May 29, 2007
Playing Cellphones on Stage Has Ring Of Respectability
For some avant-garde electronic artists, cellphones are musical instruments that can be incorporated into rock, hip-hop and even modern classical music. The WSJ reports.
"Some musicians have already taken cellphone music to an extreme.
-- An Austrian rock band called The handydandy named itself after the German term for mobile phone, handy. The band, which performs at electronic arts festivals in Europe and elsewhere, has done away with ordinary instruments altogether. Each member of the quintet straps a Sony Ericsson handset around his neck like a guitar and taps away on the buttons, making all the facial and bodily contortions of an Eric Clapton or Carlos Santana while producing very different results. Watch a video of their performance,
Some aspiring DJs and hip-hop artists are beginning to experiment with cellphone, too.
-- In the town of Slough, west of London, a youth center recently began a workshop on "mobile mashups." Using cellphones equipped with special mixing software, students with stage names like MC PanicPhaze learn to splice pieces of existing tunes, add all sorts of electronic effects, and record rap vocals on top.
-- The Chicago Sinfonietta kicked off its 20th season last fall with a "Concertino for Cellphones and Orchestra," a piece built around ringtones.
There's even a small technology industry emerging, mostly in the United Kingdom and elsewhere in Europe, to serve the needs of mobile-phone musicians. The phones and other hand-held devices the Slough youth center uses, for example, come equipped with software called miniMIXA, made by the Tao Group. It turns a cellphone into a tiny sound mixer and recording studi.
Above left, classical musician (pianist and singer) Bora Yoon. Click here to hear her playing her song "Plinko" on a cellphone.
Related: - Links to other ringtone concerts and symphonies
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