Scores for Uncertain Times#1

July – September, 2021

 

Over the course of two months, OneBeat Virtual brought together 35 Fellows from around the globe to a shared online space where they experimented with new forms of virtual collaboration, wrote and produced new works, and created a series of streamed performances for the public.

This year’s OneBeat proposed music as a curative practice, as an improvised path of intentional care. Fellows collaborated within a series of virtual Labs, led by our OneBeat staff and collaborators, where they collectively explored a series of questions. This space shares the creative output from the 1B Virtual Mixtape, our 7 collaborative Labs led by staff artists, Fellows’ photo and art works, and our online game Telephenisis. Scores for Uncertain Times #1 artistic directed by Kyla Rose Smith.

 


 

MIXTAPE

 

A collection of music made by the OneBeat Virtual Fellows. Recorded during the OneBeat Virtual #1 Fellowship

Mixed + Mastered by Christopher Botta

 

  1. A Word To My Sonic EnvironmentManmeet Kaur (vocals, MC) ft. Victor Angeleas (guitar/mandolin) and Miguel Velazquez Matija (double bass)
  2. Bewitched Traveler of PyresDara Hankins (cello, vocals)
  3. ClaustrophobiaAlina Anufrienko (cello), Ilia Symphocat (electronics)
  4. ThunderstormDara Hankins (cello, vocals, djembe)
  5. Distortion JourneyRani Jambak (electronic/pad), Victor Angeleas (10-string mandolin)
  6. ShantiSayani Palit (voice), Zoe Molelekwa (piano), Hana Boukhris (kanun), Wajahat Shah Aalmi (setar), Peter D. Abayomi (percussion)
  7. Geometrics for grief, healing, and touchMarcioz (synths/electronics), Ivana Bandalo Benzon (clarinet), Amy Reid (synths/electronics), John Owen Castro (flute)
  8. Himlay – John Owen Castro (voice and flutes), Teagan Faran (violin), Victor Angeleas (mandolin and guitar), Miguel Velasquez Matijia (double bass)
  9. In BetweenRangga Purnama Aji (vocals, live coded glitched sounds), Marco Flores Zapana (synthesizer, sikus)
  10. No Me LloreAna Milena Lozada Avella (vocals)
  11. ISPCL HRNSCRangga Purnama Aji (voice, electronics) and Nyokabi Kariũki (voice, electronics)
  12. Live Coding Excerpt_00Rangga Purnama Aji (live coder)
  13. Sonic ConnectionManmeet Kaur (vocals, MC), Victor Angeleas (guitar, mandolin) ft. Christopher Williams (Trumpet). Additional samples from Stephanie Korab, Christopher Williams, Victor Angeleas”
  14. Tres RiosVictor Angeleas (guitar, mandolin), Peter D. Abayomi (percussion), Miguel Velazquez Matija (double bass)
  15. Word Bag – Tian Yoon Teh (speech), John Owen (piano), Kilma (speech, synth, percussion), Ditty (guitar, speech) Andre Alvarez (flutes)
  16. Where to Land?Ju Strassacapa (voice), Royce “”Sauce”” Handy (MC, cajón, beatbox), ft. Ivana Bandalo Benzon (clarinet, bass clarinet), Marija Mitrovic (piano and vocals), Kiran Nepali (Sarangi), Paulo Sartori (acoustic guitars, electric bass, additional percussion and backing vocal)
  17. Where to Land? Positive / Negative RoundsMarija Mitrovic (voice, electric piano), Royce “”Sauce”” Handy (keyboards), Marcioz (all electronics, voice)

 


 

PHOTO BOOK

 

The Photobook is a collection of images created by the fellows during the Scores for Uncertain Times virtual residency. Given three prompts over the course of the residency by photographer Alexia Webster, Fellows were invited to show us a glimpse of the places in their worlds that they wish they could take us too; and a portrait of themselves in their night time dream worlds.

 


 

 

JOURNALING THE BACK OF THE MIND

1B Virtual Lab

Unlike imagemaking, our daily soundmaking practice exists one moment and disappears the next. What if we could return to every sound we created as a physical object, hear it again exactly as it was born, reflect on it, discuss it with others, and find collective meaning, compassion, and inspiration through it? Collaborating with percussionist, teaching artist and OneBeat alumna Amy Garapic, this lab used image making as navigation for their collaborative sound expedition, cataloging a daily practice of image-based prompts developed by comic-artist Lynda Berry including: daily image diaries, drawings, stories and comics. Together they traveled into an unremembered past, deeper into their present, or farther into a place yet consciously known.

Artists: Tian Yoon Teh, Andre Alvarez, Ditty, John Owen Castro, Hana Ismail Seifelnasr.

Lab designed and led by: Amy Garapic

 


 

WHERE TO LAND

1B Virtual Lab

Where to land after the pandemic? Last year, French philosopher Bruno Latour wrote an article looking at what he called ‘barrier gestures’ – masks, walls, dividers, no-fly zones – all the things that were suddenly put in place to keep other elements out. Latour proposed that we imagine these ‘barrier gestures’ not only against the virus, but also how they might guard against other activities that we do not want returning after the pandemic, and the new opportunities this presents us. He poses a collective examination through 6 questions that call for reflection on the gestures we can assume to improve the activities we support and guard from those we don’t. This OneBeat lab attempts to offer an answer to these questions and others by articulating music as a sound-oriented common language allowing for cross-cultural collaboration.

