Village Savant™

Bios:

Kitundu is a sound/visual artist, graphic designer, composer and instrument builder. He uses an interdisciplinary approach to develop compositions-installations-instruments that blur the boundaries between media. He has constructed elemental turntables that rely on wood, water, fire and earthquakes for their power and pitch. Kitundu is the creator of a family of Phonoharps, beautifully crafted multi-stringed instruments made from record players. He strives to reconnect the
technology of new music to fundamental principles drawn from the natural world.

Kitundu has an ongoing residency at the Exploratorium Museum of science, art and perception in San Francisco. He has recently been in residence at Eagle Rock School in Colorado, the Science Museum of Minnesota, and the Singapore Science Centre. Kitundu is also developing a Geologic Sound Casting project for volcanically active regions and was granted a five week artist residency at Skriduklaustur in Eastern Iceland in September 2004. He was raised in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Krystyna Bobrowski is a sound artist, composer and musician living in Oakland, California. In addition to french horn she plays acoustic and electronic instruments of her own design. Her collection of original instruments includes prepared amplified rocking chairs, bull kelp horns, leaf speakers, gliss glass and harmonic slide. Over the last few years she has worked on sound exhibits for the Exploratorium in San Francisco. Currently she teaches electroacoustic music at the College of San Mateo.Gliss Glass is a series of custom glass vessels interconnected by a simple hydraulic system of tubes and valves. Gliss Glass’ sound and design are a variation on the sound and form of a common wineglass. Valve position and vessel height control the water flow. While playing, musicians manipulate the valves and heights. As water drains or fills a vessel, the frequency of the glass slowly rises or falls. One hears rising and falling glissandos moving at different rates. Harmonic Slide
consists of a loudspeaker tied to a string inside a 5 foot tube mounted in a modified cymbal stand. The loudspeaker acts as a moveable stop for the tube, in effect changing the tube’s length and resonance. As the musician slides the speaker up and down the tube, she/he slides through the harmonics of the audio material being played.