Ctesibius He was an amazing Greek physicist and inventor who lived in the flourishing Alexandria of the 3rd century BC. of C. None of his writings are preserved, but there are numerous references to his findings, mostly belonging to the field of pneumatics and hydraulics. Thus to Ctesibius credited with inventing the organbecause he devised an instrument called ‘hydraulis’ that used the pressure of water and air to emit sounds through a set of pipes. Basically, the same thing that today would define an organ: a wind instrument made up of numerous tubes where the sound is produced, some bellows that propel the air, a keyboard, some pedals and a series of registers to modify the timbre of the voices.
Along the centuries, each era of history has known different types of organ. Beyond its always overwhelming sound, it was not the same, not even remotely, a gothic organ that a baroque or a romantic or a symphonic one. In this sense, and unlike other musical instruments, the organ is a tool in perpetual evolution whose last incarnation, already in the XXI century, responds to the name (of very Cronenbergian reminiscences) of hyperorgan or expanded organ.
As you may well know, there is no event in Barcelona, certainly on the planet, that knows how to better read the ‘zeitgeist’ of digital creativity than the Dream; and hence the first great experimentation that the city will undergo with a hyperorgan will be, logically, within the framework of the festival. It will not be in any space, but inside the Palau Güell, extraordinary work of Gaudí located in Nou de la Rambla street that will allow visitors, between Wednesday 15 and Sunday 19 (from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.), to enjoy ‘Hyperorgan’, an experience-piece composed by the Berlin duo gamut inc. that will sound continuously and automatically throughout various levels of the building.
They will ask themselves: what is so special about a hyperorgan to turn it into a digital event? In principle, it is still the same as a traditional organ, with its wind and imposing pipes, but receives the addition, through a MIDI card, of digital technologies such as computers, tablets or mobile phones that expand exponentially (to infinity and beyond) its possibilities of use. “This technology makes it possible to turn the organ into an acoustic synthesizer. We can achieve impossible ‘arpeggios’ or ‘clusters’ of 50 or 80 notes, which is something that is not within the reach of the fingers of an organist. It offers you infinite possibilities, both in composition and in interpretation”, explained the technologist Santi Vilanova of Playmodes in the presentation, this Monday, of the formidable sound artifact.
Beyond the mass and the churches
The architect of the Palau Güell hyperorgan is Master Albert Blancafortresponsible for, among many others, the organ of the Sagrada Familia. The instrument that the Barcelona industrialist had installed Eusebi Guell at the end of the 19th century at his residence in Nou de la Rambla it was dismantled in 1990, in the process of restoring the building; and in 2009, given its precarious state, the wise decision was made to build a new one, which was commissioned by Blancafort. “It was a fortune, because, if we had rebuilt the old one, we would now have a relic, a curiosity in time, but with the new one we have been able to look to the future”, affirms the renowned Catalan organ builder. The point is that in 2010, the connection of the organ with digital devices was already envisaged, but it has not been until now, with the emergence of hyperorgans in central and northern Europe, that it has reached its great raison d’être. “It is necessary to detach that idea that the organs are an old thing of mass and cathedrals. Technology now opens up many other fascinating ways of expression for us”, adds Blancafort.
To their right, they listen with pride those responsible for Sónar and Sónar +D, Ricard Robles and Antònia Folguera. “It is clear that it is part of the DNA of Sónar to get into trouble, especially in those in which art and technology start to work together at the service of creativity, a story very much of the festival and very much of the city”, he affirms Oak trees. “In this sense, and at a time when There is so much talk about the possibility of Barcelona being a hub for digital creativity, we want to contribute to make it possible. The hyperorgan is an instrument linked, until now, to experimental or academic environments, and From Sónar we want to make it reach large audiences”. For Folguera, initiatives such as the hyperorgan fit perfectly with the genuine spirit of Sónar, always based on examining more “the flames of the past than its ashes, vindicating tradition to look to the future”.
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In this regard, it commanded respect to listen prospecting for the future with new generations of hyperorgans, which are already being worked on, with which it is possible to compose or perform remotely through the internet or the always intimidating artificial intelligence. “The possibilities of combining acoustic energy with digital are amazing,” explained through a video (they were in Japan this Monday) the two members of gamut inc., Marion Wörle and Maciej Śledziecki, who stressed that their purpose for the piece they have composed is “to revive the avant-garde spirit of Gaudí with the adventurous soul of Sónar”.
The Palau Güell experience is part of SonarExtrathe tour that Sónar proposes in the center of Barcelona during the week of the festival with two other sound interventions: one at the Fundació Antoni Tàpies with ‘Sondear’, by the late Mika Vainio, and another at the Hotel ME Barcelona, with ‘Transient ‘, by Davide Quayola and Seta.