In this lecture, Victor Gama talks about the Golian modes, a technique for developing a system of musical composition and theory based on the Kongo / Angola cosmogony, the philosophies and religious beliefs that are underpinned by the graphical expression system; As well as its continuities used especially in Angola, DRC, Caribbean and South America. The vision behind the Golian modes is based on developments in earlier projects in Angola, South Africa, Portugal, Cuba, Brazil and Colombia, such as Odantalan, Tsikaya and Tectonik: TOMBWA.

A score written using Golian modes is a physical element, which is an object by which the composer and musicians communicate in musical form. This object is above all a container of diformous meanings that constitute the narrative of one or more compositions. It is a semiotic interface or mediator between the composer and the symbolic material he has collected to arrive at a particular musical lexicon.

About Victor Gama

Victor Gama is a composer, performer, designer of innovative musical instruments as well as an electronics engineer. He holds a BSc in electronics engineering and an MA in Music Technology from the Sir John Cass Faculty of Art, Architecture and Design in London and was recently guest artist at the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics at Stanford University and at MIT Center for Art Science and Technology. Gama is a composer whose process begins with the creation of an entirely new instrument, one whose design is steeped in symbolic meaning. Concept design, the selection of materials, fabrication, and scoring is all part of the rigorous way Gama creates new music for the 21st century, blending current fabrication technologies with ideas, materials, and traditions inspired by the natural world. He makes music for dance, film, theater and multimedia performances using his unique set of musical instruments as exclusive sound libraries.