-
At the Composing What? festival in Århus, Denmark, may 2007 we premiered new works by Søren Daugbjerg Jensen, Jørgen Teller and Jakob Brandt-Pedersen.
[click
here]
At the numusic festival in Stavanger, Norway, august 2005 we premiered new works by Steffen Leve Poulsen, Jørgen Teller and Jakob Brandt-Pedersen. At numusic we also initiated a new collaboration with Goodiepal, playing a piece he composed for The Ghettoblaster Ensemble, as an integrated part as his performance at the festival.
[click
here]
-
For the 'Nordic Streets' project we have comissioned works by scandinavian composers: Lasse Marhaug (NOR), Kent Tankred (SWE), Carl Michael von Hauswolf (SWE), Toke Tietze Mortensen (DK) and Jakob Riis (DK). These compositions will be presented at the 'Nordic Streets Tour' 2004-2005
[click
here]
-
The Canadian festival "Sound Travels" commisioned works by John Oswald and Darren Copeland for The Ghettoblaster Ensemble's performances at the Sound Travels festival, at Toronto Island, august 2004.
[click
here]
-
At the concert in the Danish Radio 2. october
2003 The Ghettoblaster Ensemble premiered 3 new works by Søren
Raagaard, Tobias Kirstein and Ture Larsen. [click
here]
-
9 new pieces by danish and asian composers were
premiered at "Streets of Asia" Århus Festuge 2003. [click
here]
-
At the concert at KANTEN
- 10. juli 2003 during the Copenhagen Jazzfestival - 4 new pieces
were premiered. [click
here]
-
On the Copenhagen
Night of Culture 11. 10. 02, The Ghettoblaster Ensemble performed
6 pieces of sound art at 6 selected sites in central Copenhagen. Supported
by The Danish Arts Council and Københavns Kulturfond. [click
here]
Works premiered at Composing What?, Århus, Denmark may 2007:
?
By
Søren Daugbjerg Jensen (2007)
?.
?
By
Jørgen Teller (2007)
?.
?
By
Jakob Brandt-Pedersen (2007)
?.
Works premiered at the numusic festival, Stavanger, Norway august 2005:
Neutrino Fanger (Neutrino Catcher)
By
Steffen Leve Poulsen (2005)
An attemp to catch something tiny.
Filtering noise with fractal generated filter kernels in a way the intellect
doesn't comprehend. Somebodies will.
Sparkling
By
Jørgen Teller (2005)
A spark in the world of spatialisation.
Entomology
By
Jakob Brandt-Pedersen (2005)
The insects are busy with their daily duty, when the flies bring
message about carrion and decay, and the insects rise in an giant
wave, annihilating everything on it's way....and that was summer's
ending.
no title
By
Goodiepal (2005)
The Ghettoblaster Ensemble also performed a new work by Goodiepal, as an integrated part of his performance at the numusic festival.
"...Closing, Goodiepal was guested by Denmark's sound-art Ghettoblaster
Ensemble. The mechanised bird, by now alive and chirping, was joined in
chorus by eight band members, each assigned a set of sounds on their
boom boxes and cued by a conductor. A minute later stage 3 was a
blacked-out aviary."
- Tor Solberg, Soundgenerator.
Works
commisioned for the 'Nordic Streets Tour' 2004-2005:
Fume
By
Kent Tankred (2004)
Fume is a piece based on the different sound sources from Tankred's instrument: Concreseizer.
(Premiered at Kulturnatten, Svendborg Festdage, August 2004)
Sine Wave Babylon
By
Lasse Marhaug (2004)
"Sine Wave Babylon" is a simple piece, composed/designed to "survive" and take advantage of the obvious limitations of eight ghettoblasters as well as the Ghettoblasters Ensemble's practice of performining in unusual locations. The piece is based around a variations of of sine waves that is slowly pierced and swallowed by more abrasive noise elements. "Sine Wave Babylon" is also designed to be possible to play backwards.
