MusicMakers
The Gentle Strains of Laptops
Videos provide a visual complement to the futuristic sounds of Tokyo's Laptop Orchestra.
(Kennedy Center)
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Friday, February 1, 2008; Page WE07
No one will ever confuse Tokyo's Laptop Orchestra with the Duke Ellington or Count Basie orchestras.
Swing will not be the thing at the Kennedy Center's Theater Lab when the delicate sounds of musician Ko Ishikawa's sho, a traditional bamboo mouth organ, are sent to a sextet of serious-looking musician/programmers (it's still early for titles in this emerging art form) perched at laptops on stage. They will transform the sho's tones into something that sounds sci-fi futuristic yet as timeless as the song of the humpback whale.
The performance, "1[000] Breath[s]," is part of the Kennedy Center's "Japan! Culture + Hyperculture" festival. As with much in experimental music, it's sometimes easier to listen to and show than to describe; thankfully, YouTube has excerpts of the Laptop Orchestra performing this very piece in Tokyo in 2006. (You can see it on our Web site: http:/
The Laptop Orchestra, which first plugged in six years ago, was founded by Frenchman Philippe Chatelain, who went to Japan in 1998 as a student in art and new media. He founded the Tokyo-based ensemble to explore interactive music composition.
In this case, the laptoppers "grab" the frequencies produced by Ishikawa's sho and manipulate them in real time. The frequencies are transformed by the laptops, making it sound as if multiple shos are playing. Hence the mysterious title suggesting "from one breath to one thousand breaths."
"We try to keep close to the sho sound -- its musical details of very slight variations," Chatelain said.
A Laptop Orchestra performance looks like a bunch of students working in a college library, intently focused on their screens as they contemplate assorted mouse movement.
"That body position and behavior is very common to people nowadays, including journalists," Chatelain says, laughing.
With no traditional orchestra on the stage for the audience to focus on, it helps to have a visual dimension. For the Kennedy Center performance, artist Daito Manabe will manipulate the computer sounds into graphic images -- similar to rock concert light shows of yesteryear, albeit less overtly psychedelic.
"Computer music is a big problem on stage, but you have to find the right balance because if the visuals are too strong, too heavy, your ear cannot receive the music 100 percent," Chatelain said.
Although it uses only the sho at the Kennedy Center, the Laptop Orchestra also works with other instruments and singers. It did a 2006 residency in Seoul with Korean indie-rocker Sangah Nahm and next year will collaborate with French poet and artist Olivier Cadiot.
It's a brave new platform, with as many as a dozen "laptop orchestras" around the world, from the classical-structured PLOrk (Princeton Laptop Orchestra) and BLISS (Belfast Legion for Improvised Sights and Sounds) to the Laptoporchester Berlin. Chatelain says the latter ensemble is planning a "battle of the laptop orchestras" in Germany next year. Still not likely to be Ellington vs. Basie, but you can bet Chatelain will be there.
Laptop Orchestra Feb. 11 at the Theater Lab, Kennedy Center, 2700 F St. NW. Show starts at 7:30. Info:202-467-4600. http:/
