Ira Arka premiered on September 15, 2021 at the Fabbrica di Vapore (Steam Factory, Cultural center) in Milan as part of the Festival Vapore d’Estate.
Ira Arka has as fulcrum musical syncretism where new sonorities and forms arise from the music of the past and from different cultures.
Ira Arka proposes, taking inspiration from Renaissance, Andean folk and contemporary music, new frames where stylized forms and new sounds emerge from the differences and contact points between them. Relevant in this sense is the virtual and luminous sound palette created by the timbres of the prepared piano, the acoustic and electronic sounds, the sonorities of instruments such as the psaltery and the hang, and light percussion interventions.
The title Ira-Arka takes a cue from the performing technique of the siku, an Andean instrument that has the characteristic of alternating the notes belonging to the two rows of pipes that compose it (Ira and Arka respectively), with a similar outcome to that of the medieval technique of hocketus, thus connecting distant times and places. Ira-Arka is therefore the technical, poetic and musical content paradigm that gives life to the whole project. From casual relationships like the one mentioned above and from operations of cultural syncretism, paths can be created that range from the Bamberg Code to the Andean carnavalito or from the technique of the Renaissance ensalada to the sounds of the e-bow, even if only in the time span of a single piece.
Ira-Arka and the new interfaces for musical expression:
The electronics counterpoint, orchestrate or improvise together with the piano. Includes fixed media, live electronics and musical interfaces as well, the latter intended not only as a medium for musical expression but as a way to create visual connections between sound, gestures and visuals. The suitable controllers for this purpose are the Leap Motion Controller and Artiphon Orba.
These controllers are used mostly in the sections with improvisation where the live sound of the piano and/or hang/psaltery is taken as musical data for the electronic improvisation, either straight or with the use of Markov chains. The movement of the light sticks (over the Leap controller) produces sounds which changes in timbre, pitch or rhythm according to the kind of movement of the hand. The Artiphon Orba is illuminated itself.
In addition to the fore mentioned utilities the Artiphon Orba has other special functions like producing musical data for the Hyperpsaltery. When Artiphon Orba is placed on Marcela’s Pavia wrist the movement of the hand produce data directly linked to musical expression like dynamics of sound (velocity key in midi language). Moreover other data can be produced according to the type of movement of the hand which can be mapped in various ways.
The lights allow to visually connect gesture and sound.