INSTRUMENT MAKERS LAB

“Everything sounds somehow Western—very mechanical, not organic like the rough tones and raw drums I heard growing up in Nairobi. Even as I try to break away from the loops and the 1-2-3-4 drive of these music tools, I always end up back there somehow.”

- Slickback on Digital Audio Workstations 


At Kilele 2024 we heard Astrid Bin’s comparison of the musical interfaces (midi controllers etc) with ultra processed food - generic, functional and predictable. This year we are diving into instrument creation from another direction. What can digital instrument makers learn from local creators, and what forms of hybridity are possible and desirable in the instruments of the future?


The nexus of this stream lies in the Instrument Makers Lab - a five day workshop involving creators of kalimbas, nyatitis, xylophones and other ‘traditional’ instruments, as well as programmers, technologists and representatives from music technology partners. A flagship project supported by Pro Helvetia will see Samuel Karugu and Basile Huguenin-Virchaux create new hybrid digital-physical instruments inspired by polyrhythms and micro tonalities common in African music. The instruments created during Kilele will be showcased with a series of performances on Friday evening.


Interactions:

1. Workshop (4 days) - Instrument Makers Lab w/ various artists, designers, and technologists
2. Workshop - Indigenous Instruments as Technologies for Vibrational Healing
3. Workshop - Python - Daniel Jonson
4. Performance - Samuel Karugu and Basile Huguenin-Virchaux
5. Performance - Kimina
6. Performance - Nilotica Cultural Ensemble 

We can’t wait to hear what comes out of this and are thankful for  our sponsors Elektron, Ableton,and Africalia for making it happen.