Different Rites explores, through several movements, the meeting points at the intersection of different practices: Japanese taiko and associated Kuchi-shōga phonetic descriptive system, modular analogue synthesizers, including the GRM's legendary Coupigny, spatialized digital processing, play sequences and editing.
Every instrument, whether acoustic, electronic or digital, has its sounds, uses and gestural codes ritualised according to genre.
Initially confined to the rites of Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples, the use of the taiko spread with the kumi-daiko phenomenon, these taiko ensembles born in the 1950s in which the power of the polyphonic rhythms is multiplied tenfold by the synchronised and choreographed gestures of the performers. A new ceremonial emerges, hypnotising a different audience with new music.
In the same way, electronic instruments, originally confined to the laboratory and then limited to use in a few centres, are now being democratised and taken up by musicians who are finding new uses for them. Miniaturisation brought them to the stage, and digitisation blurred the codes between concrete and electronic music. The number and sensitivity of the parameters of analogue synthesis give rise to alternating movements followed by more subtle, concentrated gestures, creating highly individualised contours. I became particularly interested in analogue modular synthesizers, notably the Coupigny and the Serge, during two residencies at the GRM. Although they are both modular, they operate according to very different logics and give rise to specific modes of play, with the pins on the matrix of the Coupigny or the banana plugs and sequencer on the Serge, further extended by the transformation of recorded sounds and by computer coupling using a MIDI to CV/Gate interface.
For their part, the gestural interfaces associated with virtual digital instruments offer a choice of sensitivities and great freedom of gesture and correspondence.In all cases, mastery of the gesture generates a multiplicity of sound profiles and forms. And to breathe life, character and emotional power into the sounds. The exchange and transposition of gestures between the respective practices gives rise to hybrid codes that generate new profiles, sonorities and expressive modes, multiplying potential meeting points.
Versions / Duration
The Ars Musica version lasts around 18 minutes, but new versions are planned, with new movements (probably also using Leo Kupper's GAME, currently being restored) and using all or some of the movements from the Ars Musica version, depending on the desired duration, between 15 and 30 minutes.
Different Rites was commissioned by Ars Musica and premiered on 17 November 2016 at Les Halles de Schaerbeek, spatialised with the Zirkonium on a 28-speaker system installed by the GRM.
