Last night I was invited to see a show that is part of Teatro IATI’s Performing Arts Marathon. The program was made up of two electro-acoustic acts Sabrina Lastman and Bora Yoon. Both used elements of electronics in concordance with their voice, though Ms. Lastman’s fell more on the acoustic side of the spectrum.
Ms. Lastman’s performance was called Dialogues of Silence and was in Spanish (which is unfortunate for this listener because any referential aspects that the words my have had were lost because of his mono-lingual capacity). Even so, most of the work involved Ms. Lastman exploring all the different colors and timbres the human voice can create without modification through electronics (rather, as little modification as possible, the performance was mic’d). Additionally, she would use simple sonic objects, like claves, an acoustic megaphone (like this), chimes or her hands to supply a simple rhythm section. The effect was interesting and a great exploration in what sounds a single person can make. The piece was split into different sections, some which were explorations of the a fore mentioned sound creation and others were latin sounding songs (some without words) that incorporated the timbrel exploration of the voice to a lesser extent. This work was really fun to listen to but it was also less approachable at certain points. This is due to its straying towards a certain Cageian aesthetic where any sounds are appreciable for what they are. This is an alright ideal, but sometimes just a bizarre experience in this sense:
- I can make these sounds myself.
- Though I can make these sounds, I do not make these sounds myself.
- Why don’t I make these sounds myself?
- These sounds are largely annoying.
- Why am I listening to these sounds?
Here is Ms. Lastman’s Youtube Channel and a video of her work:
Bora Yoon started her performance off stage using a piano behind the hall and singing into two different sets of walkie-talkies. The output side of the walkie-talkies were positioned at the back left and right of the concert hall and every time she would take her finger off the “talk” button it would make that Nextel Walkie-Talkie sound. This was jarring, especially after hearing her distorted voice lustfully beckon from the one walkie talkie or the other. After the opening piece she played a series of songs very different from the first which were more indie, electro-pop (though one of the songs was a straight up hipster, coffee shop song). I thought that her take on electronic music was really cool. She combined effects that only a computer can make with her own voice and other physical instruments in a way that was stunningly beautiful. Listen to the video below (PLINKO was one of the pieces on the program) and you’ll hear how she combines a delayed echo that is repeated over and over to create a rhythmic and harmonic pattern for her voice to soar over.
Over all both performances were a pleasant surprise. Many times, my going to avant works is accompanied by bouts of hair pulling and head aches, but these acts were refreshing and deserve a larger audience than the one they recieved last night.