ElecNago

ElecNago is the result of a unique collaborative process with renowned turntablist Val Jeanty. This piece is a blend of acoustic and electronic media that captures Jeanty’s improvisational style while allowing performers to interact with her creativity through familiar methods and instruments. This piece is the result of a unique commissioning and collaborative process with composer/turntablist Val Jeanty and the Furman University Percussion Ensemble. In staying true to her unique musical style utilizing turntables, samples, and loops, Jeanty provided the ensemble an audio recording of the work which incorporated real-time improvisation along with samples of Haitian drumming and audio excerpts from an interview with Professor Kofi Asare Opoku, retired Professor of Religious Studies at Lafayette College and retired Associate Professor of Religion and Ethics at the Institute of African Studies at the University of Ghana, Legon. Backing track included with purchase The ensemble then set out transcribing the Haitian drumming sample - and all of Jeanty’s subsequent manipulations of it - for a small collection of acoustic instruments. Next, they mapped each phrase of Prof. Opoku’s excerpted interview to a MIDI controller while also learning, sampling, and re-mapping Jeanty’s improvisations onto a drum equipped with a Sunhouse Sensory Percussion sensor. The result is a blend of acoustic and electronic media that realizes Jeanty’s original creation while also allowing the ensemble to interact with its materials and spirit through familiar methods and instruments.