Victor Gama
Victor Gama’s work addresses the relationship between instrument building and music composition, while using new technologies and the creative practices of Africa and the Diaspora.
About the Residency
Victor Gama is a musician, composer, instrument maker and electronic engineer from Angola. In March 2013, Gama shared his visionary work with the MIT community: performing in a concert, visiting classes and residence halls, and presenting a lecture/demonstration for the class “Music and Technology” taught by Evan Ziporyn, Faculty Director of the MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology. Ziporyn’s “Music and Technology” class brought twenty prominent sound and multimedia artists to campus, each presenting lecture/demonstrations open to both students and the general public alike.
Gama’s residency culminated in a performance with tabla master Sandeep Das (of Yo-yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble), Blake Newman (bass) and EVIYAN in MIT’s Kresge Auditorium.
Victor Gama’s visit to the Institute is part of MIT Sounding, an innovative annual performance series that blurs the boundaries between contemporary and world music. Curated by Evan Ziporyn, Faculty Director of the MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology, the 2013 semester of MIT Sounding united artists across genres to present new music at the cutting edge.
The 2013 MIT Spring Sound Series is presented by the MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology (CAST) and MIT Music and Theater Arts.
Schedule
Past Events
Artist Lecture and Demonstration
Course 21.M, “Music and Technology”
March 6, 2013 /12:00pm
Music and Technology, a Concert with EVIYAN
March 2, 2013
Biography
Victor Gama is a composer whose process begins with the creation of an entirely new instrument, one whose design is steeped in symbolic meaning. Concept design, the selection of materials, fabrication and scoring are all part of the rigorous way Gama creates new music for the 21st century, blending current fabrication technologies with ideas, materials and traditions inspired by the natural world. His work utilizes local knowledge and traditions to create futuristic new instruments and develop new music, using everything from ancient bows to instruments crafted digitally through CAD/CAM. As the founder of the cultural nonprofit PangeiArt—which produces cultural projects in Africa, South America and the Caribbean—Gama’s practice is rooted in processes of collaboration and exchange.
Victor Gama has exhibited and performed his instruments and sound installations extensively in Africa, Latin America, North America and Europe, including commissions by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and National Museums of Scotland in Edinburgh. His many collaborations include those with the Kronos Quartet, Max Eastley, Nana Vasconcelos and his band The Folk Songs Trio. His work Pangeia Instrumentos was released by Aphex Twin on Rephlex Records.
More at the artist’s website: Victor Gama.
In the Media
The Milk Factory: Victor Gama Interview
