Unyazi Electronic Music Symposium and Festival 2005
NewMusicSA is greatly pleased to present the Unyazi Electronic Music Symposium and Festival 2005, Africa's very first electronic music festival and conference. The groundbreaking four-day event aims to promote a valuable dialogue concerning "electroacoustic music in the southern hemisphere", between composers, performers, and musicologists from South Africa and the rest of the world.
It may be hard to imagine, but electronic music is at least 100 years old! It is particularly well established in Europe, North and South America, Asia and Australia.
Africa is generally not considered to have produced electronic music pioneers, however: an Egyptian composer, Halim El-Dabh, actually created one of the first electronic works ever in 1944. His earliest compositions predate the French musique concrète school by several years.
It is time to celebrate electronic music in Africa, and South Africa can play a leading role in doing so. South African society has a rich, multicultural heritage, and we can therefore strive to create electronic music that is uniquely African.
Halim El-Dabh, one of the pioneers of electronic music internationally, and the father of electronic music in Africa, will be attending the Unyazi festival in 2005. He will perform his works live, and will also be actively involved in the paper sessions, workshops and in creating an awareness of electronic and electroacoustic music amongst young composers.
The conference will facilitate the exchange of ideas between overseas and local composers, performers, and musicologists, on matters concerning electroacoustic music in the southern hemisphere. The proceedings will be published with the assistance of IPEM (Belgium).
Festival
The festival will measure the need of, and create an awareness of, the economic and practical importance of the computer and the role that it does and can play in music creation, performance, and education.
Workshops
The workshops will focus on the practical application of electronics in music. South African musicians will have the opportunity to work with their international counterparts.
Education
NewMusicSA is working with the following people on a programme to educate formerly disadvantaged children and young musicians:
Theo Herbst, of Stellenbosch University
Jürgen Bräuninger, of The University Of Kwazulu-Natal
Professor Christo Doherty, of University Of The Witwatersrand
Schnee
(AT)
(Burkhard Stangl And Christof Kurzmann)
Skid
(ZA)
Theo Herbst & Kemus Ensemble
(ZA)
(Mario Cronje, Gerhard Roux, Claire Nozaïc, Jan-Hendrik Harley, John Pringle, Benjamin Marnewick, Rhyno Jansen & Simon Lolliot)
The Unyazi 2005 audience will have an exciting and rare opportunity to buy choice electroacoustic music on compact disc, as recordings by most of the visiting composers will be for sale at the festival.
Festival performances encompass these electronic music categories:
Electroacoustic performance — some of which will employ instruments built from junk, hardware, and found objects, and used both as compositional and improvisational tools
Laptop and computer music
Sound installations
Computer-automation of acoustic instruments
Microcomputers in live performance, including: "home-made" electronic circuitry, radio, found sound material, and transformed musical instruments
A group of nominated, scholarship students from the University Of Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria, who are writing a research project work on Music And The Modern Technology will attend the festival and participate in the conferences:
Ibironke Michael Sesan
Innocent Richard
Adebusoye Ayodele Rufus
Akinwande Roland Ayomiposi
Linus Ifeanyi Akaonye
Students from the University Of Lagos, Lagos State, Nigeria, who are writing a research project work on Advancement Of Music In Africa - Past, Today And Tomorrow, will attend and participate in the conferences:
Secure covered parking will be available at Senate House (entrance on Jorrisen Street), and secure uncovered parking at The Wedge (Yale Road, corner of Jorrisen street).
Accommodation for visiting composers
Accommodation for visiting composers (only) is available at Highfield Clusters, Reith Hall. A relevant accommodation information brochure is available (to download this PDF, right-click the link and choose Save Target As).
Further information
For any further information you may require please contact the Festival Director Dimitri Voudouris at .
For ticket prices and booking visit Computicket. Tickets will also be available from the Wits Theatre ticket office before the start of performances. All workshops and paper sessions are open to the public and free of charge.
A printed programme with detailed notes on performers, composers, works, paper sessions and workshops will be available at Unyazi festival venues. The detailed programme is also available for downloading: Unyazi 2005 Detailed Programme PDF (464KB)
Friday 2 September 09h00 | The Convent, Digital Arts | ALL DAY
Toni Olivier
WORKSHOPS
Friday 2 September 09h00 | Substation | ALL DAY
Luc Houtkamp & POW
Development workshop
SYMPOSIUM: PAPER SESSIONS
Friday 2 September | Seminar Room
09h00 | 30 mins
Lukas Ligeti
Burkina Electric
09h30 | 30 mins
Maxime Rioux
Can music be at the same time nomadic and sedentary?
10h00 | 30 mins
Theo Herbst
Music technology at Stellenbosch University
10h30 | 60 mins
Christo Doherty
Discussion panel concerning models for teaching electronic music/sonic arts in a tertiary educational environment
WORKSHOPS
Friday 2 September 13h30 | The Amphitheatre | 120 mins
Pauline Oliveros
The Expanded Instrument System - EIS
PERFORMANCES
Friday 2 September
16h00 | Main Theatre | 45 minutes
Rodrigo Sigal
Oreja Digital (Digital Ear) **
17h00 | Downstairs Theatre | 35 minutes
Sandra Ndebele
Scream And Shake Your Waist
17h45 | Main Theatre | 50 mins
Chris Wood
Seeing Is Not As Simple As It Looks ***
18h45 | Downstairs Theatre | 28 minutes
Jürgen Bräuninger & Sazi Dlamini
Yinkosi Yeziziba
Ulrich Süsse & Jürgen Bräuninger
… anywhere far
VIEWING ROOM
Friday 2 September 20h00 | Digital Arts, The Convent | 63 minutes
Aryan Kaganof
Come To The Point
Reich Dance Redemption
Techno: Space And Flow In The Radical Frame
PERFORMANCES
Friday 2 September
21h30 | Main Theatre | 48 minutes
Halim El-Dabh
Wire Recorder Piece/Ta'abir al-Zaar **
Electronic Fanfare **
Signals/Connections **
Michael And The Dragon
Cowry Shells In The Sand
Elements, Being, And Primeval **
Leiyla And The Poet: Electronic Drama No.1 **