published on
That Riff Ensemble Part Of Performance Score Documentaire
Karidi’s audio documentation of a performance score for six voices, named 'That Riff Ensemble', puts a magnifying glass on backing vocalists and the work that is required by them on stage, by detaching them from the lead singer and the solos. In terms of music composition, by shifting the importance, by repeating vocal phrases as mere chants, there is an original take on the musical elements that are there to bridge, to support, to enhance and embellish. By having people perform these parts as loops, the musical objects turn into subjects, thus an interesting reclaiming of the human voice and body occurs, as well as a space reclaiming in reference to club culture history.
The musical genre references draw elements from soul, hip hop and dance music and touch upon the phenomenon of the pop hit which forms a song vocabulary deeply rooted in collective consciousness. Traced by memory these songs are in turn realized through the medium of performance within which Yorgia usually operates. The performance is realized with the use of visual and audio cues and with minimal rehearsals. The performers are untrained singers who react rather than use special vocal skills to perform this piece while being in a vulnerable yet empowered position that acapella singing holds. The repetitive phrases, ταυτο-phonic or polyphonic at parts, create an immersive, hyper-focused reception of songs like: Corona's 'This is the rhythm of the night', 'Tajabone' by Ismael Lo, 'Ready or not' by the Fugees, 'Breathe' by The Prodigy, 'Shoop' by Salt-N-Pepa et al.
In the course of the performance a space emerges where one can re-listen / re-learn songs one has always known, exploring a fresh look at sharing and perceiving music. That singing is thus unfinished, yet good enough. Complete and autonomous, the inexperienced yet liberated rendition of these riffs suggests that it is not in technique rather than in good humor and unison that this core of completion can be sought out.
That Riff Ensemble Audio, Audio transcription of a Performance Score, duration: 24 mins, Yorgia Karidi, 2022
Voices heard: Nonika, Danae Stefanou, Ioannis Kotsonis, Filippos Diamantopoulos, Mike Zambaras, Smaro Papaevangelou, Konstantinos Skopas, Yorgia Karidi & Ste Atzemi. Initially performed by Sofia Zafeiriou, Sofia Mamazi, Filippos Diamantopoulos, Mike Zambaras and Nick Gr.
Yorgia Karidi (Athens, Greece) is a visual artist, musician and performer, whose works / ‘live sets’ focus on listening, vocal qualities and media / genre modulations. She works with painting, sculpture, video, performance, sound and verbal scores. She has worked extensively with the human voice in performance with the desire to understand the historical, political and cultural context of the existence of a femininity in the world.
In her recent works such as the performance ‘I Love that Song’ at Hyle and the podcast ‘Are Song Lyrics Poems?’ launched in the 62nd Thessaloniki International Film Festival 2021, the artist refers to how we perceive folk and pop music culture and literary lyricism, constructing a dictionary of rizom connections between memory, desire, consciousness, in order to offer this affect as a basis for transformation.
Yorgia has also curated live radio shows and collaborative projects such as the YouTube project 'The See Channel': www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGuAXJbwt…a6xJnegbCM8gnjIg-
Yorgia Karidi's work as part of the POLYPHONIZE/ Noise to meet you project presented on Nicosia's E.KA.TE. the Cyprus Chamber of Fine Arts(November 10 -14th 2022). Curating: Ilina Chervonnaya & Katerina Neofytidou. The work also premiered simultaneously on the 63rd Thessaloniki Film Festival's Podcast Department under the title Shoop! and broadcasted live on the radio show Κυτταρίνη και άλλες ουσίες on lemoniradio.com with a discussion between Yorgia Karidi and the host Eleni Kosti on 14/11/22, UTC+2.
- Genre
- Hip-hop & Rap