Para Hybrid & Genia Mascara live at Zytanien 2013

Some excerpts of Para Hybrid & Genia Mascara live in Weltraumhalle at Zytanien-Festival 2013.

Para Hybrid & Genia Mascara Photos

Fotosession Para Hybrid & Genia Mascara

Gogokokoroko sung by Genia Mascara

Another version of my composition Gogokoroko, sung mainly by Genia Mascara. This was done in a rush and without much editing but I feel that adds to the charme of it. I like the contrast of this version to the Para Hybrid-version of Gogokokoroko.

New version of 'Gogokokoroko'

Gogokokoroko is one of my 'Fake african memories' compositions, I already recorded a powerful version with the 'Kargyraa Krew" Kolja Simon, Felix Mönnich and Martin Pässler (www.youtube.com/watch?v=aN8s7lMUCJk). The Para Hybrid-Version I uploaded on soundcloud emphasizes the polyrhythm and polyphony I originally had in mind when composing the track. For now I tried to make it sound like taking the bus in india - I guess I will do other versions that have less nervous energy. Like with Fek Ber, I designed the overall shape of the composition, but let the random mechanisms of the ableton live software execute the actual combinations.

Fek Ber

This is a composition of mine that belongs to my "Fake african memories" works. In these works I am mixing polyrhythms inspired by Pygmy and west-african music with the techniques of overtone singing and throat singing.
Starting with song-type structures, after a while I realized that I wanted something less clear - I love the "always the same/always different"-impression when listening to pygmy music. So here I tried to organize the musical material in a similar manner, mimicking a group of people gathering and singing always the same phrases, but in a loose way, without discipline.
To achieve this I heavily related on ableton live´s options to include chance in what is played next. I recorded all the phrases and then the software did the actual combinations within the rhythmic frame. Playing the set again would result in a different version of the composition, so, as I read just today, it is a form of 'generative music', as Brian Eno names it. I am looking forward to perform this live with a group of singers and musicians...

Shibari loops

In december 2012 we - Para Hybrid & Genia Mascara - did an improvised set at the bondage jam at Schwelle 7, Berlin. At this jam, people practice the art of erotic bondage in a cultivated atmosphere - an atmosphere which attracted us to participate in a musical way. For Shibari loops I mixed loops that were recorded during this improvisation with loops from other recording sessions. Arranging these loops, I decided to go for lots of repetitions, which may cause boredom, but may also bring about a calm and focused sensuality and that is what seemed special to me at that bondage jam. Here it is:

Jamming with Prudeeff

Me joining Prudeeff (Pierre Gordeeff and Matthieu Prual):

Working on a duo set

I am in a phase of intensive rehearsals with Jennie Zimmermann, to develop a duo show. Starting from our artistic interests wie move forward to build a profile together. This is an excerpt from an improvisation, we both loop our voices using ableton live and some of it´s effects. Our laptops were not synchronized as we were interested in an open, ambient-like process.



The next video shows us rehearsing a vocal improvisation accompanied by my composition 'afrobeant'. The rehearsal was in preparation for our first short performance, under a tree in the garden of the Villa Kuriosum in Berlin.



Our aim was to be one element of the garden, so that our performance would be part of the whole experience of being there, so we were after making a kind of ambient, or furniture-music. The composition 'afrobeant' consists of two main melodic parts, one of which is repeated in cycles of two measures, while the other is three measures long. The piece has a calm, but rhythmic flow, some kind of a waltz, also comparable to the atmosphere of an african lullaby. To achieve a more static situation I inserted silences, which are triggered by the launch function in ableton, which can be controlled by parameters of probability. All the sounds that are heard then are still in perfect fit with the two cycles, but the surrounding silences give them the quality of fragments. I read about John Cage using chance operations to insert silence into traditional chorals and I noticed that this method is fun to apply. I like to change the probability and listen to more dense or more open versions of the music. The vocals in the video to Afrobeant are a first try, in the long run the voices may come to another level of interaction and interweaving with the instrumental parts.

The costumes are part of our search for a profile as a duo. Being Para Hybrid, I am a poeto-sexual transgender creature, bringing along a certain kind of sleaziness and lack of seriosity. We are up to find a fitting constellation for this together. The costumes in the video above suggest that a fantasy-person and a fantasy-animal singing together. But this difference between person and animal is not reflected in the music or our way of singing. So we decided to go for a different outfit for me.

The second piece we played at Villa Kuriosum was 'dishöz', in the video above you can see us at one of the first rehearsals for this.

