Past Performances

I. Neurotransmits by Cláudio De Pina
Neurotransmits (anagram of ‘number stations’) is an electroacoustic composition that explores the eerie and mysterious world of number stations. Featuring sounds from ‘The Buzzer’, ‘The Pip’, Lincolnshire Poacher, among others from different countries. The sounds of the number stations are woven together with the electronic hum and other electronic apparatus, evoking a sense of cold war operations. Other sounds mimic capacitors discharging such as bullets and bouncing balls.

II. String Pulse by Bekah Simms
Using a NASA recording of a pulsar as a starting point, String Pulse by Bekah Simms interweaves processed sounds of space with electric guitar recordings performed by Graham Banfield that are part of Simms’ personal library. There is a serendipitous synergy to these two seemingly disparate sounds - electric guitar seems to live easily amidst sometimes grainy, sometimes rumbling recordings of stars, planets, and other galactic objects. Various interpretations of “pulsar” are used throughout the short work, from the recording itself to granulation in the shape of Carl Sagan’s pulsar map to regular flashes of short, bright guitar harmonics. "String Pulse" was created as part of the Turbulent Forms workshop in 2017 with guidance from Dan Tapper.

III. Your Violence is Soft by Rutmeat
Rutmeat says about this piece, "“I don’t really want to prescribe anything to the listener. The piece is made w contact mics, beaded belongings and a cymbal on the floor.” The piece is mixed by Oscar Vargas.

IV. London Punch by Keith de Mendonca
Let Mr Punch lead you on a sound journey around an imaginary London, its bells and its ghosts. From Samuel Pepys’ birthplace off Fleet Street and across the river Thames to stare into the Great fire. Climb Pentonville hill and dance on the musical grave of “Joey” Grimaldi the clown.

I. Entre Temps Perdus by Martín Rodríguez
Entre Temps Perdus is part of a project that began as exploratory sessions between by Rodri?guez and choreographer/dancer Corinne Crane. Together they examined the stretching of a single moment in time and creating a space between contemplation and movement. These sessions began prior to the pandemic, but gained in importance once the realities of the global health crisis took hold.

From these initial experiments, Rodríguez developed an instrument using live radio broadcasts, a theremin, and a single cymbal. Exploring time, movement, and resonance, the result is an unveiling of harmonies and textures merging sounds of a cymbal with those of radio transmission. This unconventional instrument creates music that can be described as Ambient Electroacoustics. The piece "Entre Temps Perdus" further implores the use of field recordings taken as Rodríguez observed a new-found silence emerging out of Montréal’s urban spaces during the early days of the pandemic. The piece was mixed by Martín Rodríguez and monsieur_b with mastering by Sébastien Fournier.

II. Lingap by Kat Estacio and Dale Bazar
Lingap n. (tagalog): compassionate care

One of the ways Kat Estacio learned to tend to and receive care from community during the pandemic was through food. She looked at the work being done by community pantries that had popped-up across the Philippines like the Maginhawa Community Pantry in Quezon City and Community Fridges in Toronto; these local and decentralized initiatives addressed food security in ways that governments (and it's partnered community agencies) could not.

On the piece Lingap, she collaborated with Dale Bazar, a Kulintang musician who studied Ethnomusicology in Manila under the guidance of Kulintang master Aga Mayo Butocan. Dale is also a fellow community organizer and culture producer.

Kat started building the track with a bell/chime synth sound to spell out "Kumain k n b" (have you eaten) in Morse code. This message is usually how she and her beloveds show their care, by asking if we had eaten. She took inspiration from the time when Banana Ketchup was invented (wartime era) and used the rhythm of the Morse code as a foundation to build the piece. The notes she used are based on the tuning of the Kulintang, which is accompanied by some pads and drums. Dale then added kulintang rhythms, flute and some fat beats. Their guiding principle is 8+5: using the 8 gongs of Maguindanaon kulintang from Mindanao and 5 for the pentatonic scale of Kalinga music from Northern Luzon. Together it is 13, the number of the divine feminine, an invitation to turn towards our caring nature and to nourish ourselves and our community. A reminder that to care for each other is revolutionary, that there is strength in togetherness, and what is fed and cared for is what flourishes. Lingap was included in Nusasonic Radio, episode 5: Banana Ketchup, produced by HERESY and WSK.

III. Constriction by AJ Cornell
Constriction by AJ Cornell issues from a confluence of episodes of Chaud pour le mont stone, a radio art programme operated by Martine H. Crispo on CKUT 90.3FM in Montreal since the early 90s. The piece centers on and branches out from an episode where Cornell used re-amped radios, accordion, the high frequency hiss of a radiator, and a tone generator (operated by Mara Fortes) fluctuating between 20 and 30 Hz. Cornell had previously conducted some tests about the limits of FM radio's frequency response. She found that a carrier wave saturated with a low frequency tone could be used to modulate other sources, functioning like a gate of sorts capable of distorting and cutting out the secondary source. This technique (working with frequencies that fall outside of the optimal range of frequencies the FM carrier wave is capable of reproducing with a certain fidelity) has a muffling effect on the other sounds being sent through the transmission. Cornell hears it as constricting the transmission space and creating a muffled aesthetic that elicits an effort on the listening apparatus. The on-air performance with the tone generator was mixed in with elements from other improvised radio performances, some recorded with instruments, small synthesizers, resonant bowls, field recordings of rocks on a thinly iced pond, cassette tape field recording collages, and the lamentations of the metal gate outside the radio studio window.

I. Audio Birth Project by Susan Frykberg
The Audio Birth Project consists of a number of different pieces centred around interviews with Susan Frykberg’s sisters and mother on the process of giving birth. Frykberg’s intent was to use interview material as the source for a whole gamut of creative audio responses ranging from abstract composition to sound poetry to narrative to soundscape composition. The works in the series appear on the CD Astonishing Sense on the Earsay label from Vancouver.

The first piece in the series is “Margaret” and it is a three minute work for fixed media.

The second piece is “Astonishing Sense of Being Taken Over by Something Far Greater Than Me” and the 8-minute piece is scored for violin and fixed media. NAISA will present a fixed media version with the violin part played by Nancy Di Novo who originally commissioned this piece in the series. Frykberg says that this piece is based and textually on the process of giving birth. The title is taken from a description by her sister Margaret Bendall of giving birth to one of her sons. Her voice opens and closes the work, and is heard, highly processed, at specific structural points. The tape part also contains granulated violin, synthesized and natural sounds. The work is based on moments of contraction and extension, mirrored by the violinist who in performance alternated playing with prayer.

The third and final piece in the series is the six minute "I Didn't Think Much About It” which was for piano and fixed media. NAISA will present a fixed media version with the piano part played by Andrew Czink.

II. Simula by Soft Alchemy
Simula is an 8-channel audio-visual work created with the sounds of Mothers giving birth, blended with electromagnetic recordings captured at a hospital during labour. The piece is a five movement reflection of the emotional journey experienced by three Mothers. Each of the Mothers gave birth in different ways, varying time spans, and one even in another province. The Mothers do not know each other, and have never met, yet they are remotely connected through the experience they shared.

Simula attempts to take its audience on an inward journey of birth. Through this composition, we are able to bear witness to the "secret" and "hidden" sounds that happen daily; the sounds that reflect the worry, the visceral pain and the overwhelming emotions of giving birth.

Production Credits for Simula:

Creation/Composition - apè aliermo
Generative Visuals - Sahar Homami
Audio Engineer - Rose Bolton
Technician - Kat Estacio