| [pc0710-02] João Clemente - Ipupiara |
 The use of silence is a prominent feature in João Clemente's music. In Ipupiara, it divides his work into small autonomous units analogous to shifting scenes within a film. Another parallel to the world of motion pictures is the way the music evolves: It focuses on combining static elements that add and subtract layers of events and using key elements as a common thread that wander through these single takes. Sometimes, field recordings are combined with background music before they fall apart into a sequence of short sample snippets, with the unexpected and seemingly illogical just a moment away. But the juxtaposition of events is part of a larger unit that only becomes apparent by looking past single details.
Classifications are hard to come by for Ipupiara. It features improvisation, exhibits influences of music concrète and other blends of tape music, avant-garde, but also electroacoustic, but it should be noted that trying to grasp the music by genres seems to be the wrong approach to me, because it does not do justice to the other forms of arts João Clemente is engaged in. So considering it some kind of soundtrack for a theatre play, avant-garde ballet or experimental film may come closer to the music's intention. It certainly is a highly original work and analytic listening may not be the best approach to it. One may be better served by just closing one's eyes and surrendering to the aural scenery. |
