Ecoacoustic and shamanic technologies for multimedia composition and performance

Abstract

The author's close connection to traditional Alaskan culture has inspired the creation and implementation of new multimedia instruments based on the use of ritual objects in shamanic cultures of the far north. Simultaneously, the musical processes articulated by this music are structurally tied to environmental systems in a technique discussed here as ‘ecoacoustics’. In this work, performer/composer interaction, musical composition theory, multimedia performance, and musical instrument design have been transformed in response to these influences.