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eCo, Electroacoustic Music from Colombia I remember a few years ago an informal chat I had about music technology and composition with Guillermo Diaz. In those days I was working on a soundscape piece, using tape technology to get the sound of a digital composition. Multitrack two-inch recorders were the analog state of the art in Colombia, and evidently there was not so much splicing, editing or cutting tape. Instead, there was the magic of the automated mixing console, track bouncing, and suggestions by Don Guillermo, El Marciano (The Martian). (I learned his nickname a few days after from another of the great electroacoustic pioneers). Guillermo had been technician and engineer at the National Radio Broadcasting Institute of Colombia since its early days during the forties and fifties. In his mind it was clear that this sort of electronic technology served one purpose: unless -Cumbias- were recorded on those machines, they would behave as musical instruments. But it was not until the early sixties that they became the musical instrument Mr. Diaz had envisioned. In those days (or rather nights), the studios of National Radio became an electroacoustic laboratory. There were some tone generators and recorders, and the spirit of a composer and the ideas of a technician. The result was the first electroacoustic piece in Colombia, called Ensayo Electronico. At another lunch with Guillermo in Cali, Colombia, our discussion focused on further developments achieved later, in particular in the subject of computer music and composition by Camilo Rueda and his team at IRCAM. This concert is a portrait of music technology and its role in the music of Colombia, from the Ampex tape recorder to digital signal processing and music workstation technology. Its path unfolds the identities and quests of the mainstream of Colombian composers. The pieces of this concert represent almost 35 years of assertions and contradictions in the electroacoustic production of Colombia. - Juan Reyes
Ensayo Electronico for tape (1966)
Jagua(r) for tape (1995)
Gracias! Dalila for tape (1996)
...del imperativo for tape (1996-1998)
Metamorfosis II for tape and video
Cantos de La Creacion de La Tierra for tape
Ensayo Electronico is a transcription of a chorale in the traditional sense to electronic sound through a simple procedure from a series of numeric relations between the tone, harmonic structures and electronic frequencies. This piece, which is the first electronic composition ever produced in Colombia, was produced at Radiodifusura Nacional studios with Mr. Guillermo Diaz' technical support. Jagua(r) (1995), is a stroll through water, growing vegetation and animal fur*. The body shows the vestiges and sediments of the progress of a changing metal. Jagua(r) is fluidity, animal mechanics, gestures of organisms and transformations. In Jagua(r), sounds, their kinetic energy and morphology fit together like plastic forms. Like a sculptor, the composer wanted to use (sound) images in space. *Jagua is the mineral residue left at the bottom of washing tanks used by gold panners, but it is also a multicolored tree from inter-tropical America. The Jaguar is an American tiger with yellow and black spotted fur. Gracias Dalila (1996)is based on the Samson and Dalilah story, which can be found in the Bible. It has its climax in the very first instant of music. The development symbolizes Samson's efforts to recover after Dalilah cut his hair. The sound material comes from a real haircut of the composer. This piece was composed for the Absolute Musik Music Festival, and premiered in Allensteig, Austria, July 8 1996. .. del imperativo... (1996-1998) ... It's the most variable part of all... it expresses existence, action, state... Metamorfosis II has two contrasting sections in which music objects of the first section return in the second section. The transformation in this piece is more a process of addition of several sound synthesis techniques than a transformation of one event into the next. With this process, the composer tries to express the metamorphosis of sound through time. Csound, Max/MSP, SoundHack and Protools were the applications used to create this work. Synthesis and resynthesis techniques used in "Metamorfosis II" included additive, subtractive, FM, and AM synthesis, LPC, convolution, and phase vocoding. Cantos de La Creacion de La Tierra was produced at the
Universidad Nacional de Buenos Aires, Acoustics Laboratory
under the baton of Francisco Kropfl. This work is based on an original
Tunebo text from indians in the region of Boyaca (Colombia). It
is the only source of material modified by means of analog signal
processing. The text is a fairy tale in ``Paleontegria'', the
Colombian ``chibcha'' tribe fossilized language used in magic chants.
This piece has been performed in Bogota, Uruguay, Buenos Aires, and
has also been featured at the contemporary music festival in Bourges (France).
