FORMANT BROTHERS
Program
PERFORMANCE [Nayabashi Bridge Area]
“The Formant Brothers’ SHOW BOAT
── Dodoitsu and Ballad Songs for the Artificial Voice ──”
- Date:
- November 27th Sat. [1]15:00-15:30 / [2]17:00-17:30*Held on November 28th in case of rain.
- Venue:
- Nayabashi Bridge
- Performer:
- Miwa Masahiro (Big brother)
Sakonda Nobuyasu (Guitar / Little brother）
Okano Eugene (MIDI Accordion)
Nishimura Akihiro (Song + MIDI Accordion)
Shigemori Mika (Shamisen + Song)
Ushiyama Taira (Acoustic engineer) - Year:
- 2021
Artist Statement
This was a live performance of the cooperative “Formant Brothers” (Miwa Masahiro and Sakonda Nobuyasu), who have been active since 2000 based on the theme of the “voice.” For this event, they performed in the Nayabashi area live with “SHOW BOAT,” a floating party with artificial voices on a boat drifting along in the flow of the Horikawa River.
Okano Eugene, who the Formant Brothers have called upon for many years due to his transcendent skill in performing their works, played the MIDI accordion manipulating the artificial voice, while pianist/gamelan player Nishimura Akihiro also participated. “Mood Kayo (moody pops)” reminiscent of Showa-era Japan were sung to the accompaniment of twin accordions. The performance also included Shigemori Mika from Kyoto on the shamisen and reciting “Shinnai-bushi ” storytelling, adding beauty and charm to this revised edition of the Formant Brother’s “NEO DO-DO-I-TSU.”
*Dodoitsu: Unrhymed non-metrical Japanese popular love song or limerick in the 7-7-7-5 syllable pattern.
Program
“Showa Kare-Susuki”
Song + MIDI Accordion: Nishimura Akihiro
Guitar: Sakonda Nobuyasu
“NEO DO-DO-I-TSU - Six Japanese folk songs -”
Songwriting: Formant Brothers (2009/2021)
MIDI Accordion: Okano Eugene
Shamisen + Song : Shigemori Mika
“Yume no Waltz”
Songwriting: Formant Brothers（2012/2021）
MIDI Accordion: Nishimura Akihiro + Okano Eugene
Shamisen: Shigemori Mika
Guitar: Sakonda Nobuyasu
Artwork: Igaki Masashi
Artist
Formant Brothers
The Formant Brothers is a collaborative unit for composition and speculation, formed in 2000 with Miwa Masahiro and Sakonda Nobuyasu. Focusing on the “voice” they have been exploring today’s issues of technology and art philosophically, musically, and technologically, aiming to make machines sing the “songs” of the 21st century. Major works; “Ordering a Pizza de Brothers”, “Neo Do-do-i-tsu”, “Yume no Waltz”, etc., in which the artificial voice is played by human hands. They won the Prix Ars Electronica 2009 for “Le Tombeau de Freddie/L’Internationale”.
Masahiro MIWA
Born in Tokyo in 1958. In 1978 he moved to Germany and studied composition at National Academy of Art in Berlin and the Robert Schumann National Academy in Düsseldorf. Since the latter half of the 1980s, Miwa has released countless works that were created using the method known as algorithmic composition. He is a former member of the Methodicism coterie and currently a professor at the Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences [IAMAS].
Nobuyasu SAKONDA
Musician and media artist. Born in Kobe in 1961. He has been presenting many media artworks using his original vocal synthesis software and publishing articles on Media studies on Voice and Machine. A co-author of textbooks for Max programming. A professor at the Nagoya University of Arts and Sciences, Department of Visual Media.
