Traditional New Zealand Mäori Instruments, Composition and Digital Technology: some recent collaborations and processes

Self Cite

Using Internet2 for audio performance, supported by digital video communication between players, provides the opportunity for networked electroacoustic music practitioners to connect with, bridge, amalgamate and lead diverse sound-based music traditions. In combination with intelligent/multi-agent software, this facilitates new hybrid sonic art forms. Extending prior work by the author,Mittsu no Yugo(Whalley 2010a) recently explored this direction. While Internet2 expands production/aesthetic possibilities, accommodating established aesthetics in tandem requires careful consideration. Beginning from a prior model of a decision space (Whalley 2009), the paper discusses the extended decision terrain and choices that Internet2 brings, and some of the compromises that need to be made to realise the proposition. The paper is then part conceptual map, and part artistic perspective.

Section: Synthesis and Conclusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…My interest in using traditional instruments in electroacoustic performances is longstanding (Whalley 2005). This extends to real-time performance systems that incorporate regional acoustic instruments and environmental sounds (Whalley 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Internet2 and Global Electroacoustic Music: Navigating a decision space of production, relationships and languages

Whalley

2012

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“…Issues of culture have recently become an increasing focus of interest in electroacoustic music (De Souza 2005;Fischman 1999;Gluck 2005cGluck , 2006aGluck , 2006bKeyes 2005;Whalley 2005). This reflects a departure from earlier assumptions that the aesthetics of this field transcended cultural boundaries, despite the European and North American aesthetics characteristic of its founding era of the 1950s and 1960s.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Between, Within and Across Cultures

Gluck

2008

The phenomenon of contemporary composers reaching across cultures in search of inspiration, musical materials and forms, and new ideas is not a new one, but it is occurring now with greater frequency. Some seek to join inherited traditions from within their own ancestral cultures with new traditions from the West or with new technologies. Some are Westerners exploring traditional musical forms and aesthetics from cultures different from their own. The process of engaging interculturally raises complex issues, at times challenging historical attitudes towards the culture of 'the other'. The author considers a wide range of motivations for this emerging body of work, surveying the range of approaches that composers have taken, and urges the cultivation of cultural sensitivity. This essay proposes what the author terms a 'reflective compositional process' with which composers can explore their motivations and compositional strategies and consider the relationships inhering between materials and cultural origins. Implications for works engaging new technologies are considered throughout the essay.

“…Te Hekenga-ä-rangi includes a DVD of Richard Nunns speaking about the cultural use of instruments, and how they are played. This work has revived a tradition of landscape-and language-referenced music drawn from a New Zealand pre-European tradition (Whalley 2005b). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, the manipulation of spatial and pan effects on many tracks is an integral part of the structure of many of the compositions on the second CD. The result is the creation of a new hybrid style that is as much a reflection of contemporary technology as the traditional instruments (Whalley 2005b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

HIEMPA: Hybrid Instruments from Electroacoustic Manipulation and Models of Pütorino and Aquascape

Whalley

2008

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The HIEMPA project combined a team of people with technical, artistic, environmental and cultural expertise towards an artistic outcome aiming to extend the New Zealand sonic art tradition. The work involved collecting audio samples from the aquascape of the Ruakuri Caves and Nature Reserve in Waitomo, South Waikato, New Zealand; and samples of a variety of pütorino – a New Zealand Mäori wind instrument. Following a machine learning analysis of this audio material and an analysis of the performance material, hybrid digital instruments were built and mapped to suitable hardware triggers. The new instruments are playable in realtime, along with the electroacoustic manipulation of pütorino performances. The project takes into account the environmental and cultural significance of the source material, with the results to be released as a set of compositions. This paper discusses the background research and process of the project.