Llamada - Music

Fátima Miranda Was Born In Salamanca And Lives In Madrid. After Completing Her M.A. In Art History She Specialized In Contemporary Art Publishing Two Books In Architecture And Urbanism. Her Interest In The Avant-Garde Led Her To A Special Focus On Performance Art Video Art And Minimal Music But Above All On The Relationship Between Art And Life And Between Artist And Audience. Following Her Encounter With The Musician Llorenç Barber - A Turning Point In Her Artistic Life - She Founded The Improvisatory Group Taller De Música Mundana With Him. When She Was Appointed Director Of The Music Library Of The Complutense University Of Madrid 1982-1989 She Began To Combine These Activities With Studies In Ear-Training Alto Saxophone And Percussion. She Soon Discovered The Unexpected And Precious Potential Of Her Voice And Decided To Rigorously Explore It To Its Maximum Consequences. Since 1983 She Has Been Doing Research On The Voice And Vocal Music In Traditional Music And This Has Propelled Her To Use The Voice Not Only For Singing And Speaking But Also As A Wind And Percussion Instrument Built Into The Body. All Of The Above Constitutes The Basis For Her Own Integrated Musical Language. Through Solitary And Systematic Experimentation She Developed A Series Of Unique And Personal Vocal Techniques Which She Subsequently Catalogued For Her Own Use - A Necessary Measure Inasmuch As Many Of These Techniques Were Invented By Her And Thus Unprecedented. By Naming And Ordering Them According To Timber And Register She Was Able To Create A Codified Body Of Resources Available To Her In Her Own Work And For Collaborations With Other Composers. The First Fruits Of These Thorough Tasks Appeared In The Phonetic Poetry Of The Flatus Vocis Trio And In Her Work With The French Composer Jean-Claude Eloy. From 1983 To 1993 She Studied Bel Canto With Various Professors In Order To Combine Vocal Techniques Traditionally Considered Incompatibles. In 1987-1988 She Studied Traditional Techniques With The Japanese Singer Yumi Nara Thanks To A Grant Awarded By The Juan March Foundation. In 1988 She Learnt Mongol Harmonic Singing With Tran Quang Haï At The Museum Of Man In Paris. This Technique Requires The Simultaneous Production Of Two Vocal Sounds The Fundamental Note As Drone And The Melody Produced By Its Harmonic Series. From The Practice Of This Technique She Discovered The Importance Of The Relation Listening / Vocal Emission Going Deeper Into This Aspect Thanks Also To Professor Alfred Tomatis. Since 1988 She Has Combined Short Workshops In France And Holland With Longer Periods In India Where She Studies Dhrupad Music And Singing With Different Members Of The Eminent Dagar Family After Having Obtained In 1989 A Scholarship From The Ministry Of Foreign Affairs. Since The Seventeenth Century This Oral Tradition Has Been Past Down In All Its Purity From Father To Son Through Nineteen Generations Of The Dagar Family. As A Result Of All This Her Work Was Greatly Enriched By Training In The Subtle Perception Of Microtones And Harmonics And Therefore In Their Vocal Production Determining Factors In Her Composition. It Should Be Pointed Out That While The Form And Structure Of Fátima Miranda’s Work Bears No Resemblance To Music Of Those Cultures It Is Essentially Related If Only In Its Use Of Microtones Dynamics Rhythm And Various And Refined Forms Of Singing. From A Deliberate Position Of Rupture It Was A Question Of Making Compatible Musical Vocal Gestural And Dramatic Idioms Apparently Unrelated But Which In Fact Maintain A Close Relationship Among Themselves And Even With The Spanish Musical Heritage. The Microtonal Character And Demanding Rhythmic Sense Of Flamenco The Galician Aturuxos And Basque Irrintxis Mountain Cries The Balearic Yodels The Gomero Whistle As Well As The Guttural Dark Deep Hoarse Brilliant Or Screeching Timbres Which At Once Colour And Give Character To Numerous Manifestations Of This Rich Musical Heritage Are Present In The Music Of India Japan Mongolia Some Arabic Countries Korea China And Africa. In One Way Or Another Fátima Miranda Has Been Able To Bring This Into A Rich And Unprejudiced Partnership With Bel Canto And In A Dialogue With The Aesthetic Options Of The Avant-Garde. As A Result In 1991 This Trajectory Was To Crystallize In The Creation Of Her Concert-Performance For Solo Voice Voices Of The Voice. In 1996 She Was Awarded The Prestigious DAAD Grant Being Invited By The Berliner Künstlerprogramm Des Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst As Artist In Residence In The City Of Berlin. In The Pieces Included In Voices Of The Voice Concierto En Canto And ArteSonado All Of Them Released On C.D. Just As In Her Last Solo Work Cantos Robados Edited On DVD The Voice Is Treated In All Its Possible Sung And Spoken Expressions Employing Western And Oriental Vocal Techniques As Well As Those Of Her Own Invention Some Of Them Multiphonic Covering A Four-Octave Range Without Recourse To Any Electronic Manipulations Whatsoever. All That Joined With The Important Gestural Dramatic And Poetic Component Which Accompanies Her Performance Creates A Variety Of Atmospheres And Emotions Which Makes A Unique Product That Attracts Audience From Very Diverse Backgrounds. Above And Beyond Its Cultivated Virtuosity The Work Of Fátima Miranda Comes From A Slow And Conscious Digestion Of Life Itself Of Her Travels Her Diverse Studies Errors Contradictions Playfulness Discoveries Provocation Sense Of Humour And Of Course A Demanding Discipline Divested Of All Rigidity Intention And Exhibitionism. The Music And The Voice Of This Creator Transgress Touch And Transform Because Unintentionally And Unavoidably They Are She Herself. Fátima Miranda Has Collaborated Among Others With Llorenç Barber Robert Ashley Wolf Vostell Jean-Claude Eloy Julio Estrada Bartolomé Ferrando Pedro Elías Stefano Scodanibbio Bertl Mutter Rachid Koraichi John Rose Hans Peter Kuhn Stéphane Abboud Werner Durand Mirella Weingarten And Sacha Waltz. She Has Performed As A Soloist In Numerous International Festivals Within Contemporary Vocal And Experimental Music Circuits As Well As Those Of Theatre Sound Poetry And Performance Art. read less