Chronotope-Situations’ is a series of pieces for different media created during 2020. This one’s soundtrack material was ‘crowd sourced’ from my circle of friends’ kitchenware noise, sent to me as voice messages, thus embracing the idiosyncratic ‘lo-fi’ aesthetics of current social communication. This relates to the recent social revolt in Chile, which included ‘cacerolazos’ or collective beating of empty pans as a form of noise protest. I remember these from my childhood, when the Chilean people demonstrated against Pinochet’s regime, while the recent ones I’ve only witnessed from afar, through messages from family and friends, and on social media. This is punctuated by a sequence of asymmetrical rhythmic patterns on a bass drum.
Podcast
Below is a podcast episode where Cat Hope talks to Pedro Alvarez about being a composer and his experiences of the pandemic times.
Pedro Alvarez is an independent composer, improviser, and scholar, born in Chile and currently based in Australia. His creative work focuses on new forms of sonic narrative made of static situations, articulating simplicity of form in contrast with highly detailed textures. Research interests include aesthetics and politics, postcolonialism, critical theories, and musical thinking since the 1960’s. Alvarez studied composition with Cirilo Vila in Santiago, with James Dillon in London, and with Liza Lim in Huddersfield, obtaining a PhD in 2014. He has been hosted as composer-in-residence in Vienna and in Mexico, and receives commissions from festivals and ensembles around the world.