When do you think the sampler first sparked to life? The sonic art of sampling has been an evident aspect of popular music for longer than you may think. From The Beatles to Bowie, the early forms of sampling have been explored by artists on records dating back as far as the 60s but who were the pioneers that made this possible?In this first part of a series of articles we look at where it all began!
Luigi Russolo - Turns On The Noise!
In 1913 Italian painter and composer Luigi Russolo established his manifesto in ‘The Art of Noises’ through which he expressed his view that traditional Western music was too confined, and that the industrial revolution had opened doors to ‘future music’ allowing composers to experiment with a wider range of sounds than those created by classical instrumentation.
In a bid to move away from the use of classical instrumentation Russolo created the Intonarumori; a set of acoustic ‘noise-sound’ generators designed to be used in orchestration with one another. The sound is initially generated by the operator spinning a crank or triggering an electric circuit. Each generator begins to produce its own unique drone that can then be altered by moving a lever across a scale of octaves, tones and semitones, allowing a wide array of manipulation possibilities.
Russolo composed a number of futurist pieces and took to the stage with his orchestra of ‘noise-sound’ devices. However, the futurist sound was too ahead of its time for audience members and a number of performances erupted in violence and ended with riots!Russolo’s Intonarumori machines were sadly destroyed during a WWII air raid on Paris and he died shortly afterwards. However, the machines were reproduced in 2009 in preparation for a performance of his work by musicians taking part in the Performa Festival – this time without a reception of violence!
Check out a video of Mike Patton Playing the Intonarumori here!
