XKatedral proudly presents an evening at Fylkingen with Ansis Bētiņš and Artūrs Čukurs singing a selection of Slavic Folk Songs and Tom Mudd presenting his work within the realm of physical modeling and algorithmic gutter synthesis.
SLAVIC FOLK SONGS
Ansis Bētiņš and Artūrs Čukurs are a newly formed vocal duo from Riga, Latvia. Driven by their organic interest in different singing traditions of various periods, regions, and styles, Ansis and Artūrs have created a collection of Slavic songs - polyphonic folk songs and spiritual chants from diverse Slavic singing traditions based on oral traditions and melodies without specific authors or composers. With a special emphasis on Ukrainian songs, they tell the stories of loneliness, longing for home, peace, and freedom, observing nature, and the divine, but at the core of it all – of love that hurts, heals, and brings peace. The songs are performed in the characteristic "white voice" style, which requires no significant amplification or accompaniment.
Ansis Bētiņš is a singer and musician from Riga, Latvia. He studied academic singing and early music at the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music (JVLMA) and the Luigi Cherubini Conservatory in Florence, Italy. He is a lecturer and vocal pedagogue in the JVLMA musicology and early music departments, and in the Riga Cathedral Choir School. Ansis has extensive experience as a soloist and has collaborated with both local and international artists, early music ensembles, and orchestras. His repertoire extends from Renaissance to contemporary music. Among his other interests, language and rhetoric stand out, which is why both his work on ancient music and his work as a freelance actor are connected.
Artūrs Čukurs is a theatre artist and musician from Riga, Latvia. He has studied at the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music, the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, and the Theatre Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (DAMU). With a keen interest in collective creation methods, he is driven by a desire for diversity and is always seeking new ways to blend musical and theatrical experiences together.
TOM MUDD
Tom Mudd (UK)
Tom Mudd enjoys making music with computers. Recent work revolves around physical models: digital synthesis processes based on physical simulations of acoustic objects and instruments. Brass Cultures (Fancyyyyy) uses massed brass synthesis: digital models of physically improbable brass instruments being played by algorithms. Guitar Cultures is due to be released in 2022. Previous work released on the Entr’acte label explored similar territory with his own synthesis processes. He currently lectures in sound and music at Edinburgh College of Art.
https://tommudd.bandcamp.com/album/gutter-synthesis
“In Tom Mudd’s work, the conceptual and technological processes are paramount. For this particular release, both are embedded in the Gutter Synthesis algorithm and software which was created for and used in all six tracks. An inevitable consequence of this way of working is that masses of material can be created, which then requires both selection and editing. Once these decisions have taken place a strange, apparently contradictory, perceptual shift takes place towards the material.
The listener is confronted with complex, intense and emotionally charged musical events. This was not Tom Mudd’s intention as he’s not overtly concerned with personal expression. A deep interest in algorithmic computer processes is his guiding principal. Yet from this apparently cold approach to making music comes vivid, dramatic, sound art, packed with rich emotional layers that never operate at the level of the trite and illustrative. There is also a strong formal and structural quality to his pieces that allows, in the best possible sense, the listener to ‘immerse’ themselves in this challenging sound world.”
John Wall on ‘Gutter Synthesis’ (2017)
Entrance: 150kr (Regular), 130kr (Student/Member/Unemployed).
Production: Xkatedral