Release date: 29 September 2023
What is the future of the piano? This is a question that pianist, composer, and technologist Zubin Kanga has explored for over a decade now and one which he investigates in his first solo release on NMC, Cyborg Pianist. Inviting some of the most inventive and forward-thinking composers of today to incorporate a host of cutting-edge technological alterations and extensions into their new works for solo piano, Kanga develops a new ‘cyborg sonic identity’ for an instrument that has remained largely unchanged for the past century. Commissioned as part of Kanga’s multi-year music and research project Cyborg Soloists, Cyborg Pianist is a treasure trove of technological innovation as six distinct compositional voices unlock new possibilities in piano composition and performance.
Laura Bowler's SHOW(ti)ME incorporates a fascinating combination of interdisciplinary elements to explore the disparity between performers’ public personas and their private anxieties, including layers of pre-recorded music, sound effects and words, piano, and MiMU sensor gloves which Kanga uses to shape sound using motion and gesture. The MiMU gloves were also used to mould the sound of a Korg Prologue synthesizer on the dreamy, restless Hypnagogia (after Bach), a piece by Zubin Kanga inspired by listening to Bach half-asleep on long-haul flights.
Counterfeits (Siminică) by Laurence Osborn uses the touch-sensitive keys of the TouchKeys keyboard - another brand new technology - to trigger live samples of Osborn's voice imitating a historical Romanian folk singer. The TouchKeys allows the vocal samples to bend and slide in pitch in reponse to Kanga's precise finger movements, exploring the intertwined relationship between ‘voice’ and piano. The TouchKeys keyboard makes an appearance again in Oliver Leith's Vicentino, love you – studies for keyboard, this time hooked up to the iconic Prophet Rev II synthesizer in an homage to a 16th-Century mictronal keyboard instrument.
The stormy swirls of sound of Shiva Feshareki's Whirling Dervishes are produced using the British-Iranian turntablist's trademark ambisonic technology. Spatialized turntable improvisations respond to composed material on the piano, representing the ecstaticly meditative spinning of ancient Sufi tradition.
To create her work DEVIANCE, Emily Howard used EEG brain-scanning equipment to measure listener's responses when played her music. The data gathered in this experiment was then combined with piano music and AI-generated sounds to create a piece which explores how our brain processes music on multiple levels.
Throughout the album, what connects these six distinctive works is the piano, proving the instrument’s astonishingly versatile and chameleon-like abilities that stand the test of time.
Please note that this album is a double CD release, but is priced the same as our single CD releases.
TRACKLISTING
DISC 1
1. Laura Bowler SHOW(ti)ME
Zubin Kanga (piano, voice, MiMU gloves and electronics)
2-6. Laurence Osborn Counterfeits (Siminică)
Zubin Kanga (piano and TouchKeys keyboard)
7. Shiva Feshareki Whirling Dervishes
Zubin Kanga (piano), Shiva Feshareki (turntables/immersive electronics)
DISC 2
1-7. Oliver Leith Vicentino, love you – studies for keyboard (‘L’antica musica ridotta alla moderna prattica 2’)
Zubin Kanga (TouchKeys keyboard and Sequential Prophet Rev II synthesizer)
8. Emily Howard DEVIANCE
Zubin Kanga (piano and electronics)
9. Zubin Kanga Hypnagogia (after Bach)
Zubin Kanga (piano, Korg Prologue synthesizer, MiMU gloves and electronics)
AUDIO
REVIEWS
"The double-disc release features associated music by a cohort of exciting British composers [...] a new wave of experimentalism" Gramophone
"Energetic, engaging, entertaining," International Piano
"Without composers writing for new technology, it will not survive. By collaborating with many composers of our time, Kanga is doing everything possible to create exciting repertoire for himself, and a lasting legacy for his research." I Care If You Listen
"Wearing black gauntlets and clasping long metal batons, Zubin Kanga’s look is a cross between a medieval knight and Edward Scissorhands. The pianist-composer activates unseen spaces in the belly of a grand piano, whipping invisible waves and playing the strings like a drum." Big Issue
"The instrument itself remains as acoustic, pristine and untouched as any purist could wish for, but through the use of wearable electronics and synthesisers, Kanga takes its sound in a huge variety of exciting directions." Presto
"Using technologies such as MiMu motion detection gloves, brainwave sensors and artificial intelligence, Kanga hopes to create a new repertoire for the classical piano and bring it into the 21st century." New Scientist
RECORDING CREDITS
SHOW(ti)MEComposer: Laura Bowler
Performer: Zubin Kanga (piano, voice, MiMU gloves and electronics)
Producer: Zubin Kanga, Laura Bowler
Recorded by: Zubin Kanga and Ronan Phelan at Masterchord Studios on 20 & 28 February 2023
Libretto and Dramaturgy: Sam Redway
Editing and Mixing: Jamie Hamilton and Zubin Kanga
Counterfeits (Siminică)
Composer: Laurence Osborn
Performer: Zubin Kanga (Piano and TouchKeys keyboard)
Producer: Zubin Kanga, Laurence Osborn
Recorded by: Zubin Kanga and Ronan Phelan at Masterchord Studios on 13-14 June 2023
Whirling Dervishes (album version)
Composer: Shiva Feshareki
Performer: Zubin Kanga (piano), Shiva Feshareki (turntables/immersive electronics)
Producer: Zubin Kanga, Shiva Feshareki
Recorded by: Zubin Kanga and Ronan Phelan at Masterchord Studios on 13 & 20 February 2023,
Shiva Feshareki at Studio Feshareki (February - March 2023)
Ambisonics Technology Support: Dave Hunt
Vicentino, love you – studies for keyboard
Composer: Oliver Leith
Performer: Zubin Kanga (TouchKeys keyboard and Sequential Prophet Rev II synthesizer)
Producer: Zubin Kanga, Oliver Leith
Recorded by: Zubin Kanga at Studio ZK on 6 May 2023
Editing and Mixing: Jamie Hamilton and Zubin Kanga
DEVIANCE
Composer: Emily Howard
Performer: Zubin Kanga (piano and electronics)
Producer: Zubin Kanga, Emily Howard, Bofan Ma
Recorded by: Zubin Kanga and Ronan Phelan at Masterchord Studio on 1-2 June 2023
Electronics Sound Design: Bofan Ma
Machine learning audio consultant: Christopher Melen
Collaborating researcher: Christiane Neuhaus
Hypnagogia (after Bach)
Composer: Zubin Kanga
Performer: Zubin Kanga (piano, Korg Prologue synthesizer, MiMU gloves and electronics)
Producer: Zubin Kanga
Recorded by: Zubin Kanga and Ronan Phelan at Masterchord Studios on 13 May,
and Zubin Kanga at Studio ZK (May - June 2023)
FUNDERS
All the works were commissioned by Zubin Kanga as part of Cyborg Soloists, with the support of a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship and Royal Holloway, University of London.The commission of Laura Bowler’s SHOW(ti)ME was also supported by Vaughan Williams Foundation.
Thanks to the Cyborg Soloists industry partners: MiMU, ANT Neuro and TouchKeys, and to the collaborating researchers Christopher Melen and Bofan Ma (PRiSM), Royal Northern College of Music), and Christiane Neuhaus (University of Hamburg).
Catalogue no: NMCD279
Release date: 29 September 2023