Forming a Sonic Identity through the Integration of Transculturality and Technology

This paper investigates the ways in which new sonic identities begin to emerge through a dialogue between cultures, artistic disciplines and technology. Musicians worldwide commonly shape their identity and forms of musical expression through the lens of the environment they grow up in. Ideas about desirable sonic aesthetics vary drastically across musical traditions and cultures globally. Whilst one musician may strive for a sound that is clear, pure and unaltered, another may strive for a distorted, inharmonic sound, for example. The article examines what happens when a musician from a given sonic tradition is exposed to and interacts with a diversely different approach to producing sound. It puts forward the case of an Australian double bass player with a long immersion into Tanzanian musical culture, carving out a personal approach to double bass playing via a synthesis of traditional western techniques, extended techniques influenced by Tanzanian sonic aesthetics, as well as mechanical preparations and electronic augmentation of the instrument. The combination of these diverse elements allows for the emergence of a distinctive sonic identity, illustrated by excerpts from three pieces composed and performed within this specific aesthetic framework. The article’s discussion on sonic identity formation holds relevance as an example case of artistic creation within the current globalised context, where finding the distinct quality of one’s expression needs to be negotiated through layers of transcultural and technological elements.