At the Azores there is a weird modular synthesizers orchestra that sounds only one evening a year, without tests

A forest of cables, jacks, minijacks, adapters. And still potentiometers, mixers, keyboards, lights that are cleaned posted by small electric monsters. All resting on a large table at the center of a restaurant decorated in perfect traditional Portuguese style. The wandering audience for the room or is sitting at the tables with the red tablecloths that overlook the raised floor on the table. A Mirrorball wheel suspended in the middle of the room: someone says was the first to get to São Miguel, Azore, decades ago.

It is also said that the Solar da Graça, the restaurant that hosts this event of the Tremor Festival (we talked about it here), was the first dance hall of the island. The first real disco. Here, on a long April afternoon, about twenty people – professional artists and amateurs – found themselves for a very long performance, what in the jargon is called Durational. The idea is to let only a post-modern orchestra live for one day that climbs the orchestra idea to become a collective, accessible, horizontal experience.

The orquestra modular açoriana. Photo: Vera Marmelo

The orquestra modular açoriana. Photo: Vera Marmelo

In fact, to play in the Orquestra Modular Açoriana, there is no need to be a genius of modular systems, a Synth virtuoso, an inveterate geek. The only requirement is to have a synthesizer, a modulated, a keyboard. And respond to an open call. The rest consists in being at the moment. Play. Jammare.

“There is no evidence, I signed up and I introduced myself with a Volca,” says Louis, one of the non-musicalists involved in this eight-hour sound marathon. «I'm not an expert, but I like to tinker. My tool is cheap, portable, easy to use ». Louis was involved by a friend who, ironically, then showed up because of an influence. In life Louis works with Vaga, a center for the arts of São Miguel, and for pleasure builds flutes and is lost in long swims in the cold ocean. Being with other fans and curious, for him, is a community choice, the idea that creating something together, sharing a space and once, is always a source of personal enrichment.

In fact, the orchestra has no artistic ambition: this is not its purpose. Although directing Peaking Lights, the American project of the spouses Aaron Coyes and Indra Dunis was called, to which the arduous (and fun) is responsible for keeping this cascade of electric creativity together, the goal of the horo Modular Açoriana is to introduce more or less navigated musicians to free experimentation, to the exploration of their creative voice in a safe, free environment.

Photo: Vera Marmelo

The orquestra modular açoriana. Photo: Vera Marmelo

It is like witnessing the opening of a black box. The audience is lying on the puffs, or turns around the table to peek at what happens, who does what, with what tool. The musicians speak to each other, they give themselves straight (at a certain point a child who plays an arpeggio at a synth also emerges), explain to the public how the machines work. And the machines are many: more or less intricate EuroRack, refined or entry-level keyboards, laptops open on Max for Live screens, microphones, Toy Keyboard, pedals and more or less known effects. Staying fascinated is very simple.

The orquestra modular açoriana is a musical madness that happens only once a year, here in São Miguel, at the Tremor Festival. It is performances, workshops, unstructured lecture on the magical world of sound synthesis and electronic diy. It is inspiration, it is community, it is growth. And perhaps the music should start from here: from projects that are discovered together, aggregation and research. Fortunately, somewhere, there are still those who choose to do simple things. In the most chaotic way possible.