Encounter & A Thousand Weaverbirds (WIP)

During the CTM Festival 2025, I joined the artistic lab Resynthesizing the Traditional as a fellow, hosted by Susie Ibara and Stas Shärifulá. The lab

is designed as an open toolbox for artists studying their heritage, intended to help them navigate their practice outside of (self-)exoticisation and the uneven power dynamics created by mass-cultural and other stereotypes. Evoking resynthesis—a processing method in computer music that analyzes sounds to extract their fundamental components—as a guiding metaphor, the lab also invites participants to confront conservative views of culture as something frozen, solidified, and generally untouchable, thus resistant to any transformative practices.

By recognising the »traditional« as a dynamic phenomenon and treating it with proper care and respect, the lab will offer a triangular approach to »resynthesis« presenting it as a tool for the aesthetic, technological, and political transformation of cultures and societies. (From the program note)

During this lab, I continue to work further within the conceptual framework of dialectics between tradition and innovation. Through spectral analysis and onset detections, I try to interpolate the continuous singing of the weaverbirds into the discrete tuning of the gamelan. This is both an echo and a homage to the classical gamelan piece “Manyar Sewu” (Thousand Weaverbirds). The usage of the automaton as a musical partner further enhanced my improvisatory practice. The rigidity of the algorithm and the precision of the machine are answered with its stochastic elements—providing me with a good balance of sturdy musical structure and surprising elements that incite creativity. I seek the sharpness of a moment, where a musical idea flashes in a split second to be captured and realized by the body, along with all the risk of performing it in a live situation.

During the public presentations, I joined two “Encounters” on stage. The first was to respond to the lecture performance of meLê yamomo, “Tumrap susilaning gěndhing winor laguning lělagon [redux]”, and the second was an improvisational set with Shoty Ndjoli. Both are a musical experience where ideas forged during the lab were tested before an audience.