On this second day at Chicharrón Film Festival we find a workshop where Jose Lopez (sound engineer and acoustic engineer) talks to us about the genre and philosophy of ‘Noise’. Prepare your ears because it’s not just noise.
What is ‘Noise’?
Let’s start with day 2 of Chicharrón Film Festival IIon this occasion we will talk about ‘Noise’. If you are an educated person in the Anglo-Saxon language you will realize that ‘Noise’ means noise in Spanish, but if you are like me they will have to tell you. Well this musical movement consists of that, noise. At first glance noise is not music, or so we think. Jose Lopezin his workshop at Chicharrón Film Festivalshowed us how a number of musicians decided to experiment with noise to show that it wasn’t just something unpleasant. A movement that since 1913 has tried to demonstrate that what sounds bad and/or out of tune. From these music lovers they discovered a world that departs from what is conventional. Thus using musical instruments and everyday objects to encourage musical freedom and experiment beyond conventional canons.
How did it all start?
During the workshop, Jose Lopez he told us not only about what they wanted to transmit this new musical philosophy, but also gave us a tour starting in 1913, where a musician decided to try what no one had tried, noise. Luigi RussoloItalian composer (thank you for the redundancy), he decided to look beyond conventional harmony and try what no one had tried to experience in terms of those sounds that we can hear through the ear. As you can imagine the music world at that time did not take it seriously, proposing new ways to create new sounds, new sound textures. It may seem like sovereign stupidity, but what at first appeared to be a simple thing had a very deep thought. And this thought was emphasized to us by José López; there is no silence, there is always noise. Because the beauty of all this noise is to turn these imperceptible sounds into a new and innovative harmony.
You can click here to see Day 1
The evolution of ‘Noise’
And so guys, that’s how a different wave started and in the most ‘underground’ style that decided to get out of what is conventionally beautiful and created through a new way of listening to subgenres within this same subgenre. A phenomenon that could be done by people who didn’t even know anything about music and wanted to be carried away by the noise. ‘Glitch’, ‘Japanoise’, ‘noise rock’, … Countless styles that reinforced the idea of noise as never before thought of. A new way of seeing that unpleasant sound that we even get away from just hearing it. Exploring the unexplored, not sticking to the standards and trying what no one has tried. In fact, as Josep showed us, it has come to create musical instruments specific to noise. From electronica to rock, this subgenre has explored so many genres that it even seems to revitalize music. It’s more, even The Beatles have participated in this extraordinary way of inventing sounds that have never been heard before.
Beyond the Noise.
To end the workshop on day 2 of Chicharrón Film Festival II I have to admit that I found it very interesting, I never would have imagined that something as ordinary as noise could have a world inside it so big and striking. In the other hand, Jose Lopez it seemed to me like a person who loves this genre as immersive as it is free of stereotypes. As for the exclusion that this subgenre has received from the music world, I can only say that it is not the first time that they do this rejection with such elitism and despotism to a movement that is trying to revitalize. Recently, a young composer explained on her networks how the world of classical music rejected her for a reason as simple as reinventing and looking for new compositions. Finally, he had to find a new way. The refusal to revitalize, to innovate, to give life is what causes art to rot and die. As a curious detail, David Lynch he uses ‘noise’ in his film Eraserhead.