Telematic performance without the bros
A networked performance led by Iran Sanadzadeh (Monash, AUS) and Mike Mulshine (CCRMA, USA). 28 March 2024, Monash University.
Sanadzadeh (in white) chatting to Mulshine on the phone during the performance.
“The embodied relationship between the gesture and the sound changes with the Floors. Built-in associations between the action and the sound are challenged, forcing the audience to listen anew without recognising the role of each gesture.”
Musicians in the space, and on the video during the performance.
“Iran Sanadzadeh and Mike Mulshine's collaborative work focuses on musical expression with new interfaces and draws together songs, community and an expressive relationship with bespoke electronics. This endeavour focuses on affinities that bind art practices across wide distances, and how despite the hyper-connectivity of this era's communication, distance is a strongly felt emotion” (Monash Lunchtime Concert program note).
I frequently attend the free, Thursday Monash Lunchtime concert series - I work there. Students rarely come these days, it’s not compulsory anymore. But I have experienced student performances, world premieres, visiting artists, stunning soloists, staff concerts. But this was something very different.
Beyond the shiny black concert grand piano, theatrical smoke and over coloured lights, this was a casual affair. Not in that cables-all-over-the-place computer music mess casual (though there was that too), but like we are looking into someones lounge room. Some carefully placed lamps added to this effect. A few minutes into the performance, Sanadzadeh answers the phone ringing nearby. It’s Mike. “Its already started'“, she says into the phone. Not in the ‘you are late' kind of way - more like a ‘welcome - lets slide into this thing’ kind of way.
Sanadzadeh is set up front of stage on her signature pressure sensitive floors. She is accompanied in the space with frequent collaborator, trumpet performer Niran Dasika, pianist Patrick Jaffe and violist Liam Bailie, who does a smooth entry some 20 minutes in. The floors are augmented - strung up with wires, flowers, bells, bits and pieces. They play beautifully together, but the concert highlight is when the group sets into a song, Sanadzadeh grabbing an electric mandolin and chatting with Mike about how its going to go as she sets it up. Their singing is not great - but thats just right. It’s a group of friends spending time together with, and through this music. Maybe they wrote the song when they were together last, I don’t know. Their joy and flow is palpable. Mike joins in, maybe some others on the line, we can’t really hear them, perhaps because we can’t see them - but somehow it is clear thats happening. After, they laugh about how it went together, they try it again. We laugh with them, I think there were some tears in the audience along the way.
There is some black and white video footage that comes in and out on the wall behind them. A group of musicians are playing in someone’s apartment, Mike is there. Sometimes, Sanadzadeh is also there - playing ukulele, smiling, having fun. Othertimes, there is a space where she had been, a gaping gap. Sanadzdeh walks around the stage in front of us, switching the lamps on and off, the switching audible and percussive, the lights somehow fading the video in and out. The choreography was beautiful, perfectly paced, intentional and free at the same time. The embodiment that Sanadazdeh talks about so much in regards to her instrument, the floors, is complex here. There is a connection between action and sound, and it is an emotional one. The gesture is carefully timed, thoughtful and at times ghostly - between the music performance, video, choreography and phone chats. The music takes on a rich, unique meaning - just as friendships are defined by multiple factors we probably never really understand.
This performance had a clear sensation of loss, longing and friendship that permeated the entire 45 minutes of music making. It is remarkable, really, how this was achieved - it was in the spirit of the thing, the music, the way of being. It felt like we - the audience - we looking in to something very private, and we relate. I havn’t seen anything like it.
This is the new networked music. Not how little latency, or how good is the audio quality, but how meaningful it can be to reach out to friends - online, in music, the closest to being together in real space, realtime. This is what music is for - to bring us together, reminisce, try stuff out, have fun. A remarkable concert experience.