soNu

nina eidsheim, vocal/electronics
gustavo aguilar, percussion/electronics
phil curtis, electronics
alan lechusza, woodwinds

The improvisational group soNu, based in Southern California, has been described by Anthony Braxton as producing “the music of the Third Millennium.” The group synthesizes the wide range of musics and cultures that its various members have studied and/or absorbed: serialism, post-serialism, Mexican folkloric music, non-western classical musics, Norwegian folk song traditions, Native American musics, rock, electronica and hip hop. SoNu's members--Gustavo Aguilar (acoustic and electronic percussion), Phil Curtis (electronics), Nina Eidsheim (voice/electronics), and Alan Lechusza (woodwinds)--create a collective musical language informed by their individual sensibilities, with digital media providing new resources for the group to engage both past and future forms and textures. SoNu has collaborated and performed with an impressive group of figures from the world of post-free improvisational music, including performer/composers Anthony Braxton, Anthony Davis, Lisle Ellis, Vinny Golia, Earl Howard, George Lewis, and Wadada Leo Smith. Sonu is committed to extending the music exemplified by these musicians and thinkers by critically reexamining and reconceptualizing improvisational forms and means, with an eye toward the socio-cultural context of contemporary communities.

“Powering Up/Powering Down” is sponsored in part by the University of California Institute for Research in the Arts (UCIRA), the Center for Research in Computing and the Arts (CRCA), and the UC San Diego Department of Music in connection with the departments of Visual Arts, Music, and Literature at UCSD along with the UC Riverside and Los Angeles campuses.