Computer Music in Chile

This archive is part of El Camino de Silicio, a computer music network to promote computer music in the Americas. For more information contact Robert Willey (bobw@ucsd.edu).

Centers

Jorge Herrera is teaching electronic music at the Universidad Tecnológica Vicente Perez Rosales, including software, hardware, MIDI, and recording techniques in the university's studio.

For more information contact:

Jorge Herrera
Departamento de Sonido y Acóstica
Universidad Tecnológica Vicente Pérez Rosales
Brown Norte 290
Santiago, Chile.

email: msalgado@lascar.puc.cl

The following information was contributed by Martin Fumarola (email: maralefu@mailexcite.com
or maralefo@hotmail.com).

Recordings

A recording of electroacoustic music from entitled "Electromusica de Arte" from Universidad de Chile is available for $16 from:

SVR PRODUCCIONES
San Juan 4967
Santiago CHILE

Phone and fax: +56 2 5524181

At the beginning of 1995 it was released the first CD containing electroacoustic music from Chile. The CD features pieces of historical importance, such as "Los Peces" (1957) by Juan Amenabar, as well as very recent works of both established and young composers.

Chile is the first Latinamerican country in which an electroacoustic music concert was held: the piece "Variaciones Espectrales" (1958) by Jose Vicente Asuar was premmiered in 1959 at the Antonio Varas Theatre in Santiago, the capital city of the country. "Los Peces" (1957) is the first electroacoustic work produced in Chile. Composers Jose Vicente Asuar and Juan Amenabar are the pioneers of electroacoustic music in Chile. In 1969 Jose Vicente Asuar was commisioned to create a career in sound technology and in 1974 he launched his own studio called COMDASUAR. In the same year Juan Amenabar coordinates the recording studio at the Universidad de Chile. Appart from that, other activities were carried out in the "Taller Experimental del Sonido" belonging to the Catholic University of Santiago. In 1991 Juan Amenabar created the GEMA (Gabinete de Electroacustica para la Musica de Arte), where three of pieces of the CD were produced. Nowadays the Facultad de Artes belonging to the Universidad de Chile is the only place where electroacoustic music is taught.

The content of the CD is the following:

1. "Astillas de bambu" (1989-94), for flute and tape, by Jorge Mart!nez Ulloa It uses a program written in the C language for algorithmic composition techniques. This work was mostly produced at the Computational Center of the Florence Conservatory (Italy) while the final mixing was done in Santiago.
2. "Los Peces" (1957), by Juan Amen_bar
3. "OIREB-A" (1994), by Ernesto Holman Grossi
4. "Metalmambo" (1994), for flute and tape, by Eduardo C_ceres
5. "Nilnovisubsole" (1994), by Fernando Carrasco Pantoja This piece is important because it uses sampled sounds of some Latinamerican folkloric instruments.
6. "Cirrus" (1978), by Santiago Vera Rivera Analog work produced in the studios of the Radio de la Universidad de Chile and Filmocentro. It utilizes an Arp 2600 and a Moog of first generation.
7. "Golpe de luz" (1995), Juan Carlos Vergara Solar
8. "Ludus Vocalis" (1973), Juan Amenabar
9. "Cygnus" (1994), by Cristi_n Morales Ossio
10. "Fiesta" (1989), by Rolando Cori Traverso It was produced in the Elektronische Studio von Musik Hochschule in Freiburg (Germany).
11. "NVD" (1994), for flute and tape, by Mario Mora

There is also more material referring to the Chilean electroacoustic music but in cassette. The titles are the following:

• "Jose Vicente Asuar, compositor chileno"
• "Juan Amenabar, compositor chileno"
• "Gabriel Brncic, compositor chileno Vol I"
• "Gabriel Brncic, compositor chileno Vol II"

Personalities

JOSE VICENTE ASUAR and JUAN AMENABAR: they are the pioneers of the electroacoustic music in Chile. Their works have been performed in several foreign countries. Jose Asuar has his own studio and won a prize in one of the Bourges International Competitions, recorded in one of the "Cultures Electroniques" CD's.

FRANCESCA ANCAROLA: a young woman composer living in Santiago. She won a residence in the 1993 Bourges International Competition and a scholarship to study in Canada. Her music was performed in Chile, Uruguay and Ecuador. She is member of the "Agrupacion Musical Anacrusa".

Events

ENCUENTRO DE COMPOSITORES LATINOAMERICANOS organized by the "Agrupacion Musical Anacrusa". There were three editions, the last one realized in 1989. After that, there were two new editions (1992 and 1994) but only restricted to composers from Chile. Those meetings included concerts of instrumental and electroacoustic music. In the '89 edition the electroacoustic concert included works by Jose Vicente Asuar, Eduardo Reck Miranda, Ricardo Dal Farra, Francisco Kröpfl and Martin Fumarola, among others.

Diego (wsaez@valdivia.uca.uach.cl) has begun a ftp site in Spanish with lyrics, chords, MIDI files, etc.). It is mostly rock music, but there are other types as well.

While we are waiting to find out more information about arts technology centers in Chile, the Bienvenido á Chile page offers a variety of information on the country. The University of Texas also has general information.

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