Daniel BLINKHORN | AU |

 

Soundwork

 

valiha

 

 

Abstract

valiha is named after a zither I encountered in the small seaside fishing village of Ifaty, in the Mozambique channel of Madagascar. The instrument is entirely cylindrical in design, reflecting the primary material from which it is constructed, bamboo. I found instrumentalising the zither in a conventional sense to be uniquely challenging, so I decided to attempt to unlock its richly evocative potentiality by transforming 5 simple, plucked, pizzicato gestures into a piece that extends well beyond the physical confines of the zither. In doing so the work evokes the natural elements and energies embedded within the origins of bamboo (water, grass, wind) and recycled telephone wires and discarded bicycle brake cables that are repurposed as strings. Timbres redolent of steel, bamboo and liquid jostle and collide amongst windswept textures, creating a biomimetic soundscape recounting the life force of the instrument itself.

 

 

Daniel BLINKHORN is an Australian composer and new media artist who works extensively with environmental sound. He has worked in a variety of creative, academic, research and teaching contexts, and is a lecturer in composition and music technology at the Conservatorium of Music, University of Sydney. He is an ardent location field recordist, where he has embarked upon a growing number of recording expeditions throughout Africa, Alaska, Amazon, Australia, Cuba, West Indies, Mexico, Madagascar, Middle East, Northern Europe, and the high Arctic/ North Pole region of Svalbard. His creative works have received a number of awards at important international composition competitions, and whilst entirely self-taught in environmental sound, electroacoustic music and sound art, Daniel has formally studied composition and the creative arts at a number of Australian universities. More information on the composer can be found at: www.danielblinkhorn.com