Noise Uprising: A Polystylistic Atlas
In 1925, with the advent of electronic recording techniques, the number of records of popular music – especially from the port cities of the world – exploded. The historical 78 rpm records of this era are the not-so-silent witnesses of the birth of son, jazz, samba, rembetiko, fado, tango and more. They reveal a kind of B-side of music history, a polystylistic atlas that unravels a subterranean, cross-cultural network far away from, and with a wider reach than, traditional concert halls. With Noise Uprising, Christopher Trapani aims to “fill in the map” by composing a series of short pieces for the guitarists of Zwerm electric guitar quartet, plus singers Lieselot De Wilde and Sofia Jernberg.
Noise Uprising uncovers hidden connections between geographically distant genres, imagining alternative histories, fictive encounters and cross-pollinations between styles which, in reality, may never have intersected. In doing so, Trapani strives to create work that ultimately represents something more than a travelogue or a book of postcards. The cycle serves to call into question notions of cultural appropriation and authenticity, to challenge rather than to romanticise notions of the exotic, and to draw attention to the dangers of “overtourism” and the unreflective, superficial consumption of place.
The voices of Sophia Burgos and Sofia Jernberg along with Zwerm’s electric guitars bridge the gap between gamelan and salsa, maqâms and ragas, flamenco and tango.
Performers of Noise Uprising
Zwerm
Zwerm is an electric guitar quartet based in Belgium and founded in 2007. Over the years the group has collaborated with various composers, performers and visual artists. Zwerm has never strived for a one-sided artistic profile. During the past ten years the quartet dallied between English renaissance music, contemporary composed music and experimental pop/rock.
Sophia Burgos
Puerto Rican-American soprano Sophia Burgos is fast emerging internationally as a young talent of outstanding intelligence, musicality and stage presence. Burgos is a champion of contemporary music. As such, she is regularly asked to sing world premieres.
Sofia Jernberg
Sofia Jernberg is a singer/voice artist and composer. Her work focuses on unconventional techniques and sounds such as non-verbal vocalisation, split tones, toneless singing and distortion. Music theatre and contemporary opera play an important role in Jernberg’s artistic work, as well as collaborations with visual artists.
Composer
Christopher Trapani
The American-Italian composer Christopher Trapani synthesizes disparate influences, weaving American and European stylistic strands into a personal aesthetic that defies easy classification. Allusions to Delta Blues, Appalachian folk tunes, dance band foxtrots, shoegaze guitar effects, and Turkish makam can be heard alongside spectral swells and meandering canons.
Noise Uprising is presented by Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, November Music and Wilde Westen as part of the Sounds Now project.
Sounds Now is also at Transit with Counterforces with Frederik Croene & Amina Osmanu, Lore Binon, IKRAAAN