(Premiered at Kulturnatten, Svendborg Festdage, August 2004)
auk_sim
By
Toke Tietze Mortensen (2004)
Auk_sim (short for auction simulator) is a real sound composition simulating an auction. From presenting the items for sale to the actual auction, ending with the stroke of the hammer.
(Premiered at Kanten Pinxe Festival, May 2004)
Cadencia por un futuro mejor
By
Jakob Riis (2004)
...for a better future
(Premiered at Kanten Pinxe Festival, May 2004)
Works commisioned for The Ghettoblaster Ensemble's performances at "Sound Travels" Toronto, august 2004:
Blasteroid Convection
By
John Oswald
A funktional number entitled Ain't It Better To Ignite Than To Explode (Chris Brown) performed by Toronto's Bourbon Tabernacle Choir is postformed by 8 blasteroids perambulatorily arrayed, one to an instrumental track (pluderphonically deconstructed from multitrack) into sort of an audsmobile orchestrata, proximated by a surveyor who triangulates, in aural space, distance (equals time), angle (vector of blasteroid to audient), and intensity (relative to distance), attempting to spatially restore the groove to its former pocket.
(Premiered at Sound Travels, Toronto, Canada, August 2004)
Streams of Whispers
By
Darren Copeland (2002)
Streams of Whispers was originally completed in October 2001 as a sound installation for the stairwell of the Latvian House in Toronto during an audio art residency at Charles Street Video. The Idea bihind the installation was to think of the stairwell as a place of migration and transition, or perhaps more figuratively like a current of water through which particles of sound flow from one point to another. Streams of Whispers was made into a 13-minute concert piece in 2002. A version for The Ghettoblaster Ensemble was made in July 2004 as part of an Artist Recidency at the Immersive Soundscapes Workshop at the University of Regina.
(Premiered at Sound Travels, Toronto, Canada, August 2004)
Bells of Centreville
By
Darren Copeland (2004)
The bells used in this piece were taken from one of the rides at Centreville, Toronto Island. On this ride there were several children between the ages of four and seven ringing very exuberantly the small bells that were attached to the small boats in which they rode. The composition and arrangement for the eight ghettoblasters was made in July 2004 as part of an Artist Recidency at the Immersive Soundscapes Workshop at the University of Regina.
(Premiered at Sound Travels, Toronto, Canada, August 2004)
Toronto Island Soundscape Jukebox
By The Ghettoblaster Ensemble (2004)
The Ghettoblaster Ensemble were given the sounds collected for the Toronto Island Sound Map, from which they created their own Island Soundscape. The recordings used in this piece were collected during the Hear Here Soundscape Workshop.
(Premiered at Sound Travels, Toronto, Canada, August 2004)
Works premiered in "Danish Radio, Studio 2, 2. october 2003:
Permutationer ved et fodgængerfelt
(Permutations at a pedestrians crossing)
By
Ture Larsen (2003)
If you can't do the time, don't do the crime
Udelukkelsesmetoden
(The method of exclusion)
By
Søren
Raagaard (2003)
Composition
in four parts:
1.
Outside
2. Home
3. Indoor
4. Gone
Automatically
waterpipes and cooker hoods are filtered fram what we are hearing, leaving
only the recognizable homelike cosyness. In the nowhereland between
an eventfull day and a nap on the couch, the neighbors vacuumcleaner
turns into images of nature where everything is taking new forms and
meanings.
A
Sound Point of View
By
Tobias
Kirstein (2003)
Works
premiered at "Streets of Asia", Århus Festuge, 30. august
2003:
D.I.S.C
"Diaspora In Synchro City"
By
Mukul
(2003)
A
modern Indian city is mapped onto the performance space by the
movements of the musicians and the evolving sound. Drawing on field
recordings made across India, the piece begins with the arrival of a
train at a railway station (a fixed point in the performance space).
The musicians disembark and disperse through the space, passing through
4 distinct locations (railway platform, station forecourt, marketplace
and city square).
Musical
parts are assigned to different "characters" (rather than
voices), such as a Taxi Driver and a Street Hawker. The diverse paths
followed by the musicians through the performance space cross at points;
encounters result.
