'la vallée de l'étrange'
a face to face between a double bassist and an autonomous augmented double bass in octophonic setting

Pascal Niggenkemper - double bass

+ get CD here : https://subran.bandcamp.com/album/la-vall-e-de-l-trange
+'la vallée de l'étrange' is part of the 6CD boxset limited edition of 120 blòc subran.bandcamp.com/merch/bl-c-6cd-…-edition-of-120
musique pour contrebasse acoustique et contrebasse augmentée en octophonie


Intro
For several years now, the search for new double bass techniques and sounds has been at the center of my artistic practice.

From the experimentation with motors on an augmented double bass came the idea to create ‘la vallée de l’étrange’:
By juxtaposing my double bass with an autonomous augmented double bass (see scenography).

Inspired by the theory of the roboticist Masahiro Mori’s ‘The Uncanny Valley’, ‘la vallée de l’étrange’ is a sound installation in which the double bass is at the heart of my reflection:
- to revisit the relation with my instrument
- to find other viewpoints and instrumental practices to broaden the instrumental possibilities

A face to face is installed between me (acoustic bass) and the augmented double bass whose amplified sound is spatialized in Octophonic sound.

‘La vallée de l’étrange’, a game of opposition and encounter between the human and the imaginary.


Scenography

A circular stage, eight speakers on the periphery, I am playing in the center while turning with my acoustic double bass. For pieces 2, 3 and 6 the double bass lies on my lap which I call basso horizontale. Next to me, an augmented double bass equipped with eight motors in eight zones, each with a piezo.
These zones of the augmented double bass (strings, action, bridge, tailpiece, etc.) are animated by the levers of the motors and projected onto one or several loudspeakers.

The mapping of these zones in the loud speakers varies according to the piece.

The audience is seated in circles between the double bassist and the eight speakers.

The octophonic setup gives the sensation of being inside the augmented double bass.

la vallée de l’étrange

The double bass is lying on my knees (basso horizontale), I play the instrument with my mouth: breaths and whispers are projected towards the f-hole and the endpin entrance. The motors of the augmented double bass are equipped with wheels that, at different speeds and rhythms, operate the strings. A time related interaction is established between the two entities: action or fast reaction versus restrain.

released February 22, 2023

recorded in July and October 2022 at la Grange de Floyrac (France) mix PN, master Giuseppe Ielasi

Merci à Henri Laurens, Claude Foulquier, François Bessac, JJ Triby, Pascal Roux & Nicolas Marmin et Willi de Diastrad

la vallée de l'étrange

Pascal Niggenkemper

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