The proposal of artistic curator David Cossin for the 2006 edition is to focus on the traditions of percussion instruments reflecting the crossing of musical and geographical boundaries. All the musicians involved in the project come from a cross-cultural environment and attitude, they experienced the exchange with other traditions and different cultures, their music is the result of our multicultural world, where local and global elements coexist. The central idea of this program is to overcome and enrich the intercultural perspective, the “east meets west’ kind of aesthetic that leads to world music: the east has already met the west, the boundaries have been crossed, the exotic element has been already introduced in our everyday life, and sometimes even exploited. Our goal is to take the next step: inviting musicians whose cultural background is the result of a metissage, we want to support the creation of a new language, a new, fresh stream of music.

Percussions are essential to every society and, like singing, the creation of rhythm comes from the human body itself: the beat of the heart, the circulatory system, the hands clapping are the first sounds perceived. Being the base of rhythmic invention, similar instruments can be found in number of countries throughout the world; at the same time, percussions are fascinating for their incredible variety, their visual and tactile connotations, their proximity to the natural world as well as their countless possibility of new designed forms and combinations with new technology. In this journey into the percussion world, from south to north, east to west, we will encounter antiques and contemporary instruments, handmade or produced in factories, instruments that are rooted to natural sounds and instruments coming from the use of multiple technology, some that represent venerated traditions, while some others evolve and expand from it. International and local guest are part of the residency program, together with those who are, at the same time, members of the international and local community: migrants from Africa and other countries who established their home base in Salento, bringing over their own instruments and musical culture and letting it melt with our.

Musicians will have the opportunity to create new music possibilities sharing their knowledge and experience during the residency program. This will be articulated in the successful formula of convivial residency- summer school- festival in order to let artists meet and create new music, focusing and sharing their works with students and musicians trough intense seminars and classes, present the result of their unique collaboration to a larger audience during concerts and sound art events.

Venues 2006
Coop. Solidarietà Salento
www.solidarietasalento.it

SOUND RES is an international residency on sound, a two-weeks intensive course during which U.S. and English musicians and sound artists will collaborate with artists from Salento in a full-immersion experience, sharing living and creative spaces. Percussionist David Cossin, co-curator of the residency with Alessandra Pomarico, guitar player and multi-instrumentalist Mark Stewart, sound designer and sound artist Jody Elff, sound designer and composer David Sheppard, and guitar player Brice Dessner will meet Cesare Dell’Anna, trumpet player expert in mixing sounds from the Mediterranean, Mauro Tre, piano and computer virtuoso, Daniele De Rossi, composer of analogical sound, and Pierpaolo and Urkuma, musicians and electronic sound designers. From this gathering will emerge new languages, experiences, and different sensibilities aimed at the creation of new sonorities.

Loop House will become the catalyst, the place of hospitality and of creative encounters, a production and recording studio where musicians coming from different experiences and upbringings will contribute daily to widen the limits of perception and of sound production, each artist bringing his own personal contribution while feeding on others’. The results of this continuous work-in-progress and of the jam sessions, open to contamination, will be available every day to the local community, and to all people interested, in the form of LIVE INSTALLATIONS, a linguistic hybrid form in which the distinct modalities of performance and installation merge.

The workshop program Sound Summer School, plays a central role in the residency. The Sound Summer School, following the modality of a hands-on study, will offer the opportunity to those interested in deepening their musical knowledge, to have a moment of dialogue with the guest artists on different languages, poetic visions, and expressive channels, on the ground of interdisciplinary practice as well as on theory, focusing particularly on analogical and digital techniques used in the process of musical creation and recording, and on the extended techniques available in each instrument, developed personally by each tutor musician participating in the workshop. Participants will be offered a unique experience in which they will be learning from great musicians, who are active in the international artistic scene, with whom they will be able to study and experiment, leaving the isolation that too often accompanies those working alone in their own studios or groups. Workshops will end with the creation of a collective event that will be publicly presented.

SOUND RES is, therefore, a residency, a workshop program, a festival that combines concerts open to the public in the courtyard of the Palazzo Ducale (Ducal Palace), site-specific performances in meaningful sites of the town, and an exhibit of sound installation in the ex-elementary school.

San Cesario di Lecce will be the resonator for the new sounds from the world, and the gathering place for an international appointment on and about sound.

SOUND RES  WORKSHOPS (Sound  Summer School)
Workshops constitute a central moment in the course of the residency, dedicated to the learning and to the exchange among SOUND RES guest musicians, and open to external participants. For each meeting, tutor musicians will be present and will intervene, discussing one or more questions in their field of expertise.

Workshops are structured so that theory and technique can be grounded in practice. Participants will be able to directly experiment with the tutor musicians, play and work with them in an open and interdisciplinary dialogue that spans from composition to performance, from production to recording and distribution.

Besides the master classes on selected themes, workshop participants will be able to share convivial moments with the tutors and will be involved in different performances open to the public.

The leading themes for this Sound Summer School workshops will be: the exploration of new technologies applied to acoustic and traditional instruments, the interaction between different visions and traditions, and the experimentation on sound and on its relationship to space and audience.

For an organic and comprehensive experience of the didactic program, it is suggested to attend the entire course. Classes are also organized in such a way as to make it possible to only attend some of the master classes. Those enrolled in the Sound Summer School will be able to use the facilities and structures offered by Loop House.

Venues 2004
LoopHouse