REKA VERSION 2 by YUVAL AVITAL
MASSIVE SONIC WORK n.4 FOR SIX EXTENDED VOCAL SOLOISTS, TWO PERCUSSIONS AND A CROWD OF HUNDREDS OF VOICES AND PERCUSSIONS
WORLD PREMIERE:
01/10/2016 | Festival Aperto, Teatro Valli, Reggio Emilia, Italy
REKA by YUVAL AVITAL
MASSIVE SONIC WORK n.4 FOR SIX TRADITIONAL SINGERS, TWO PERCUSSIONS AND A CROWD OF HUNDREDS OF VOICES
WORLD PREMIERE:
16/09/2014 | MiTo SettembreMusica Festival, Milan, Italy
24/09/2014 | Warsaw Autumn - International Festival of Contemporary Music, Warsaw, Poland
commission of Warsaw autumn Festival 2014
First Commissioned in 2014 by Warsaw Autumn Festival, Yuval Avital’s REKA (in Hebrew:“background”) is a large-scale sonic experiment that extends the human voice - the most essential and ancient sonic tool of all - to a collage of techniques, aesthetics, shouts and whispers.
The main component of this work, the VOICE extends from techniques and aesthetics of millenary traditions, to shouts and whispers, from precise musical languages to complex sonic textures; uniting and overlapping parallel events until reaching an extreme weaved texture, a trembling background from which sonic messages are born in order to vanish again.
In October 2016 will be presented a new version of REKA: "REKA v.2, REKA RE" - will be presented in one of Italy's finest theatres- Teatro Valli of Reggio Emilia - with new visuals, new sonic elements, new soloists and 20 percussions players that will form the "PERCUSSIONS CROWD".
In REKA there are 3 types of score (“classical” for the percussions soloists ; “user-friendly” for the vocal & percussions CROWD and 6 “customized” scores to each soloist-according his or her tradition and culture); it is one of Avital's most daring experiments of "global music", a creation which unites diversity, creativity, community and excellence into an immersive sonic experience. Each one can participate in REKA, taking part of the "CROWD" section and using her/his voice as a sound instrument, with no need of previous musical knowledge or experience.
- “Here is a clear and original example of massive music : REKA of composer Yuval Avital, a genuine event of a potentially planetary proportions that can include however wishes to partake in this work…” (Il Venerdì weekly, September 2014 Author Federico Capitolini)
- "...an important provocation to the ones that still divide and separate music from an Euro-centric prospective [...] using a poly-vocal counterpoint of great emotion and strength..." (La Repubblica daily, September 2014 Author Angelo Foletto)
- "...the numerous public, all sold-out, had breathed with the vocal crowd and the soloists as one. A very beautiful experience both to the performers as to the spectators..." (Il Fatto Quotidiano daily, September 2014 Author Valeria Gandus)
THE SOLOISTS:
The six vocal soloists in REKA represent a selection of some of the world’s most extraordinary masters of rare vocal traditions and vocal innovators.
Some of them are renowned soloists of international fame, some are a part of UNESCO Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity, some are religious leaders, some are important singers in their community, fulfilling their traditional role as musical accompanies for their people in the cycle of life and death.
they are characterized by ancient roots as well as by a strong identity value in the contemporary context; however, is interesting to remark that all them, apart from the Sardinian, bassu, live out from their original countries, some due to their career, some due to exile, some due to immigration. This fact can be a solid contradiction to the “exotic” approach to multiculturalism, which pre-assume “remote” rather than diverse or complimentary.
CROWD MUSIC
The vocal crowd in REKA is a gigantic anti-choir: Hundreds of citizens of the cities in which REKA will take place (in 2014 Milan & Warsaw which will host the world premiere) will compose a heterogeneous massive-sonic organic. Opposed to the traditional choir, the Crowd does not require prior musical knowledge or experience.
A USER-FRIENDLY SCORE composed of verbal and graphic components that suggest an immediate sonic element, also using imitations of the natural world, pre-linguistic sounds and onomatopoeic phonemes, creating complexity instead of hierarchy and diversity instead of homogeneity.
The World Wide Web carries an important role in this project: social networks, mailing lists and forums are used to communicate with the vocal crowd; online video tutorials and downloadable scores are be used as an essential part of the formation process. The hyper-connectivity of the web that has been changing in the recent years from passive exposure of information to a desire to be active…to express our unique individual sphere and to share, interact, connect. Crowd music is what it’s all about - using our voice as a both as a connector and resource to make art together, regardless to our social background, musical knowledge, age or origin.
