Vodalities by Dominic Shodekeh Talifero (perf by Shodekeh and Sō Percussion)

Описание: Video by Four/Ten Media, directed by Evan Chapman (2023). Engineered by Nelson Dorado; mixed and mastered by Matthew Poirier. Performed by Shodekeh and Sō Percussion (Adam Sliwinski, Eric Cha-Beach, Jason Treuting, Josh Quillen). sopercussion.com

Video performance shot in Baltimore, MA at 2640 Project at St. John's United Methodist Church 1/29/23

Vodalities: Paradigm of Consciousness for the Human Voice
I. “The Universality of Breath Art” (Dedicated to Bobby McFerrin) II. “The Genealogy of Vocal Percussion” (Dedicated to Ella Fitzgerald) III: "The Mathematics of Beatboxing" (Dedicated to Doug E. Fresh: The Original Human Beatbox.)

When I first composed "Vodalities" for Sō Percussion in 2020, I was ecstatic that it was going be transcribed and arranged by one of the world's very best and most imaginative percussion ensembles, but I hadn't at the time visualized what the ensemble performing it live would look like, even though I do enjoy possessing a degree of synesthesia when I perform or hear music in terms of specific shapes and wild movements.

This extraordinary and very cinematic video piece done in collaboration with Four/Ten Media does exactly that; it captures the very sounds and provocative mental shapes imagined that are being kinetically embodied through performance by all of us as percussionists and musicians. The first time I saw the final edit, I was bouncing off the walls with excitement, and that's what I want to experience every time I watch it moving forward, but on the big screen of course, because that's exactly where this composition and music video belongs. That's also how much I believe in what we're creating and exploring. Anything less (percussive or cinematic) would simply be uncivilized...

Dominic "Shodekeh" Talifero


PROGRAM NOTE: Vodalities: Paradigms of Consciousness for the Human Voice seeks to illuminate the different modalities of the vocal arts utilized by not only me, but vocalists the world over. Through three movements composed specifically for Sō Percussion, with each focused on the vocal modalities, or "vodalities" of Breath Art, Vocal Percussion & Beatboxing, Sō's challenge was to listen to, learn (& of course enjoy) each vocal movement, transcribe the pieces from a Hip Hop-based oral tradition construct to a system of western notation & finally through "technique transcription", figure out which physical, percussion-based instruments & which members of the ensemble using those tools would be best suited to play each element of the overall compositional structure. In other words, welcome to the 21st century, where compositional paradigms & a synthesis of learning styles can take on a whole new reversal of impact, influence & imagination.

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