Timba: The Sound of the Cuban Crisis

Spaces for People: Technology, improvisation and social interaction in the music of Pauline Oliveros

“…Rather, I have witnessed an embrace of these features as intentionally integrated aspects of the AUMI. (Moreno 2017) From this perspective, when AUMI responds to unintentional movements, such as bobbing the head or shrugging the shoulders, it is actually expanding the possibilities of musical expressivity, even for trained, able-bodied musicians. Similarly, just as telematic latency necessitates novel improvisatory strategies, AUMI's idiosyncrasies shape the kind of music produced: its unpredictability, for instance, lends itself to music that is often pulseless, and equally open to noises as musical sounds.…”

“…In a further affinity with Oliveros's approach to telematic performance, the social interactions that occur outside of the performance highlight the community-building that distinguishes Born's second order of social mediation in music. As Moreno writes, 'What makes the AUMI a unique improvisational instrument is the tradition currently being co-created around its mechanisms in the Lawrence area, and the way these practices disrupt the borders between able-bodied and disabled musical production, participation, and communication' (Moreno 2017). Just as intimate social interactions across distances emerge through the use of telematic technology, AUMI facilitates musical and social interactions between individuals that might not otherwise occur, illustrating how AUMI's 'benefits extend far beyond typical notions of disability accommodation, but actually challenge the lines that societies draw between ability and disability' (Stewart et al 2017: 5).…”

“…As Caleb Lázaro Moreno has written, ‘If we hold the AUMI’s early history close, then the AUMI is, first and foremost, designed to facilitate musical access for performers with severe physical disabilities. Its structural schematic and even its response-rate latency and sporadic visual mode of recognition ought to be treated as enabling functions rather than limiting ones’ (Moreno 2017). Just as with Oliveros’s telematic music, features of the technology that might elsewhere be considered limitations are precisely what makes its usage possible, especially within the communities for which it is designed.…”

“…Rather, I have witnessed an embrace of these features as intentionally integrated aspects of the AUMI. (Moreno 2017)…”