics and shape of the piece. The piece was realized with an IBM System/360 Model 91 (which includes all furniture visible in the photo). Also, Charles Dodge was by no means the only person responsible for creating this piece: “Musical interpretation of the magnetic data was originally conceived by Messrs. [Bruce R.] Boller and [Stephen G.] Ungar and implemented by Carl Frederick; the indices were computer-programmed into a form suitable for music synthesis by Stephen Ungar.” There are so many different systems going on which can all be measured in different ways. By taking that information and converting it into something which
can be experienced, it is possible to make artistic or even political statements using this data – for a visual analogue see www.informationisbeautiful.net. There is a vast wealth of data available to you nowadays, from things you can measure yourself, to publicly available data, such as www.data.gov.uk. There are also many different kinds of sensors, which you can use to gather your own data; measuring force, light, magnetic fields, temperature… the list goes on.
Something which can be difficult is being able to draw an analogue between the data and the output in the performance. Data sets can be complex, if you want its influence on your piece to be seen it has to be kept to a simple relationship. On the other hand data can be subverted, masked and used to make opposing points in the real world.
EARLY IBM SYSTEM, 1967
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OPPORTUNITIES
Opportunitie British Composer Awards student competition
‘Don’t Just Sit There’ project – composer required
This student competition will run alongside the 2010 British Composer Awards. To apply, students studying at a UK conservatoire or university must submit a work of two movements, or a pair of related works, for solo voice accompanied by one portable acoustic instrument. The two pieces, which may be in any style, must have a total duration of 6 to 7 minutes. The winning work will be performed at the prestigious British Composer Awards ceremony on 30 November 2010, and broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on 1 December.
Imove is seeking a composer to work with young people to create a new piece for choir and percussion.
Deadline: 24/09/10
British Composer Awards are presented by BASCA and sponsored by PRS for Music. For full rules visit www.basca.org.uk or call BASCA on 020 7636 2929.
Deadline: 24/09/10
Imove is Yorkshire’s signature cultural programme, funded by Legacy Trust UK, an independent charity set up to create a cultural legacy from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. ‘Don’t Just Sit There’ (DJST) is one strand of imove and involves partner organisations including Northern Ballet Theatre Company, Phoenix Dance Company, ArtForms-Education Leeds, Open Minds Theatre Company, Lishi Chinese College of Physical Culture and the Rugby Football League. Through linking the arts with sport DJST seeks to encourage greater participation from performers and audiences alike. ArtForms, together with Yorkshire Youth & Music and Northern Orchestral Enterprises Ltd. is leading on musical aspects of the project. www.artformsleeds.co.uk
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London Contemporary Chamber Orchestra – call for scores
OPPORTUNITIES
CreativePact 2010 Deadline: 30/09/10
Deadline: 29/01/11
Hear your piece played at workshops in March and June 2011, and receive feedback from the orchestra and conductor - some pieces will be performed later in 2011. Open to all composers who would be able attend the workshops in London, with a submission fee of £28. The LCCO is an amateur orchestra, of single wind and brass, strings, percussion, and piano, who have been heard on Radio 3 as part of Making Music’s Play to the Nation. A piece previously workshopeed by LCCO won the Making Music category in the British Composers Awards 2008. Full details can be obtained from the conductor, Alan Taylor alan.taylor@ dpmail.co.uk.
Interested in learning a new creative discipline? Want a new focus for an artistic project? Need to hone your music, DJ or VJ performance skills? CreativePact is the hub of a group of artists, musicians and technologists who enter a pact to create and document some new creative output daily over the course of a month. What each person chooses to create is up to them, with web-based documentation of the pact being fundamental to make sure it is stuck to. The CreativePact hub exists as an umbrella to bring together everyone taking a pact, providing details and links to each individual’s documentation. This year the CreativePact hub is hosted by inclusive improv, taking over from Toplap’s Hackpact of last year. It is taking place throughout the month of September.
www. lcco.org.uk www.inclusiveimprov.co.uk
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OPPORTUNITIES
Opportunitie Framework Radio – call for submissions
Nina Whiteman – call for mezzo soprano solo works
The World Listening Project is seeking submissions for a miniseries of radio programmes for framework:afield. Hosted by Patrick Mcginley, framework is a show dedicated to field recording, and its use in composition. Framework:afield is curated and produced by guest art ists from around the world.
Nina Whiteman (mezzo soprano) is looking for new repertoire for future performances and is interested in receiving new and existing works (written after 2006) of up to 10 minutes duration.
Deadline: 10/09/10
This edition of Framework is being produced by Andy Armstrong and will focus primarily on personal/everyday interactions, emphasising fidelity, conversation, and interpretation. Submissions can be any format, any quality, 9 minutes or less in length. Send files or links to a.armst@gmail.com www.worldlisteningproject.org/ www.murmerings.com/radio/ http://m-t-map.tumblr.com/
Deadline: 10/09/10
One work will be selected by Nina for performance in a lunchtime concert given by Trio Atem at The University of Manchester on 17 March 2011 (part of the Walter Carroll lunchtime concert series). Works that are not selected for performance on this date will be considered for future concerts. Pieces must be for solo mezzosoprano voice with the maximum range D below middle C, to first ledger line B. Nina is happy to engage with extended/non-‘sung’ vocal techniques and is open to performing challenging music of any style. Please send scores by post to Nina Whiteman, 14 Brockley Avenue, Manchester, M14 7BP, including your email address and telephone number, and providing a stamped
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addressed envelope if you would like the score returned. The selected composer will be informed by mid October 2010.
OPPORTUNITIES
Dèdalo Ensemble – international composition competition 2010 Deadline: 31/12/2010
Please contact Nina with any queries: ninawhiteman@hotmail.com and find out more about Trio Atem at www.myspace. com/trioatem
City Chorus 90th anniversary – international commission competition Deadline: 03/12/2010
The London-based City Chorus is celebrating its 90th birthday season in 2010-2011: the culmination of this anniversary year will be a concert in July 2011, which will feature a newly commissioned 20-minute work for chorus. Composers from around the world are invited to apply for this £2000 commission. City Chorus is an adult mixed choir, open to all without audition – the winning composer will be able to write music that is original and exciting, yet within the capability of amateur singers. www.citychorus.info/
The Dèdalo Ensemble announces the sixth edition of the InternationalComposition Competition, entitled “… a Camillo Togni”, open to musicians of all nationalities, with no age restrictions. Winning scores will be performed by Dèdalo Ensemble in June 2011 in Brescia, Italy. The winner will be awarded a prize of € 5000 and the winning work will be published by the Milan-based publisher Suvini-Zerboni. Compositions must be for a minimum of 1 to a maximum of 8 performers, with the exception of string quartet. No form of amplification is allowed. All scores for trios or larger groups must be conducted, unless stated otherwise by the composer. Download full regulations (including instrumentation) in English, registration form and declaration form from www.dedaloensemble.it Contact concorso@dedaloensemble.it with any queries.
The magazine of