Body, Bend, is a new solo work by Nyokabi Kariũki that is interested in exploring the relationships with sound and movement, and that of body and sound, from the starting point of a musician; pushing into vulnerability, experimentation, and reflections on what it means to make sound with the African body.
Using the body as the primary sound source (“embodied percussion”) in combination with live-electronics, the piece is felt through three commissioned poems from poet Brian Muraya* (*June), and is informed by looking into the contexts that, willingly and/or forcefully, produced inquiries into the use of the body as a sound source within African and African diasporic communities. Body, Bend accepts the weight of these varied histories, whether they be of recreation or resistance, and from individual to communal, while making space for the performer’s own personal histories to colour in. Sparked in collaboration with Alex Hofmann and music technologist Astrid Bin, the guiding question of the project that Nyokabi is asking is: “what does it mean to make sound with my body, with my/the Black body, with my/the African body?”
This performance will be the world premiere of “Body, Bend”, and is Nyokabi’s first and only solo performance of 2025. The performance will be preceded by a workshop in collaboration with Dr. Alex Hofmann, where they share their work and research of the project since 2023, and invite participants to inquire about making sound with their own bodies as well!
This research was funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) [10.55776/AR743].