End:
the musicians return to the station, embark a train, and leave the performance
space.
building
beijing
By fm3
(2003)
"building beijing" is a kinetic sound
snapshot of China's ancient capital, now undergoing one of the largest
construction booms in modern urban history.
Only two years ago, the centuries-old city was
cloaked in silence. Beijing's traditional "hutong" alleyways
and courtyard housing neighborhoods had changed little since imperial
days. Occasional traffic noise could be heard, but the city's soundtrack
remained wind in the trees, idle conversation among neighbors and passing
bicycles.
Ever since Beijing was named host for the 2008
Olympic Games, things have changed remarkably.
Entire districts of traditional housing are being
torn down to make way for roadways and office buildings as part of an
ambitious building program to turn Beijing into a "modern"
metropolis.
The city's imperial solemnity has been replaced
by the roar of concrete mixers and wrecking balls. The clanging, banging
industrial sounds of construction
permeate the city at all hours. There is not a single district or area
or time of day that escapes the sonic onslaught.
"building beijing" is an audio record
of this transformation. Sound samples taken from eight different neighborhoods
reflect the extent which demolition and construction have permeated
life in the once-tranquil city. The high-pitched squeal of a buzzsaw
mixes with migrant workers selling fresh produce. Pounding pile drivers
drown out the drone of summer cicadas. And only when the workers take
a short rest can the now forgotten sounds of birds, trees and idle gossip
be heard.
he had never before watched a woman cry without feeling responsible.
By Yasuhiro
Otani (2003)
At the magic touch of the beautiful the secret
chords of our being are awakened, we vibrate and thrill in response
to its call. He sang of nature and the seasons, of hight mountains and
flowing waters, and all the memories awoke. Mind Speaks to mind. We
listen to the unspoken, we gaze upon the unseen. He calls forth notes
we know not of. Memories long forgotten all come back to us with a new
significance. Hopes stifled by fear, yearnings that we dare not recognise,
stand forth in new glory. The music is of ourselves, as we are of the
music
Await with bated breath its least utterance. Freed
from the fetters of matter,
his spirit moves in the rhythm of thing you will be able to feel.
There is nothing - next to nothing - that only
consists of a slight difference.
You will be able to listen to visible sound and invisible objects on
the daily, memory under subconscious.
The story will start, it keeps projecting on oneself,
be connotation problems
in discovering/conflicting oneself.
HOTEGPON
By ADACHI
Tomomi (2003)
All of materials in this piece are composer's voice
without any sound processing. But the materials are edited by complex
way. You can hear the pronunciation of this nonsense title in the first
part. Maybe you would think the voices are Japanese words, but almost
are not. I think this piece is a kind of sound poetry. It is separated
in 4 sections. Expect the 3rd section, 8 tracks are almost same. Composer
intends the slight gap and movement of sound and illusional perception.
In some aspects, these voices might recall the noise of crowded asian
city, and composer used the asian singing technique.
...·...·...
By Rasmus
B. Lunding (2003)
...·...·... is based on recordings
made by the composer in India, Nepal and Japan between 1988 og 2001.
Since the instruments used in the piece is 8 ghettoblasters, the sounds
are primarely treated as instrumental soundsources. This approach adresses
the japanese term "ongaku". Ongaku can be translated to "music",
but a more precise definition is: "the enjoyment of sound",
being sound in a broader sense than the western term "music"
can adress.
Secondarely the specific characteristics, qualities,
shapes and colours that these recordings embody, because of the asian
origin, is used as a contrast or counterpoint to the surrounding city-scape.
One can say that ...·...·... uses the surrounding soundscape
as "silence" or as sound representing non-awareness, in the
sense that, if living in the city, the everyday-sound of the city usually
becomes an unconscious sound-state of the mind. In other words to be
able to live and function in the city one has to filter out the sounds
of the city that not directly adress oneself or represent somekind of
situation where awareness and consciousness are needed.