Fabio Gonzalez Zuleta studied music at The Los Angeles School of Music (California, 1929) and at the Conservatorio Nacional de Musica(Bogota, 1932). In 1944 he obtained his degree as concert organist. In 1943 he joined the Conservatorio Nacional as professor of Musical Theory, Harmony, Counterpoint, Fugue and Composition. From 1957 to 1967 he was chairman of the conservatory and was then appointed Vice-Dean of the College of Arts at the National University of Colombia. In 1966, he was a special guest of the German Government while attending electronic music lessons with K. Stockhausen at the Cologne studio. His compositions include vocal and instrumental works in various genres including electronic composition. Some of his music were premiered during the Second Interamerican Music Festival in Washington (1961). Furthermore, he has composed several chorale pieces, songs and lieder, music for the screen and theatre and produced periodic radio and television broadcasts. Mauricio Bejarano (Bogota, 1955). He has explored several fields of creativity such as design, sculpture, painting, poetry, essays and acousmatic art. Currently he is Associate Professor in the faculty of the College Fine at the National University of Colombia. He has attended several workshops and seminars on electroacoustic composition by Daniel Teruggi and Francois Bayle (INA-GRM), Francis Dhomont, Sthephane Roy, John Chowning, Jean Claude Risset and Michel Zbar. He has exhibited his art work both at individual and group exhibitions. His music is widely performed around the world including Spain, France, Holland, Belgium, Austria, Canada, USA, Mexico and Uruguay. His composition Jagua(r), was awarded a prize in the International Acousmatic Composition Competition, Noroit 95. Mauricio Bejarano has created radiophonic and sonic art works, has written several essays on electroacoustic music, and periodically lectures on the topic. Ricardo Escallon (1971), studied music theory and composition at the University of Los Andes in Bogota, Colombia. He pursued graduate studies in computer music and electronic media at the University of Music and Representative Arts of Vienna, Austria, where he graduated with the highest distinction of the Academy. Parallel to his activities as an elctroacoustic music composer, Ricardo is professor of sound design and audio postproduction for movies at the Film and TV Department of the National University of Colombia, and also teaches audio post-production in the Audio Engineering program at the Javeriana University in Bogota. He works in the Audio for Film department at Sonido Comercial Publicitario in Bogota. Roberto Garcia (Bogota, Colombia, 1958), studied piano and music pedagogy. In 1981 he went to Barcelona, Spain, where he studied composition through electro-acoustic media at Phonos Foundation with composer Gabriel Brncic. He was attended several workshops run by Luigi Nono, Fancisco Kropfl and Camilo Rueda. From 1984 he has been featured composer and instrumentalist at a number of events such as: Phonos Concerts Cycles at Fundacion Mir in Barcelona; International Music Festival of Barcelona; and the Festival International de Musique Experimentale Synthese in Bourges, France. In 1987 he was appointed to the post of teacher at "Centre d'Iniciatives i Experimentacio per a Joves", Fundacion La Caixa, in Barcelona. Under the leadership of Cochlea (Clara Garcia and Jose Manuel Berenguer), he designed sound artefacts for a workshop at Centre Cultural La Caixa in Barcelona. In 1993 he was appointed to the post of teacher and coordinator of Electro-acoustic and Computer Music at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia Music Departament in Bogota. He has composed incidental music for the theater, puppet shows, radio, television and films. In 1996 he got a grant from the Colombian Ministry of Culture for musical creations. During the last three years he has been working at the Ministry of Culture in Media and Communications and at the Music Department of the Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Lucio Edilberto Cuellar C., born in Santa Fe de Bogota, Colombia, began musical studies at the conservatory of the National University of Colombia in his native city. In Colombia, his major professor was Eduardo de Heredia. In 1979, he moved to the United States, where he completed a Bachelor's degree in piano performance at Kennesaw State University in Marietta, GA and a M.M. in music composition at Georgia State University in Atlanta, GA. Presently, Mr. Cuellar is a candidate for a DMA in composition at the University of North Texas where he has been a Teaching Fellow and a recipient of the of the Merril Ellis composition scholarship. Mr. Cuellar has studied composition with Phil Winsor and Larry Austin, and is presently a student of Jon C. Nelson. Mr. Cuellar works with algorithmic composition, sound synthesis, multimedia pieces and music for traditional instruments. Jaqueline Nova, was born in Belgium and studied at Conservatorio Nacional de Musica de Bogota. In 1967 she was granted a masters degree in composition and soon after, was awarded a scholarship to study at Instituto Torcuato de Tella in Buenos Aires, where she worked with Alberto Ginastera, Luigi Nono, Francisco Kroepfl and Cristobal Halffter. She obtained important mentions such as the first prize at The Third Musical Festival of Caracas in 1966 for her composition Metamorfosis II. Her music was awarded several times by the Colombian ministry of culture. Jaqueline Nova should be remembered for her strong interest in promoting contemporary music and in particular elctroacoustic music music in Colombia and the world. Her vision anticipated the widening range of available sound media and revealing unexplored zones. Her music trascends from the domain of music to the fine arts and theatre.
Born in Barranquilla, Colombia, Juan Reyes, currently at CCRMA,
holds degrees in mathematics and music composition. Since 1989 he has co-organized the
International Contemporary Music Festival and periodic electro-acoustic
cycles in Bogota. He was also professor of art, music and a research
associate at La Universidad de Los Andes in Bogota. His research
topics include Physical Modeling, and Spectral Modeling of musical
instruments, Algorithmic Composition, Artificial Intelligence and
their use for Expression Modeling. Among his works are Equus y
Resonancias, a collection of computer music works for the stage and
also several compositions based upon instrumental sound subjects like
Boca de Barra, for trombone, and Sygfrydo for
cello. In the context of sound installations his works ppP
and Los Vientos de Los Santos Apostoles have been presented
in museums and galleries of Colombia as well as in the San Francisco
Bay Area. His writings have appeared on several international
publications and his music has been performed around the world as
part of contemporary music radio broadcasts and festivals.
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