It was over 100 years ago we had the first machine that canned music. What has technology done to entertainment since? What do artistes know about it, how are organisers getting creative with it, what’s happening to ‘traditional’ music? How has it impacted music production and preservation? New categories of people have emerged — the arranger, the sound designer — and new genres have come into being, like Dub and Electronica. Meanwhile, there are musical traditions that are rare or fading. Can they benefit from technology? Where is all this headed? CMAC presents “Sound Art Technology” (SAT), a two-day international event that looks at this phenomenon through performances, concerts, discussions and more.
The SAT Forum is an interdisciplinary artistic project that looks to synthesise music, visual art and technology. Professionals from a variety of disciplines will attend. Among the expected speakers are Rajiv Makhni of NDTV, Luke Kenny (musician and former MTV VJ), Sumudi Suraweera (Music Matters, Sri Lanka), Nafis Ahmed (LiveSquare Music, Bangladesh), Taru Dalmia (Word Sound Power Project), Tapas Sen (COO Radio Mirchi), Subroto Chattopadhyay (Nokia-Peninsular Studio) and artists Inder Salim (New Delhi), Ritesh Meshram (Gasworks Fellow, visual installation artist, Mumbai) and Punita Singh (sound designer and researcher).
The opening night will see performances by Swiss Jazz ensemble Orbital Garden along with performances by Bundeli folk artistes from Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, and German folk artist Petra Rehwald on the hackbrett.
The Goethe Institut (Max Mueller Bhavan), Pro-Helvetia and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations are associated with the project, along with ITM University, Gwalior.
The programme takes place on February 20 and 21 at the Max Mueller Bhavan, New Delhi, and on February 23 at ITM University, Gwalior.