This is related to the japanese term "ma" being the concept
of the space between the notes in music, without ma no tension or suspense
will exist.
teku teku
By Jacob Kirkegaard (2003)
The title is japaneese and describes walking quite a distance at a steady
pace. Teku Teku is made from the sounds of Tibetan Bowls and sinewaves
Six views from Mt.Fuji
By Jakob Draminsky Højmark (2003)
Six audio tales gathered during a journey in japan spring 2003.
1 Heiwa Odori _ a ride
2 Motoyasu Gawa _ a dream
3 Hondori _ midday
4 Horikawa Gawa _ a wave
5 Yagembori _ encounter
6 Aioi Bashi _ a hope
Each "blaster" plays unique audio material.
The musicians functions are focused om placement, volume and equalization.
TOFU
FIRE
By Jørgen
Teller (2003)
Spatial sound-piece from travelling Japan in the
late nineties.
A spark from a fire becomes a sonic kaleidoscope.
People, megaphone’s and cars in Tokyo streets and stations, Jap-Rail’s
Shinkansen, scooters and auctionists at Tsukidji fishmarket, a prayer
in a tent, radio-jingles with a baby, gunfights, a scream of horror.....
The 8 Blasters forms a hexagon with wings of thunder.
Works
premiered at KANTEN 10. juli 2003:
JO
By Jonas Olesen (2003)
ZOOLECTRICS
By Pelle Skovmand (2003)
On the zoolectric island, with waves and winds
and everything, strange monkeys and birds are quarreling from the trees.
Subsonic sound is coming from deep inside the island, making the ground
and the trees and leaves tremble.
A sudden crecendo from a marching Zutu é brassband, with massive
outburst of disharmony and everchanging polyrhythmics, silence the talking
of the native, and leave the island inhabitants comfortably calm and
silent.
HORN
FRAGMENT
By Jakob Brandt-Pedersen (2003)
The composition explores the posibilities with
The Ghettoblaster Ensemble. All sounds on the 8 cd's are different samples
of a cowhorn. Each cd is structured in the same way.
In the first movement the musicians slowly walk
around among the audience, while the randomly chooses one of several
tracks of hits and scrapes on the cowhorn.
Next movement the musicians are placed in two groups.
The first group shouts "FRAGMENT" to the second group. They
responds by playing randomly one of the scraping/hit tracks from the
first movement. Second group then shout "HORN" to the first
group, who now tries to get their ghettoblaster play the sound of a
blowing horn. After the first bad attempt they once more shout "FRAGMENT"
to the second group. This
shouting and responding goes one for a while, as the first group slowly
"learns" to blow the horn. Then The second group also learns
to blow the horn.
In the third movement both groups play blowing
cowhorns. Each cd have 12 tracks with twelve tones of an octave. The
musicians randomly choose a tone. This way each blow will consist of
8 randomly chosen tones. The composition ends in a grand C major.
CONDENSER
By Sune
T. B. Nielsen (2003)
Piece for amplifier noise and pauses.
A basic track has been recorded by touching the
condensers in a taperecorder, this track has then been divided into
different frequency bands so that each ghettoblaster is playing its
own part of the sound. The composition offers rich opportunity for the
conductor and the musicians to add dynamics and accentuate the different
shades of the basic sound.
Works
premiered at Copenhagen Cultural Night 11. october 2002:
Composed for the square Kigkurren at Islands brygge,
Copenhagen:
TED
IS BACK IN TOWN
by William Louis Sørensen
(2002)
The sound tumbled down Sturlasgade from the Bryggen
at the Isle of Amager in Copenhagen. Just summer it had been, up town!
Whirring, it caught sight of the ama'rkan, just landed on the island
from touring the city. A cooing arose from the paving stone covered
streets polished by 8 fresh ghetto blasters, walking around in the autumn
with cars, busses, birds, the voices, the dreams & death !
"Ama'r" cried out the gentlewoman, "noise
in your voice" called hither the gentle man, while the birds were
twittering and people splashing in the new harbouring pool. The sound
deaf spread! Suddenly, the late Mr. Ted, an aarhusian artist, comes
balleting up Snorresgade,
Ted is back in town!
