Electroacoustic Music in a Broader International Context

commentary a brief introduction to the untold story of pioneering electronic music beyond the western world electroacoustic music in a broader international context BY ROBERT J. GLUCK i n 1953, four composers were excitedly experimenting with a new musical approach using recorded and electronic sounds. Juan Amenabar and JoséVincente Asuar were in Chile,Mauricio Kagel in Argentina, and Toshiro Mayuzumi in Japan.Their number increased three years later,when they were joined by Reginaldo Carvalho in Brazil and Toru Takemitsu in Japan. What was exceptional for the time was that these composers were situated neither in Europe nor North America. It was in 1948 that Pierre Schaeffer,in Paris,created the first work that he would refer to as musique concrete,and the history of electronic music is generally told from the perspective of Paris, Cologne, and NewYork. It sometimes includes Milan,Toronto, Utrecht, occasionally Tokyo, and the Bell Telephone Laboratories in New Jersey.The story of technological innovation supports such a narrative, but if we focus instead on the diversity of expression,a more international history clearly emerges. The time is ripe for recounting that history. What drew people outside of centres in Europe and North America to explore electroacoustic music? Their motivations mirrored those of European composers who sought to expand their musical resources—composers such as Claude Debussy,who looked to Japan, or EdgardVarèse,who imagined sounds that could not be realized by conventional means. Some composers discovered creative possibilities of sound on their own. Halim el-Dabh recalls a time in Egypt, in 1944.“I borrowed a wire recorder from Middle East Radio, in Cairo. I used it to record a women’s ceremony and I imagined the variety of sound. I asked myself, If I cut some of it out, what would it be like? I listened to the women singing,and I imagined if I eliminated the top vibrations of the voice,what would it be like? If I eliminated the drums and just left the voices and maybe did something with these voices ... there was some voltage control that I was able to do.The feeling was possible,but it was not easy to do.I didn’t think of it as electronic music. I just thought of it as an experience.” Joji Yuasa remembers Japan in the early 1950s.“It was an experimental time in Tokyo.There was a lively atmosphere. In 1951, we made a group called Experimental Workshop … we aimed to do things in combined arts and we prepared a concert where we tried to synchronize a slide projector with tape.” Israeli composer Josef Tal’s personal story reaches back even further, to the late 1920s in Berlin.“I attended classes with Paul Hindemith around 1927.I was on very friendly terms with him and with the assistant director of the academy in Berlin... It was Hindemith who pointed me in the direction of electronic music.He was himself interested in electronic music,and knew that it interested me … [The next year, I worked with fellow students in the lab of] Friedrich Trautwein.We learned electronics theory, to create, measure, and do experiments.” By the early 1960s, electroacoustic music composers were working in Cuba,Australia, Uruguay, Bolivia, and Mexico. Studios were founded in Buenos Aires and Cordoba,Argentina;in Santiago,Chile; in Jerusalem,Israel;and in Tokyo,Japan.By the early 1970s,there were studios in locations throughout the globe. Not all of these studios were able to sustain their operations for very long. In some cases, much-hoped-for plans never came to fruition, and in other situations, facilities were limited. Often, studios faced insurmountable challenges politically, financially, and organizationally. Some, like the Taller Experimental de Sonido in Chile, were unable to survive the departure of a central figure. It took Cuban composer Juan Blanco nearly a decade to found a studio in Havana.Yet clearly, thanks to the persistence of visionary composers, new musical traditions were finding fertile soil throughout the world. In Turkey, despite valiant attempts by Bülent Arel, it took thirtyseven years for the first studio to open.The first manifestation of electroacoustic music in China sprang from graduate students at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing.Wishing to perform an electronic music concert in 1984, they lacked any existing models spring 2006 | #94 musicworks 7 upon which to draw. One of them,Yuanlin Chen, joined the faculty two years later and opened a studio,which was further developed on a musique concrète model in the 1990s by Zhang Xiaofu.Today, educational programs and studios,many of them multimedia in focus,are developing all over the People’s Republic and Taiwan,and a non-academic computer-music scene has begun to emerge. Korean composers Sung Ho Hwang and Jaecho Chang, after studying in The Netherlands, established and ran university studios, and a computermusic association that annually presents the Seoul International Computer Music Festival.In Indonesia,composers including Harry Roesli, Otto Sidharta, Frank Raden, and Sapto Raharjo were actively engaged in electroacoustic music beginning in the 1970s.Adhi Susanto experimented with electronic devices to perform gamelan music.This activity followed the lead of Slamet Abdur Sjukur, who composed an electroacoustic work for ballet in Paris, in 1963. (Two electroacoustic works by Indonesian composer I Wayan Gde Yudane are included on the CD accompanying Musicworks 90,Fall,2004.) We have entered an era when a new, truly international historical narrative about the history of electroacoustic music can be told.Few people, even composers and historians, seem to be aware of the rich and diverse history of this field.The growth of the Internet and the recent non-Western settings of international conferences bring increased attention to international activities:the International Computer Music Conference met in Hong Kong in 1996, Beijing in 1999, Havana in 2001, and Singapore in 2003. This is not to suggest that electroacoustic music is on solid footing in all parts of the world. Challenges remain for composers who wish to remain active in their home countries. For instance, it is rare to find non-commercial venues where new works can be heard in countries where economic resources are limited. This essay represents an early attempt to describe the field from an international perspective. I invite readers to contact me with information about their own work and about other international composers whose work they have encountered. Information about emerging composers whose work has not yet been documented is also welcome.We are just beginning to comprehend the depth and breadth of electroacoustic music internationally. I encourage composers to explore its multiple forms of expression. [Note:This article is based on the author’s interviews with the composers, on an interview by Joel Chadabe with JojiYuasa, and on research by Ricardo Dal Farra.This material is being assembled as part of the Electronic Music Foundation’s EMF Institute, <www.emfinstitute.emf.org>. Dal Farra’s documentation on South American composers may be found on the Fondation Daniel Langlois Web site, <www.fondation-langlois.org/flash/e/index. php?NumPage=542>.] Robert J. Gluck is a pianist, composer, and writer based in Albany, New York, where he teaches at the University and directs its electronic music studio. His interactive installation with Cynthia Beth Rubin Layered Histories,has showed recently in Prague,Toronto,Los Angeles,Miami and Providence,Rhode Island. His musical performances feature electronically expanded acoustical instruments and Disklavier. résumé français Cet article est le premier volet d’une discussion sur l’histoire de la musique électroacoustique à l’échelle internationale. Bien que le public et la base institutionnelle de la musique électroacoustique soient plus solidement établis en Europe de l’ouest, au Royaume-Uni, aux États-Unis et au Canada, la musique électroacoustique connaît déjà une longue histoire dans de nombreuses autres régions du monde, notamment en Amérique du sud, en Israël, en Afrique du sud, en Asie et, plus récemment, en Chine et en Corée. Dans certains de ces pays, les premiers efforts ont été déployés dès les années 1950. Si les compositeurs se voient souvent dans l’obligation de voyager pour poursuivre et approfondir leur travail de studio et trouver un emploi, il semble que l’on trouve dans plusieurs de ces pays de plus en plus d’opportunités, tant du point de vue de l’éducation que de la création. 8 musicworks #94 | spring 2006