Artists: Ivana Bandalo, Kiran Nepali, Royce “Sauce” Handy, Ju Strassacapa aka Lazúli, Marija Mitrović

Lab designed and led by: Paulo Sartori and Christopher Marianetti

 


 

EXPERIMENTS IN SONGWRITING AND PRODUCTION

1B Virtual Lab

Music, in its most simple terms, is organized sound. Digital audio workstations (Logic, Pro Tools, Ableton, etc) have made the process of arranging and listening to a wide variety of sounds and forms easier than at any point in history. In this lab a group of producers explored processes of music production, charting their influences, and hierarchies of sonic sensibility – mixing, remixing, mashing, reconstituting and recomposing new sounds. The group created original works based on a technique of charting song elements and experimenting with inverting their roles – “what if every low sounds was fast and all high sounds were slow?”.

Artists: Miguel Velasquez Matija, Ana Milena Lozada Avella, Gavin Ryan, Rani Jambak, Alexandre Baros

Lab designed and led by: Christopher Botta

 


 

RESONATION TO INFINITY AND BEYOND

1B Virtual Lab

Music has the power to heal wounds that you didn’t even know existed. In our current lived experiences, grief and loss are synonymous with our real and virtual experiences. Can sound help us regenerate and recreate ourselves in every realm of being? Can we heal through a deep dive of technological pathways that shed your current skin? This elective sought to create a safe space in which they used creative survival tools to rediscover and reinvent themselves and their creative possibilities. From crafting virtual alter egos using numerology and AI to club hopping through infinite digital spaces, together they collectively explored different realms of virtual expression/production to facilitate healing, togetherness, creativity, and musical performance without limits.

Artists: Ilia Symphocat, Rangga Purnama Aji, Dara Hankins, Marco Flores Zapana, Alina Anufrienko, Nyokabi Kariuki

Lab designed and led by: Umlilo

 


 

THE SONIC DIVE

1B Virtual Lab

Guided by Indian producer and OneBeat alumna Sanaya Ardeshir, these OneBeat artists explored means and methods of connecting with, and creating from, the sounds of our immediate environment. Soundmakers are acute listeners, practiced at discerning rhythms, timbres, pitches, and harmonies all at the same time. How can we use these skills to alchemize the sounds around us, and more intimately connect our music-making with the sounds around us. Over 6 weeks, these artists used music building and digital production as a means to connect to environment, while exploring creative strategies in audio manipulation, palette building, mindful listening, and the art of field recording. Travel through this space of where activated listening forms the bedrock for awareness, creation and collaboration.

Artists: Manmeet Kaur, Victor Angeleas, Christopher Williams, Stephanie Korab.

Lab designed and led by Sanaya Ardeshir

 


 

EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN

1B Virtual Lab

How does a traditional song stand the test of time? How does this music connect us in our shared humanity? These are the questions posed by OneBeat alumna Domenica Fossati to this group of aritsts. Together they explored the ways in which humans are able to reframe, revise, re-tell, and re-create the songs of their ancestors in ways that make them fresh and relevant to new generations.

Artists: Sayani Palit, Zoe Molelekwa, Peter D. Abayomi, Hana Boukhris, Wajahat Shah

Lab designed and led by: Domenica Fossati

 


 

BUILDING RADIO

1B Virtual Lab

Building Radio is a space to share ideas, stories and magnetic fields. This lab embraces radio culture as a source of inspiration and a tool to foster community building and environmental engagement. Together, OneBeat Fellows explored discourses that connect archives, audio, music, and deep listening practices through a collective radio project. Together, they created visible and invisible architectures that facilitate shared moments of listening and transmission. Tune in!

Artists: Amy Reid, Marcioz, Tshepang Mabizela, Teagan Faran, Sibongile Tshabalala

Lab designed and led by: Luisa Puterman

 


 

TELEPHENISIS

Telephenesis is a space for musical collaboration inspired by the classic game ‘Telephone’. In a game of Telephenesis, a musical idea is passed through a group of artists. Each artist hears only the previous idea and creates a response. Anyone can start a new game.

Artists: Rangga Purnama Ajii, Gavin Ryan, Marco Flores Zapana, Kiran Nepali, Dara Hankins, Luisa Puterman, Victor Angeleas, Miguel Velasquez, Alexandre Baros, Tian, Andre Alvarez, Ivana Bandalo, Amy Reid, Marija Mitrovic, Ilia Symphocat, Rani Jambak, Manmeet Kaur

Telephenesis created by: Christopher Marianetti & Cameron Steele

 


 

Marathon

A live virtual event of original work created in-residency. Artists presented solos, group pieces, and other experiments created in collaboration with OneBeat fellows. Live streamed September 2021 during OneBeat Virtual #1.