|
The Computer
Music Independent Festival |
by UEHARA Kazuo (composer, JACOM representative)
|
Last fall a concert presenting works of computer
music submitted by the general public was given by the Japan Computer
Music Association(JACOM) and Xebec. This was the second such concert
following the first five years ago. In the following report, JACOM
representative UEHARA Kazuo discusses the variety of works that
were submitted and the group's plans for the future.
On November 24, 1997, a concert entitled "Computer
Music Independent" was held at Xebec Hall. This event was
organized with the objective of presenting every work of computer
music that was received from the public at large without being
evaluated in any way. The concept was based on the independent
exhibitions that have long been held in the art world to discover
unknown artists with noteworthy talent.
JACOM,
the organization that planned and produced the event, formed at
the time of ICMC (International Computer Music Conference) in
1993--the first time it was held in Japan--making this the group's
fifth year in existence. Since JACOM was formed in order to act
as a catalyst for computer music and international exchange, we
have worked to assemble a membership of internationally active
composers as well as researchers and performers. In the past,
we organized two events called "Computer Music Today,"
which presented the latest work in the Japanese computer music
field, in 1994 and again in 1996. In March 1997, we produced a
concert called "Japan-Korea: The Forefront of Computer Music"
in Seoul. This event was one of the first steps in developing
a computer music network in the Asian region.
Next, I'd like to offer my thoughts on the "Computer Music
Independent" concert. The first concert in this series was
also held at Xebec about five years ago. Many of the artists who
participated then have since become active in the field, and in
this way, the goal of the event has been achieved. Since the last
event, there have been great chances in the technological environment
that exists in the field, leading us as producers of the event
to engage in discussions over such basic questions as what kind
of works should be accepted. On the one hand, it would be a valid
approach to refrain from placing any conditions on submissions
in order to indicate the diverse nature of computer music. But
in the end, the policy we settled on was designed to give as much
exposure as possible to advanced or experimental works. This decision
resulted in a certain degree of filtration by focusing on live
computer music. The idea was to avoid works that merely played
back musical data that had been fed into a computer using sequencing
software, and works that only used tapes. Thus, we anticipated
that the works submitted would be interactive, and therefore,
performed live.
Most of the eleven works that were submitted involved the production
of sound in real time, and many of these involved MIDI data that
was processed through the use of programs such as MAX. Although
space constraints prevent me from discussing them all, I would
like to say something about the works that were performed in the
first half of the concert.
NAKAMURA Fumitaka's "Magical" featured live guitar and
keyboard performances as well as a visual display. As the MIDI
data was performed live, it was mixed together and developed with
computer-produced live sounds. "Object-Oriented Music for
the Internet (No. 1.0)" by OKAMOTO Hisashi was based on the
concept that music can be enjoyed as a group of people exchange
data with each other by making use of the information environment
that is the Internet. The interactive element of the work was
created by making music with a mouse to control the graphic symbols
on a network browser. NAGASHIMA Yoichi's "Atom Hard Mothers"
employed sound created automatically by MAX algorithms and elements
of altered natural sound as a backdrop for sounds that were created
by a performer's actions to make live computer music. A variety
of sensors that Nagashima had developed himself were activated
by physical movements. FURITSU Ikue's "Mizu wo Kudasai"
incorporated a poem by HIDAKA Teru that deals with the atomic
bomb. Orations were performed by Hidaka and Gerald BIEDERMAN accompanied
by multiple layers of computer-processed sound to create a kind
of theater piece. "Mirage" by YOSHIDA Yasushi involved
the performance of live guitar sounds being sampled and played
back by a KYMA system to create a musical work. This was one of
the few pieces in the event that employed DSP (digital signal
processing).
In the break between the first and second halves of the concert,
I gave a tutorial called "The Origins of Technological Music:
A History of INA-GRM." Besides introducing the diverse activities
being undertaken at INA-GRM in Paris, which I had visited last
summer to produce a new composition, I discussed the various works
that have been created by composers such as Iannis XENAKIS and
Jean-Claude RISSE from the 50s until the present at the research
facility as well as the sound processing and montage techniques
that were advocated by Pierre SCHAEFFER according to his "objet
sonores" concept.
In the fall of 1998, which will mark JACOM's sixth year, an
international computer music festival is being planned to help
encourage further developments and exchange in the field. Together
with the cooperative efforts of many others, I am looking forward
to the future of computer music.
JACOM,
the organization that planned and produced the event, formed at
the time of ICMC (International Computer Music Conference) in
1993--the first time it was held in Japan--making this the group's
fifth year in existence. Since JACOM was formed in order to act
as a catalyst for computer music and international exchange, we
have worked to assemble a membership of internationally active
composers as well as researchers and performers. In the past,
we organized two events called "Computer Music Today,"
which presented the latest work in the Japanese computer music
field, in 1994 and again in 1996. In March 1997, we produced a
concert called "Japan-Korea: The Forefront of Computer Music"
in Seoul. This event was one of the first steps in developing
a computer music network in the Asian region.