EMPRES: Sampling the City with Shiva Feshareki
Micro-Fund Project
Project Lead:
Daniel Hulme
Faculty of Music, EMPRES Group
Partner Organisations:
EMPRES Collective (Electronic Music Practice RESearch)
About the project:
The Music Faculty’s EMPRES group and TORCH launched Sampling the City, a project that aimed to connect different areas of cultural and academic life in Oxford, enabling these unique voices and narratives to be distilled into a collaborative work and performance with Shiva Feshareki.
Shiva Feshareki is an award-winning British-Iranian experimental composer and artist, described as the most "cutting-edge expression of turntablism" and as "one of the most astonishing acts of musical alchemy of the last decade" (BBC Radio 3's Tom Service). She works at the intersection of many artistic scenes, experimenting with electronic and club music, concert and orchestral music, art and design, and free improvisation.
As a composer and artist, Shiva uses an array of technologies, from vintage analogue tape echo, vinyl turntables, and CDJs to state-of-the-art 360° ambisonic technology. Her creative tools also extend beyond electronic technology, using advanced 3D orchestration to score acoustic instruments in spatialised form for live ensembles and orchestras. She has been described as offering "a terrific sonic experience… Among her musical ideas there's thrash metal and dance music, as well as marvellously fresh-sounding orchestral gestures, assaulting or beguiling the audience from all angles" (Richard Morrison, Chief Music Critic of The Times).
The project connected with a number of Oxford's community and cultural stakeholders to gather different perspectives from across the city and explore potential collaborations. These discussions, together with Shiva's early engagement with the city, informed the development of new creative work.
Contact: Daniel Hulme
Electronic Music Studio Manager
Image credit: Victor Frankowski
