Photo: La Diva

Intro

June 20th-23th 2019, the network Polyphones offered three concerts at Saturnalia Festival, Macao cultural center, in Milan Italy. The three solo concerts were performed by Emma SOUHARCE, Gaël SEGALEN and Sabina COVARRUBIAS. Created in December 2015 by Gaël Segalen and Christine Webster, Polyphones is a collective of female experimental music composers working in a network. This collective organizes workshops, concerts, produced a radio show, cofounded OWO, the Open Women Orchestra and keeps a daily watch on the network.

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To learn more about Polyphones work click: here to listen to podcasts

Work done during Saturnalia 2019

During Saturnalia 2019 Polyphones participated with 3 activities: three concerts, a talk, and a radio-tv live performance. 

1.The concerts

Polyphones offered three solo live-performances, performed by Sabina Covarrubias, Emma Souharce and Gaël Segalen

Concert's Line up

Sabina Covarrubias

 June the 23th 10 am, after-hours live performance by Sabina Covarrubias. She performed "Viaje"  on a modular synthesizer and vocoder-voices. Learn more more info about this artist here. 

Photos: Gaël Segalen

Emma Souharce

June the 21th - Night show live performance by Emma Souharce. She performed on micro-machines, no-input mixtable, sampler, computer and MIDI controllers. Learn more more info about this artist here. 

Photos: Sabina Covarrubias

Gaël Segalen

June the 21th  Night show at Temple room, live performance by Gaël Segalen. She performed with her own soundlibrary, on computer and MIDI controllers using her spatialization system to transform her sounds as her marque de fabrique.  Learn more more info about this artist here. 

Photos: Sabina Covarrubias

2. The talk

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Still on DAY #3 - Saturday 22 June, Polyphones hosted a panel on a conversational mode to present their work in building up a network of women involved in experimental and electronic music, narrated through the artists’ direct experience. Freedom and inclusive opportunites in music.

Polyphones gave a talk to address the importance of the problem of unequal opportunities between men and women in the field of experimental electronic music.  It also addressed the issue of strategies and tools that provide opportunities for women in the field. Among some of the strategies mentioned, emphasis was placed on the solidarity that exists between women's collectives in order to achieve a balance of opportunities between men and women; the dissemination of knowledge among women's groups,  and the construction of databases that allow women's work to be made visible. The importance of society's awareness of inequality was also underlined.  People in audience shared their own experiences. 

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Photos: Sabina Covarrubias

3. Radio Performance

On day 3,  Saturday 22 June, Polyphones participated in a radio-video broadcast on radio Raheem.
During this event Gael, Emma and Sabina presented a DJ set where they mixed music composed by women.

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Photo: Sabina Covarrubias

Track list

Appalachian Grove I - Laurie Spiegel
Drums - Laurie Spiegel
Us - LCC 
Read The Package Leaflet Before Use - ISNT
Der letzte Stern - Christine Webster
Endewoche - Anita  

Îlot 27 - EdH 
Contrôle de Routine - SOUHARCE 
Like Warehouse - Gaël Segalen 
Polymusique - Sabina Covarrubias 

Pursuit Grooves - Plex

Dernier Cyclone - SOUHARCE (mixed extracts)
More Women - Saâda Bonaire

Dernier Cyclone - SOUHARCE (mixed extracts)
All you need are Li(k)es - ISNT 
L'abandon d'Andromaque - Aline Chambras 
Sudor - Sabina Covarrubias

Teo! Part 3 - Maryanne Amacher 
Serpente - Gaël Segalen
Conjuring - ChristineWebster

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The Festival Experience 

Participating in the Saturnalia festival has been an enriching and liberating experience, both humanly and professionally. The subversive and truly open character of the festival has allowed us to express ourselves with total freedom of expression, in this way, the subversive and innovative musical expressions took place and life. 

Saturnalia Festival  was welcoming , as they define it : an inclusive laboratory for change, creation, encounter, subversion. Through those walls, difference can be freely and safely articulated, in spite of social norms and authoritarian repression.  Saturnalia gave place to a  a mix of different approaches, moods and cultures, allowing everyone to migrate within the music itself and mold it into a personalized, yet shared experience. 

For more info about Saturnalia 2019 click here. 

 

Photos: Sabina Covarrubias

Conclusion

​Solidarity and mutual support between minority groups is a key strategy for keeping alive modes of expression which are disadvantaged or compromised by the political-cultural system in turn.  The Saturnalia festival is an important space for perpetuating freedom of expression and the diversity of rarely heard music. 

Photo: Sabina Covarrubias

Acknowledgements

Polyphones expresses its gratitude for this memorable experience to the entire Saturnalia 2019 team and to MACAO center. Special thanks to Manuela Gama Malcher for her trust, support and persistence to make our concerts happen, as well as the talk and the radio show. Thanks to the sponsors. Once again to the Saturnalia team for their impressive organization. Thanks to Gaël Segalen, Polyphones co-founder for acting as a manager in the organization of this event. Thanks to Christine Webster, Polyphones other co-founder to send good vibes and also to OWO, the orchestra that allows us to meet.

Photo: Sabina Covarrubias

Article written by Sabina Covarrubias,with <3