2021

Original Score for "Memories of Overdevelopment" by Miguel Coyula , Sundance New Frontier Selection 2010
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0457591/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Awards for Best Original Score Havana New Filmmakers Festival.

Cosmic Interruptions

Links to Apple Music and Spotify here: gate.fm/6idVr6dQu

music to video montage from the documentary  "Oceans" 
https://vimeo.com/361866432

Composer/Producer - Dika Chartoff
Guitar - Chris Westfall

La Mer

My musical rendition of the poem by Emily Dickinson is licensed by and credited to Harvard University Press as follows:  

THE POEMS OF EMILY DICKINSON, edited by Thomas H. Johnson, Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Copyright © 1951, 1955 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Copyright © renewed 1979, 1983 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Copyright © 1914, 1918, 1919, 1924, 1929, 1930, 1932, 1935, 1937, 1942, by Martha Dickinson Bianchi. Copyright © 1952, 1957, 1958, 1963, 1965, by Mary L. Hampson.

470

I am alive — I guess —
The Branches on my Hand
Are full of Morning Glory —
And at my finger's end —

The Carmine — tingles warm —
And if I hold a Glass
Across my Mouth — it blurs it —
Physician's — proof of Breath —

I am alive — because
I am not in a Room —
The Parlor — Commonly — it is —
So Visitors may come —

And lean — and view it sidewise —
And add "How cold — it grew" —
And "Was it conscious — when it stepped
In Immortality?"

I am alive — because
I do not own a House —
Entitled to myself — precise —
And fitting no one else —

And marked my Girlhood's name —
So Visitors may know
Which Door is mine — and not mistake —
And try another Key —

How good — to be alive!
How infinite — to be
Alive — two-fold — The Birth I had —
And this — besides, in — Thee!

I am alive - I guess

I am alive I guess

I Am Alive I Guess

Beginnings

For what we can and can't explain

“I don't remember my dreams too much. I hardly have ever gotten ideas from nighttime dreams. But I love daydreaming and dream logic and the way dreams go” - David Lynch
​
I love to express stories through music and explore the visceral space that surrounds them. Sometimes I’m interested in creating sound collages, or tapestries of sound that are varied in their nature but unified in their aesthetic aim. Other times I surrender to something lyrical. Most of the time, I feel compelled to make sense of the world, which is impossible. But, after some work, which includes frustration, and occasional eureka moments, I find deep meaning and satisfaction in my music, especially as I near the finish line and embark on a collaborative journey with fellow creatives. 

www.dikachartoff.com