Pioneers of electronic music

Photograph by Delia Derbyshire/Radiophonic Workshop

A two-week electronic music festival will this month remind us of those avant garde composers and mavericks that changed the face of twentieth century popular culture decades before electronic music hit the mainstream.

Electronic music still divides opinion even though a patent for an electronic music-making device was taken out as far back as 1876.

But with a series of concerts, talks, screenings and workshops, the Pioneers of Electronic Music festival hopes to tackle naysayers head on by exploring the landscape of electronic music, from the groundbreaking work of Varese and Stockhausen, to the playful ingenuity of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.

Photograph by Delia Derbyshire/Radiophonic Workshop

Gabriel Prokofiev of Nonclassical, the contemporary classical record label hosting the festival, said: “It’s amazing that despite the ubiquity of electronic music we know so little about its origins.

“People like Raymond Scott and FC Judd should be household names given how important they were, so it’s going to be really exciting to see their work profiled and to draw those connections.”

A workshop where participants learn to build a synthesiser is taking place at St Margaret’s House on March 9, led by Professor John Richards.

Those taking part are then invited back to perform in ‘Dirty Electronics’, a 30-piece all electronic ensemble, at XOYO on March 14, in a programme celebrating the unheard connections that bridge the pioneers of the 1950s to today’s electronic producers.

At Nonclassical’s club night at The Macbeth pub on March 6, each of the acts playing will use a new self-invented tool for audiovisual performance and interaction.

Documentary films are also in the offing, with the London première of Deconstructing Dad, a film by Raymond Scott’s son exploring the life and work of his father, showing at Hackney Picturehouse on March 12.

Electronic music is said to have created a new kind of musician, by placing almost total emphasis on layering sound over considerations of technique and performance.

But by discovering and appreciating the pioneers of today’s electronic music we can get over this binary way of viewing it, and to see, in the words of producer Bill Laswell, that: “Computers and electronic music are not the opposite of the warm human music. They’re exactly the same.”

Pioneers of Electronic Music
6 -17 March 2013
For more go to Nonclassical.