2/28/2005

Godfried-Willem Raes Week. Part One

A week ago, I'd never heard of Godfried-Willem Raes. Then Peter sent me an email telling me he'd discovered an amazing Belgian composer, performance artist, programming-language writer and instrument pioneer. A man whose friends call him God. I asked him to make sure that he wasn't a hoax (he isn't), and I'm very proud to hand you over for the first part of a week of special reports:
Five Reasons why Godfried is a MT Hero:
1: He was thrown out of Ghent Royal Conservatory in 1971 for being ‘antimusical’ because of his experiments in electronic music. He is now professor of experimental music composition there.
2: In 1968 he founded the Logos Foundation, which explores new musical interfaces, including “wireless gesture control, microwave radar, acceleration sensors, pyrodetectors, lightsensors, myoelectric devices, brainwaves, EEG and ECG”.
3: He’s created his own computer language for music composition, GMT which he uses to drive an orchestra of robot instruments (of which more later).
4: He wrote a symphony for bicycles
5: He has a fantastic beard, smokes a pipe, and is usually nude during performances (unless he's wearing a silver jumpsuit).
MORE GODFRIED IN PART 2: THE INVISIBLE INSTRUMENT

7 comments:

  1. What a cool character!

    [quote]
    Length: 1m78 Weight: 58kg [BMI 18.3]

    No driving license, no car, no TV, no kids, no dog, no cat, no sports, no Mac…

    Never ever drank Coke nor ever entered a Mac Donalds.

    Virtuoso bicycle rider

    Tango dancer , milonguero

    Speaks fluently Dutch, German, English, French and Jabbertalk.

    Reads Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Latin, Basic, Darms, C, Fortran, Hex, Music, Assembler, HTML…
    [/quote]

    hang on…

    what was that again?

    "no Mac…"

    there's no need for that kind of talk!

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  2. Anonymous3:59 pm

    yep, amazing stuff. i have an lp on the igloo label by logos (which was led by gottfried and moniek darge) wherein they deflate giant pillows on a giant stage in front of (presumably) giant people. pretty damn outrageous...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous2:13 am

    Why the hell is this guy an MT Hero?

    He's a man who rides a bike and plays synths naked...that's more creepy than cool...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous6:37 pm

    Un sacré belge, une fois ...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous10:41 am

    I went to Ghent a few years ago and paid the man a visit. I also had the privilege of seeing a guy playing inside a piano..Splendid.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Actually amazing article.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous8:41 pm

    Sweet!

    ReplyDelete

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