About this project

I began writing Aqua Madora late in 2005, working with sine waves and alternate tuning systems to create a new harmonic world that the piece would live in. I am deeply indebted to my teacher, La Monte Young, for the pioneering works he created using just intonation, high prime harmonic relationships, and for the concept of the extended solo, just intonation piano piece. Without his magnum opus, The Well Tuned Piano, none of this work would be possible.

Aqua Madora is an extremely intense, ritualistic, solo piano journey. Videos from the performance that will be released can be seen here:
Alap http://vimeo.com/4771670
Drone http://vimeo.com/4903160
Chords http://vimeo.com/5045136

In February, 2011, I’m planning to release a special limited edition CD of the May 2008 recording of Aqua Madora through Avant Media, a non-profit arts organization dedicated to collaborative artistic projects ( http://avantmedia.org/ ). In collaboration with my longtime designer, Oscar Henriquez, we’ve come up with a truly beautiful packaging concept for the CD. The edition will be limited to 100 copies, 30 of which will be further embellished with vellum and a wax seal, scented with roses (as all of the performances were) and signed. Combined with the exquisite recording by Mike Rugnetta and mastering by Terminator Smile, this will be a fantastic representation of the ritualistic experience of this piece.

The CD itself will sell for $15, and the hand-embellished copy will sell for $25. Once 50 of the copies have been sold, or 6 months have passed, a digital download will be made available as well. The amount we're hoping to raise covers the actual disc production, additional materials for the embellished copies, and design and mastering fees.

This project was initiated by my longtime collaborator, Ana Baer-Carrillo and the choreographer and dancer Dani Beauchamp. Ana and Dani had been working on a dance with video, and my piece was to be the score. We first performed it in Colorado in June 2006, then in Morelia Mexico in the fall, and again, in a newly expanded version in 2007 at Highways Performance Space in LA.

When we began to talk about the New York premiere that would take place in May 2008, it became clear that the live dance component wasn’t going to be possible. The piece had grown and evolved, and the music was now nearly 50 minutes long.

So I set out to perform a solo version of the piece, with just the video Ana created. The New York performances went fantastically, and the recordings turned out so well, that we decided to put together Aqua Madora as a release.

This is where you come in. The piece has already been recorded and mixed. The performance: Aqua Madora V-ii-2008 21:07:26" - 21:54:40" (NYC) turned out spectacularly and I’m looking forward to making it available to the public. After my album of short works, Voices + Sine Waves ( http://randy-gibson.com/v+sw/limitededition.html ), and my droning cassette tape for The Tapeworm label, Analog Apparitions ( http://www.tapeworm.org.uk/ttw24.html ), this will be the first, full, major composition of mine to be released.

I hope you’ll consider helping to fund this release. I’m excited to finally make this work available.

This campaign is administered by Avant Media, a non-profit 501(c)3 organization. Pledges are tax deductible, less the value of the rewards, to the extent allowed by law.