Akousma XVI

Festival international d'électroacoustique de Montréal

By Caroline Campeau

October 31^st, 2019

origins

Electro Music (electroacoustic, concrète, acousmatic… music) is still very much cutting-edge, even more than 60 years after its invention. More active than ever, it bubbles with energy and finds increased recognition on the global cultural scene. Concrete music (or musique concrète) turned 60 years old in 2008. Indeed, it was in 1948 that Pierre Schaeffer, then in charge of the Studio d’essai of the French national radio (ex-ORTF), realized that the floppy discs on which on-air recordings were etched allowed one to work on sound itself, therefore bestowing on the latter a new title, that of sound material. This sound material can be manipulated, treated and modulated according to the artist’s experience and desires, all that in the studio, regardless of interpretation. At that point, the need to notate sounds disappears, as the music is directly realized, like a painting on canvas or a sculpture in stone.

22 octobre - vivier/gesù

Réjean Beaucage, directeur général du festival Akousma.

François Bonnet, Louis Dufort et Réjean Beaucage à la soirée d'ouverture, au Vivier.

François Bonnet, diffusant l'oeuvre Arthesis (1973), d'Éliane Radigue.

mission

AKOUSMA (autrefois connu sous le nom de Réseaux des arts médiatiques) est un diffuseur de concerts dont le mandat principal est de diffuser à Montréal des œuvres réalisées par des artistes ou collectifs de création en musique électroacoustique. Leurs œuvres sont présentées sur système de son immersif et sous plusieurs formes: acousmatique (musique sur support), mixte (instrument-s et musique sur support), en direct («live electronics»), en vidéomusique ou intégrées à d’autres formes d’art comme la danse, la performance ou l’installation.

Akousma’s main mission is to publicly present the works realized by the artists and production groups active in the field of Electro music using an array of loudspeakers. The works in question can be acousmatic (tape music), mixed (tape and instruments), live (live electronics) or include an other art form, such as video, dance or installation art. Akousma’s channels mostly consist of concerts and databases (akousmas’s website echoing the latter) allowing for the works to come to life on the stage and for the writings to be published.