Now it's time for us to call this instrument to life. It will be called Odram - an electronic, Oder-inspired instrument, with which anyone will be able to create their own soundscapes, regardless of musical skills.
Odram will be available as an application for tablets and smartphones, and depending on the user's needs, it will be an interactive, innovative music album, a creative tool for creating music. It can also become a simple music toy that promotes 'the river values.'
'This instrument has a very Odra-based pedigree,' says the inventor, guitarist and composer Michał Zygmunt. 'The sound database will include the sounds of nature characteristic of the Oder region, he added. The musician has been collecting them for several years and gives them new life in his artistic projects. He is inspired by the culture-making power of the Odra River, its colours and historical artefacts found there.
What makes the river tick
The heart of the application will be the sounds of animals and birds living at the Oder, but also the sounds collected at the point where the river and the city meet: sirens of ships, sounds of the shipyard and the nostalgic vibes of the Oder mists. The application will include a pack of sounds inspired by the art made at the Oder: Baroque painting, echoes of the abandoned abbeys. The author will thus refer to the enormous legacy of the Oder studio of Michael Willmann. Together with engineers with the Wroclaw Audiovisual Technology Centre, he will create a database of sound effects collected digitally in Poland's largest, and second largest in Europe abandoned Cistercian monastery, based at the Oder, in Lubiąż.
To carry out the project, I have acquired a valuable partner, i.e. the Audiovisual Technology Centre, which is the successor and continuator of the legacy of Wroclaw Film Studio, says Michał Zygmunt. 'The ATC is the technological part of the project, their engineers write the software for Odram app. We are already at an advanced stage of the app's development, as well as on the sound database and its compositional aspect. We want to launch Odram at the beginning of 2016,' stresses the composer.
The great advantage of the application is that such a musically and technologically innovative product will be available in a popular app format for mobile devices, which could work on both Mac OS and Android. Another argument in favour is he fact that it will be available for free.
Let the app resound
To create Odram, a few high-end 'components' are needed. The Audiovisual Technology Centre provides the technical support and specialists. However, for the developers of the unusual app to successfully complete their work, they need to look deep into the structure and functions of musical components. This is possible only in a professional recording studio, where the composer will process and develop the collected concepts and samples. Of course, renting such a studio is a cost, and the authors of Odram have just run out of the amount to cover it. They are asking for it at polakpotrafi.pl
Michał Zygmunt and his colleagues need 6000 PLN for Odram to be successfully launched. As for today, 31 days are left until completion of the project at polakpotrafi.pl, which means that it will be funded if the above-mentioned amount will be collected until December 4, 6 pm.
If they manage to collect more, authors of Odram declare that the app will be expanded so that it is even more interesting, and 'discovering the river music goes even deeper.' Thus, additional instrument, sample and combination bases will appear if the collected amount exceeds 8 000 PLN. 11 000 PLN will allow making a film advertising of Odram, and 15 000 PLN will allow including unique collections of photos, maps and other visual artefacts. If they made it to as much as 20 000 PLN, the authors of Odram promise an instructional film cycle featuring interesting Polish artists. The icing on this unique music cake would be 25 000 PLN. Then, a really top class and renowned artist would become a worldwide ambassador of Odram.
Each one of us, residents of the city on the Oder, can contribute to a cool initiative: creating a virtual instrument, which is full of familiar, and sometimes surprising sounds - just go to this website and read what to do to make the project a success. Please note that supporters can count on prizes - even a unique, hand-made four-string guitar of the Odra Guitar series! All bonuses have been described in Michał Zygmunt's project. Just join in!
Michał Zygmunt - guitarist and composer fascinated with discovering past worlds. He collects sounds and uses them in his music. He samples from archival recordings and uses them to revive 'the ghosts of the past.' He likes to combine different genres of music - the 'folksy' and the world-renowned, i.e. avant-garde with tradition. He has recorded many solo albums with renowned musicians. Among them are, for example: Jan Bang, Erik Honoré, Nils Petter Molvær, Roli Mosimann, Arve Henriksen. He is the co-founder of the Punkt Eklektik Session Festival, which combined two innovative European festivals. He is also an author of film and illustrative music, as well as radio plays. Zygmunt is the author of the Odra Guitar series, instruments made only of trees growing on the Oder.
Photo: odraguitars.pl, Facebook
