September 17th (Sunday), 3:00 p.m. — 4:30 p.m. (EDT)
Zoom Meeting Link: https://harvard.zoom.us/j/94551410844?pwd=S1VuYVRnOWZBTzQ5RjArK3oxWFNZZz09
Conversations and Diversions: An Experimental Sound Installation
Samuel Boateng
I first learned about multi-instrumentalist, sculptor, and instrument maker Nii Noi Nortey in 2012 when I was reading Steven Feld’s book about Jazz Cosmopolitanism in Accra, however my first in-person encounter with him occurred in the summer of 2018 while I was conducting fieldwork at the J.H. Nketia Archives, University of Ghana. Over the years, conversations with Nortey has allowed me to learn about and document his life story through my recently defended dissertation. I have gained a deep appreciation and understanding for his work as a cultural activist in Britain (1972-1989), his transnational collaborations with anti-colonial and anti-apartheid artists from around the world, and his decolonial approach to thinking of African history, archival practice, and Afrodiasporic culture. As a pianist, I have engaged with Nortey in multiple instances of musical performance, drawing largely on free jazz, experimental, and improvisatory languages. The sound installation that I propose combines music, images, and conversations. It derives from a series of improvised music that I recorded with Nortey in Accra during the summer of 2023, and it samples our conversations about African history and the importance of archival practice in memorializing African experiences in the diaspora. Finally, it offers a visual component that draws on images curated from Nortey’s Anyaa Arts Library—his home archives—where he documents decades of cultural and political activism alongside musical collaborations and his personal life. The proposed installation is therefore an acoustemological practice that puts sound, conversation, and memory work in dialogue.
Samuel Boateng
Samuel Boateng is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, filmmaker, visual artist, playwright, and researcher from Ghana, and he also has a Ph.D. in Music/Jazz Studies from the University of Pittsburgh. He holds an M.A. in Ethnomusicology from Kent State University with a research focus on the role of film, sound, and visual culture in shaping contemporary narratives about gender and sexuality in Ghanaian popular performance. As an ASCAP, ACLS, and Andrew Mellon awardee, Samuel has collaborated with diverse artists across many genres in Ghana, the United States, and Indonesia, and his works have been performed by the Pittsburgh Jazz Orchestra, Cleveland Chamber Symphony, Kent State Orchestra, Quartetto di Venezia, and Afro Yaqui Music Collective. Samuel’s multidisciplinary Ph.D. research examines the continuous and mutual influences between Africa and the African Diaspora in order to challenge colonial narratives that place Africa only in the past of jazz history and development. His 2022 documentary film “Accra Jazz Dialogues” captures this Afrodiasporic relationship by bringing attention to the untold stories of contemporary jazz artists in Ghana’s capital city of Accra. In 2021 his musical play “Sunsum is Spirit,” an exploration of myth, migration, and collaboration in the African diaspora premiered at Pittsburgh’s New Hazlett Theater. In 2019 his paper “Jazz and Contemporary Music Making in Ghana: Making a Case for Decolonizing African Music Research” received the African and African Diasporic Music Section (AADMS) African Libraries Student Paper Prize at the national SEM conference.
In Vitro: Revealing Memories With the Present
Luis Miguel Delgado Grande
Plaza San Mateo served as the central marketplace in Bucaramanga for a significant portion of the 20th century. It was built in the late 1920s and early 1930s to give the community a better marketplace. The plaza is surrounded by the most central district of the city, where most of the working class gathers to shop, meet, and work. However, in 1979, a massive fire caused substantial material losses, leading to the plaza's abandonment. Subsequently, the market moved outside, onto the streets. The installation titled In Vitro took place within this abandoned historical building in 2018. It comprised three principal elements: the Plaza San Mateo building as the location, a soundscape composition reflecting the surroundings of Plaza San Mateo, and a camera obscura that resulted from a small part of the façade’s collapse due to the building’s ongoing decay. This project aimed to explore two concepts that shed light on the interconnectedness of sound, space, and memory. Firstly, it drew on Giles Deleuze and Felix Guattari’s rhizomatic thought, which served as an effective tool to recognize sound, image, and space as three distinct intertexts. Secondly, it incorporated Nigel Thrift's non-representational theory, allowing the conceptual objective of "revealing a space" to focus on the term "public" as the primary nonrepresentational meaning in artistic practice.
Luis Miguel Delgado Grande
Luis is a Colombian composer and Ph.D. student in Composition and Music Theory of University of Pittsburgh. His work as a composer is based on the development of musical discourse, from the structures with musical potential such as literature, physical phenomena, and public space intervention. His scores are published by Babel Scores.
Website: https://www.delgadogrande.com/
Memory and Resonance
Nicolás Eduardo Rosenberg Riveros
Memory and Resonance is a sound installation that was recorded in the KZ Dachau and KZ Sachsenhausen concentration camps. The primary objective of this installation is to serve as a Sonic testimony, bearing witness to the heinous atrocities that occurred during the Holocaust. To achieve this, field recordings were meticulously captured from within the prison corridors of these concentration camps. These captured sounds were then subjected to a process of iterative playback and re-recording, reminiscent of Alvin Lucier's composition I'm Sitting in a Room. The resulting outcome is a sonic representation of these spaces, where the phenomena of reverberation and resonance unfold, revealing and encapsulating the events that transpired within these somber environments. I used the term "Sonic Testimony" to indicate that the use of recorded sounds within concentration camps is a testament to the atrocities that occurred there. The sound elements become a voice for what happened there, ensuring that the history is heard and remembered. It is also symbolic to record inside a prison because the echoes and reverberations within the sound installation symbolize the Holocaust's enduring impact on individual and collective memory. They represent the echoes of history, reminding us that the past must never be forgotten or repeated. In metaphorical terms, an historical reverberation. Lastly, the sound installation examines the capacity of sound as a medium for memory. It emphasizes the distinct ability of sounds to evoke emotions, memories, and create a visceral connection to the past. The installation intends to engage the audience on a profoundly emotional and introspective level by immersing them in the aural environment of concentration camps.
Nicolás Eduardo Rosenberg Riveros
Nico Rosenberg is a sound artist, multi-instrumentalist and audio plugin designer hailing from the vibrant city of Santiago de Chile. With a passion for experimentation and sonic exploration, Nico delves into the realm of field recordings, obsolete cassette recorders and modular synthesizers, crafting a unique auditory experience that blends hope and melancholy.
Nico first gained recognition as a founding member of the esteemed Chilean band, Boraj, captivating audiences across his homeland as well as Canada and the USA with their mesmerizing performances. Building upon this success, Rosenberg embarked on a solo career, delving into the realms of ambient music and sound art. His evocative albums, released in various countries, captivated listeners with their ethereal and immersive sonic landscapes.
In 2022 he unveiled a remarkable collaborative project titled "Paisajes Imaginarios" with acclaimed Norwegian pianist Julia Gjertsen. This extraordinary endeavor was released under the prestigious Californian label, Constellation Tatsu, further cementing Nico's reputation as a captivating and boundary-pushing artist.
Currently, Nico is embarking on a new chapter in his artistic journey as he completes a Master of Arts program in Sound Studies and Sonic Arts in Berlin. This educational pursuit demonstrates his commitment to further honing his craft and exploring the depths of sonic expression.