This composition is based on a rhythmic grouping of 4, 3, 3, 3 and 4, 3, 3, 2 impulses. The first and second part of it are nearly identical, only in the end of the second part one impulse is omitted. The first part of 13 impulses and the second of 12 impulses are combined to a cycle of 25 impulses. Jennie added a phrase with 12 impulses. By inserting one impulse of silence every second repetition of this phrase, we get 12 + 12 + 1 and so both phrases share the cycle of 25 impulses. In this video we sing first my phrase, then the one composed by Jennie. Here a sketch in ableton live, both phrases are superimposed:

Dishöz skizze

(I would like to perform this composition with several singers so it becomes more lively, in this demo version we use layered loops and both phrases are sung on different pitches and with some variation in articulation.)

Combined together, the different accents in both phrases create wonderful polyrhythmic tensions, especially in the middle of the cycle of 25 impulses. The ambiguity that this combination creates makes it possible to repeat this same thing again and again, give full concentration to one momentary musical situation and I love that.

New Workshop

I moved my gear to a new workshop near Berlin, to develope a duo programme together with performing artist Jennie Zimmermann. Yeah!

Learnig to loop: Sedna

Training my skills using ableton live´s looper on a version of 'Sedna'.

Rehearsing with ableton live´s looper-tool

I want to use the looper tool of ableton live on stage, so I need some practice and that is why you see me rehearsing 'Eka' (Ethno Kitsch Atmo) of the 'Fake african memories here. I am not satisfied with my ways of routing different channels to the looper, I hope I can find out a better way

New Para Hybrid video: Void

This is a video to accompany my composition 'Void' one of my 'Fake african memories'. Thanks to the Nikon D-7000 the quality is much better than before. It was recorded at a rehearsal of the Kargyraa Krew in June, in the editing I finally used only the images of me, because I´m the only singer on that track (two short loops).

Neither video nor the sound are perfect, but are fine to give an idea of Para Hybrid:

www.parahybrid.com

Later there shall be a version of the Mascara-video in this quality, but at the moment I´m concentrating on working with my band Blotch.

www.blotchband.com

Video snaps of Para Hybrid & Kargyraa Krew Gig

Two videos of the Gig in Odonien 12/2010, at the GKA-event.



Bijuti has a nice look (in spite of the bad youtube-quality), but the sound is not really good.



Mascara sounds a bit better and is fun to watch, but not as poetic as it is in my head.

It took the video recordings quiet long to reach me. When they finally arrived, I was not so thrilled with what I saw. For the audience, it must have been an interesting gig and we had fun on stage, but all in all this is not what I am after.

In the meantime, I have been looking in different directions how to improve that. I participated in a workshop on african vocal polyphony with Anita Daulne, did an electronic set with my band Blotch at the festival Zytanien and moved into my own music-studio...

Kargyraa Krew Video Clip

This video clip was produced as a promo for a gig in Odonien. We recorded the voices in about half an hour, then acted to it in front of the camera for about the same time. Editing the sound and video took about two evenings.
The basis for this is my composition "Gogokokoroko". This version demonstrates the power you can achieve with Kargyraa voices in combination with percussion and drums. I like this power, polyrhythmic ambiguity and polyphone voices are still to be added for the whole thing to be complete.

Proto Hybrid & Kargyraa Krew live in Odonien

Proto Hybrid & Kargyraa Krew rockin´ live in Odonien - photo by Anaid Namohl.
The crowd loved us, and we loved the crowd.

Thanks to the nice people of Gruppenkläranlage who organized this gig.

Mascara Study Version third edit

The third version of the Mascara video. I added details in the foreground of the imaginary landscape. The video has some kind of dreamlike quality which I like. Still, I would like to add some shots of a dancer during the overtone singing section and then the video needs tasteful titles and credits.

Mascara Study Version second edit

Second version of the Mascara video with added shots of me. It´s not finished yet, some more other stuff has to be added, it needs more little details.

Mascara Study Version

This is a study version for the video I´m working on for my composition "Mascara".
I shot some footage then did a rough edit to make it fit to the music. In the middle section I added some shots showing my working process. I think in the end, I will mix some footage of the paper figure shown here with shots of me in costume.

While the video stuff is still work in progress, the music is like it is meant to be - although I like the idea of art as an open process and there will be other versions of Mascara.

Proto Hybrid & Kargyraa Krew live photos

Anaid Namohl (http://www.flickr.com/photos/fraduhr/) has done some cool shots of Robodonien Festival 2010. Here are some amazing shot of the gig Proto Hybrid & Kargyraa Krew.

Proto Hybrid & Kargyraa Krew live at Robodonien 2010

The video shows impressions of Robodonien 2009 where we played with my band blotch - you hear my voice from our concert. The band is shown only briefly but you can watch the dancer who supported our sounds.

2010 Robodonien will be the place for the first gig of the project presented in this blog:

Proto Hybrid & Kargyraa Krew

I think this is exactly the right place for the premier of this project and I´m looking forward to it!