Concerts

Performing with instrmnts

Many of Gama’s compositions are part of larger conceptual projects that explore social, historical, and environmental themes. He uses his music and instruments to tell stories of significant importance in regions as diverse as the deserts of Southern Africa, Antarctica or the rain forests of the Amazon, making his work not just musically compelling but engaging on many levels.

”I’m at the World New Music Days in South Africa and Victor gave a stand out performance earlier this afternoon at The Centre for the Less Good Idea (a space set up by William Kentridge) – a kind of media opera without singers, but powerfully charged (yet gently so) for our current times.”

Ed McKeon, Third Ear UK

tectonik.TOMBWA – pieces for acrux and toha

solo concert, Buskirk-Chumley Theater, Bloomington, Indiana

In tectonic.Tombwa, Victor Gama develops a sound palette using his unique set of musical instruments as exclusive sound libraries, squaring the circle between Southern African polyrhythmic patterns and ostinato, particularly from Angola. Exploring the potential of electroacoustic music, blending acoustic sounds with electronic processing and manipulation, his experimentation with sound textures and timbres adds depth and complexity to his compositions. This solo concert may also include celebrated Portuguese harpist Salomé Pais Matos playing toha with Victor Gama. Duration 60m.

download sinopsis pdf

The Acrux is celebrating twenty-five years in existence. It’s part of a broader theory that argues for the continuity of the same processes that gave us traditional musical instruments, now developed in the 21st century within the context of current digital technologies.

The toha was created two decades ago and is associated to the nests of sociable weaver birds from the Southern African regions of Namib and Kalahari deserts. Weavers from those regions build their nests in big collective bundles around trees or electricity poles. The toha features two resonators and a system of 44 strings.

VELA 6911 – a Diary of Antarctica

ensemble concert for acrux, toha, dino

VELA 6911 is a composition by Victor Gama based on the diary of Lindsey Rooke, an officer involved in a secret nuclear test conducted by South Africa in 1979, near the coast of Antarctica. Commissioned by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the piece premiered at Harris Theater as part of the CSO’s MusicNOW concert series and later had its European premiere at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon. The piece is available for booking and is typically performed with local ensembles. Duration: 1h 30m.

Download sinopsis pdf

Written for eight orchestral instruments and Victor Gama’s own instruments acrux, toha and dino, the piece was conducted in Chicago by Cliff Colnot and in Portugal by Rui Pinheiro with Portuguese harpist Salomé Pais Matos playing toha with Gama. The video component was shot by Gama in Antarctica on a research trip closely following Lindsey’s diary during January 2012.

The musical score, inspired by Lindsey’s diary, is accompanied by video clips captured by Gama in Antarctica. Projected during the performance, the footage includes scientific observations and scenes she might have witnessed—oceans, icebergs, whales, albatrosses, and natural phenomena like the aurora australis, storms, and lightning.

3 thousand RIVERS – Voices in the Forest

multimedia opera with ensemble, percussion and acrux, toha, dino.

3 thousand RIVERS is a multimedia opera that offers an insider’s perspective on the dramatic environmental and social impacts of the current wave of industrialization underway in the rain forests of the Amazon in Colombia and Brazil. Composed by Gama in collaboration with local communities and artists who live along some of the main rivers in the Putumayo, Caquetá, Chocó, Pará and developed in close cooperation and support from environmental and artist’s organizations PangeiArt, Amazon Conservation Team Colombia, Mas Arte Mas Acción and Flora ars+natura based in Bogotá. It was commissioned by the Prince Claus Fund and Gulbenkian Música.

Go to the opera

La Reina

Narrates the story of the Tucuruí hydroelectric dam in the Amazonian state of Pará Brazil. The dam flooded and swallowed an entire forest when it was built decades ago but today, many dead trees stand above the water, their bare branches testimony to how, year after year, the lake is gradually drying up.

Forest Diaries #2

Act 1 scene 6 & 7- A mother loses her child to the waters of the Cascabel river in the mountains of the Andes that feeds the Caquetá river leading to the Amazon basin. Scene 9 features maestro Genaro Torres at his workshop in the Guapi river on the Colombia Pacific coast.

If you are interested in any aspect of our exhibition, from details on specific instruments to booking options with concerts included or custom designs for museums or educational programs, talk to us.

victorgama@pangeiart.org
Loods 6, KNSM-laan 155
Amsterdam 1019 LC

Visit ou channels on youtube

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Performing with instrmnts

tectonik.TOMBWA – pieces for acrux and toha

VELA 6911 – a Diary of Antarctica

3 thousand RIVERS – Voices in the Forest

La Reina

Forest Diaries #2

If you are interested in any aspect of our exhibition, from details on specific instruments to booking options with concerts included or custom designs for museums or educational programs, talk to us.

victorgama@pangeiart.org

Loods 6, KNSM-laan 155Amsterdam 1019 LC

Visit ou channels on youtube

vimeo

Loods 6, KNSM-laan 155
Amsterdam 1019 LC