Dedicated to the artist Teddy Sørensen.
Click here to listen (Real audio stream)
POSITION
A Moveable Position-oriented Soundpiece for Ghettoblaster-band
By Jakob Brandt-Pedersen
(2002)
The intension of the composition is to create
a soundpiece that emphasizes the site where it is performed, and that
the site directs the movements in the composition, and otherwise is
included in the composition by the way it reflects the sounds comming
from the ghettoblasters.
During the piece the ghettoblasters move from one
position to the next. These positions will be among the audience, so
that they will be surrounded by sounds. The positions can be in open
clusters or tight formations. The movement starts slow but during the
piece the movement speeds up, so that, in the middle section, the ghetthoblasters
rapidly moves to the next postion without any pause. Then the movement
slows down again. The sounds from the ghettoblasters is mainly sine-waves
with different frequencies. The frequencies change in the same manner
as the ghettoblasters movements. The frequencies also affect each other,
creating interference-frequencies.
Position was originally made for the Øster
Voldgade in Copenhagen, put can be performed at any street or square.
The different places can lead to new positions.
Composed for the square and street in front of
the National Museum, Copenhagen:
DISTILLATES
& CONCENTRATIONS
Composition in 4 parts
by Jakob
Riis (2002)
Condensed sounds of various epochs, handed over
in distillates and concentrations, parts themselves from their source,
in an exhibition for potential new insights and recognitions. Different
angles of the sounds are exposed in the various parts of the composition.
Composed for the crossroad in front of the National
Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen:
TONE
RAIN
by Tobias Kirstein (2002)
The sounds will blend with the everyday noise:
the ongoing traffic, passers-by, the movement of the performers, the
click of the ghetto blaster buttons. Maybe it will be like rain: irritatingly
cold and at the same time beautiful to watch. This piece is about the
space in which it can be heard.
THE
NOISE OF THE STREETS
A cacophonic sound relief
By Sune T. B. Nielsen (2002)
H.C. Andersens Boulevard is one of the places in
inner Copenhagen where there is most traffic. Glyptoteket is an honourable
art museum that besides some classical concerts now and then, is lying
silently between sparkling Tivoli and the horns and pianos which can
be heard from the windows of the Royal Academy of Music.
Here Ssshhhhh's ghetto blaster orchestra is placed
as an accelerator to accentuate an blend with the existing sounds. Sounds
form cars, bicycles, traders, people partying, tooting, singing and
so on are merged into a carpet of sounds to make a sound relief to the
sounds already in the street. The director’s job is to sonically
navigate the musicians around in the traffic in order to accentuate
and reflect the intensity of the city streets which its sounds is an
inseparable part of.
Composed for the square in front of Christiansborg
- the Danish parliament:
FALLING
DRONES - A DISAPPEARING ACT
by Jørgen
Teller (2002)
A piece using very very very short sample-loops
that, by constant prolooooooooooooooooongiiing, creates several falling
drones. These travels through their own over-, sub'n'dub tones. During
this the sharpest silences of the night sky will meet with the implosions
of miscellaneous landing matter. At the premiere the 8 ghetto blasters
were boldly used to redirect the orbit of the earth around the planet
of the night.
All the sounds in this piece are based on unique
recordings of sounds of the entrance and outrance of Christiansborg
- the Danish parliament - and her surroundings.
Composed for the Ssshhhhh Sound biennial 1999:
"HOW
DO YOU LIKE YOUR NOISE?" VERSION 2.2
by Søren 'helvildt' Raagaard
(1999)
www.menneske.dk/helvildt
This is the third time I ask the audience - by
playing a piece of music of that name. The first time it was 12 minutes
long; the second time 7 minutes, and this time only 4 minutes. The peace
shortens from one performance to the next, as if it tries to disappear
to give way to the question itself.
"How do you like your noise?" develops
into a more precise statement, and I sharpen my musical language as
a sound artist.
