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Found Sound
Joseph Waters, a skinny and intense man with a gray crew cut and thick, wild eyebrows, takes the small stage at San Diego State Universitys Smith Recital Hall.
He introduces himself as Jozefius V. Rattus, invites the crowd to squeeze in closer, and begins poking fun at the antievolution theory intelligent design.
The crowd of mostly students and faculty giggles and applauds. Two hiplooking cats in their late 20s join Waters on stageTodd Rewoldt
(aka Saximus), with his shiny alto saxophone, and Felix Olschofka (aka Fiddlus), with his violin. Collectively, the three go by the name SWARMIUS.
Waters leaves the stage and heads to the back of the recital hall, where hell be working the soundboard and playing music from his laptop.
Rewoldt and Olschofka kick things off with Suite for Violin and Saxophone, a lovely piece of chamber music written by composer Adolf Busch.
The violin is near perfect and the sax never sounded so classy.
The second piece is a Waters originalhe splits his time as a composer and professor of music at SDSU, where he holds the title of director of electroacoustic and media composition.
The piece is called Vivaldi Fireflies and its a hell of a lot different than the first. Rewoldt and his sax leave the stage. The violin is plugged in,
and explosive electronic sounds sweep in and out.
The sounds are manipulated field recordings of instruments, streams, bugs and pretty much anything you can imagine, and they are being generated by Waters laptop.
Hes written a software program that lets him strike the keys of the computer as if it were a musical instrument.
The music is intense, crammed with dramatic crescendos followed by abrupt pauses. Its gorgeous, but undefinable. It makes you wonder: Is there an audience for this?
Rewoldt and his sax reenter for the third piece. Its another Waters original called Intelligent Designs, and its got soulyou can hear it when a sample of
Ludacris hip-hop hit Roll Out is pounded out in chorus by the electronics, violin and sax.
After the show, the questionIs there an audience for this strange music?is answered. One woman runs to the front of the recital hall, bangs on the stage and tells
Waters the show was phenomenal.
Two younger women approach him a little later. That was, like, the most amazing thing Ive ever heard! one of them shrieks. Will you sign our programs?
So, theres at least a small audience for it.
But dont let the enthusiasm fool youWaters music is still a far cry from the gushing waters of the mainstream.
Positioned on the outer banks of the avantgarde, his electroacoustic music is considered experimentalthe word itself scares most people away.
They immediately think weird and never even give it a listen.
Waters wants that to change. Describing himself as a populist composer, he wants to make love with popular culture.
He says his dream is to break his music from its constrictive shellhe wants to bring experimental music to the masses.
I knew that I wanted to start some type of experimental whoknowswhat, said Waters, something to do with weird art and interesting music.
Waters dream has taken shape as the New West ElectroAcoustic Music Organization (NWEAMO), a festival showcasing experimental electroacoustic musicians and composers from around the globe.
Now in its eighth year, NWEAMO has grown from its beginnings as a small, underground music gathering in Portland, Ore., to a fullblown, multicity music festivalalbeit still underground
drawing in relatively bigname performers. The Nortec Collective has been in a past lineup, and this year, Bradford Reed of the Blue Man Group will perform.
The festival is traveling to Portland this week, San Diego next week and New York in the first week of October. Waters says he wants to attract bigger, more diverse crowds than in years past.
He says hes sick of playing music for the same old electronica-loving music nerds.
I really want to reach into popular culture but keep that aura of experimentation, Waters said.
Its no easy task, especially in San Diego, where the only venue hes ever been able to secure is the Smith Recital Hall.
Now it has the stigma of being held at a university, said Waters, ֻwhich I really want to get away from.
To help loosen the mood of the festival, Waters clears the chairs from the first few aisles of the recital hall.
He leaves room for dancing and puts down air mattresses close to the speakers so people can kick back, close their eyes and get the full experience.
When its all happening, its such a blast, he said.
The music youll hear at NWEAMO this year cant be easily put into one nice little musicalgenre box. On the more conservative end, youll see performers
like Adam Raquesa using his voice, piano and laptop. On the more radical end, youll see guys like Canadian composer Maxime Rioux, with his army of 40 automatestiny robotlike
instruments built from pieces of instruments and secondhand household items.
The one unifying factor is the festivals theme this yearthe influence of African music. Most of the showcased compositions will be more rhythmic and beatoriented.
Lukas Ligeti, the son of famous composer György Sándor Ligetiwhose works have helped score some of Stanley Kubricks filmswill be performing his Africaninfluenced music,
compositions he describes as a mix of Western jazz, improvisation and African traditional.
My music is unusual in a lot of ways, said Ligeti. But a lot of people can relate to it.
SWARMIUS will be playing their Ludacrisinspired piece at the festival, too.
Its beyond what youd hear on the dance floor, explained Waters; it keeps the idea of beats, but it pushes it to a more interesting level.
NWEAMO will be held at the Smith Recital Hall on SDSU campus Thursday, Sept. 28, through Saturday, Sept. 30. $8$12. www.nweamo.org or call 6195941696.
Bringing experimental music to the masses
by Kinsee Morlan
San Diego City Beat, Sept. 20, 2006
09/20/06
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