Mawimbi

Development Blog

Mawimbi combines circus performance with generative music to address the loss of physicality in modern electronic music – instruments being condensed down into tiny incomprehensible controls – and to reclaim an innate connection between expressive movement and sound.

The work is a short piece of modern circus, or theatre, which uses purpose built software, along with some hacked technology, to visually track LED juggling balls and generate music from their movement, allowing them to be used as a remarkably reactive and visual musical instrument.

The piece has been performed recently at Chapter Arts on April 11th, gaining some fantastic feedback:

The concepts behind the piece are explained in a short film, along with a short description of how it works: