ABOUT HUBBUB
Hubbub is an experiment by three seasoned improvisers at the intersection of acoustic and electroacoustic music. Combining theremin, glass harmonica, electric cello and micro-percussion with extended vocal techniques, Hubbub constructs sonic textures that range from delicate tonal explorations to bouts of madcap storytelling.
Vocalists DB Boyko and Christine Duncan, building on their previous collaboration known as Idiolalla, are joined by percussionist and cello improviser Andreas Kahre, in a trio that is really a quartet: Hubbub’s sound is created in and by the space’s sonic architecture, and offers a unique amalgam of acoustic and acousmatic elements.
Hubbub’s music is informed by the pleasure of spontaneous sound making, collective improvisation, new music, jazz, electroacoustic composition, and perhaps most of all, by the late American composer Pauline Oliveros’ concept of deep listening.
A musical chameleon, Christine Duncan uses her voice as an instrument, in a wide range of diverse musical styles. She is involved in everything from jazz, R&B, gospel, improvised music, sound poetry, to new music, opera, and musique actuelle. She performs with many musical groups and projects, notably with Hugh Fraser’s VEJI (Vancouver Ensemble of Jazz Improvisation) since the mid 1990's, and Barnyard Drama with drummer/electronic artist Jean Martin since 2002. She directs the Element Choir, and with Martin leads the Element Choir Project (a touring, improvising choir project). Christine and the Element Choir have also been performing with Tanya Tagaq since 2014, and she performs with Tagaq on voice and theremin as well.
An active educator, Duncan has been teaching in the jazz programs at Humber College and the University of Toronto since 2003, and she regularly trains improvising choirs for concerts in other cities, as well as conducting improvising and singing workshops as a clinician.
A specialist in experimental voice DB Boyko has performed with a variety of Vancouver musicians including recent guest engagements with the legendary NOW Orchestra. She is the co-founder of several improvising ensembles including Hextremities (1980’s), the all women View Ensemble (1990’s) and more currently the Crossing Borders Ensemble. DB’s discography as feature soloist includes Danielle Palardy Roger’s Bruiducœur, prières des infidèles for Ambiances Magnétiques (2005), Songlines recording of contemporary gamelan music New Nectar (2003). She is featured on several compilation CD’s including Schwittcd (ORF, 2002), Susan Frykberg’s Astonishing Sense of Being Taken Over by Something Far Greater Than Me (Earsay, 1998), and Kenneth Newby’s Sirens (City of Tribes, 1997). For 25 years, DB also devoted her energy to producing the work of other artists as curator/director for the Music Program of the Vancouver artist-run-centre the Western Front.
Andreas Kahre is an interdisciplinary artist, musician and sound designer whose work combines images, sound and text in many different configurations. Since the 1990s, he has collaborated on more than
a hundred projects with music, theatre, dance and media ensembles across Canada and internationally. As a percussionist, he has worked on jazz, new music, and world music projects across Canada, including the NOW Orchestra, Cymbali, duets ranging from Francois Houle to Amir Koushkani, and contemporary work for Javanese Gamelan Alligator Joy. His work encompasses audio art installations, radiophonic work and sound design for film, theatre and dance including commissions and presentations at the Festival des Amerique, Magnetic North, PuSh, LIFT, the National Arts Centre, Ottawa, CBC, Deutschlandradio Kultur and the ISEA Festival. His work has been nominated for the Siminovitch Prize in Theatre and more than twenty Jessie Richardson Awards.
MUSIC
IMAGES
