KISMIF Conference 2020

Contrassexual Guitar

July, 5th – 14h40-15h00 – Live Act Contrassexual Guitar by Berlau

Price: Free.

 

Description: In the universe of pop music the electric guitar has long been seen as an object connected to the promotion of masculinity. The iconic use of the instrument by Jimi Hendrix, Keith Richards or Pete Townshend, or Prince’s controversial “Purple Rain” solo in 2007 Super Bowl final, come to mind. The shape of the instrument and the way it is characteristically placed next to the musician’s body explain, in a way, that connection. On the other hand, certain developments of its sonic range and the central place it historically occupied in an aesthetic deeply influenced by sexism, heteronormativity and misogyny also contributed to the phallocentric connotation of the electric guitar. This performance aims to deconstruct the electric guitar as a phallic extension of the musician, while questioning sex and gender binarism, following the notion of contrassexuality proposed by Paul B. Preciado. It’s a 35 minute electric guitar solo in which the instrument positioning and its relation to the musician’s body is reconfigured. Also a set of objects is used, as dildos for a renewed activation of the whole electric guitar’s body.

Berlau is a sonorous project by Fernando Ramalho that moves through various musical fields and experimental sounds, from the exploration of the drone to the work with field recordings or to free improvisation, trying to construct a proper language in the electric guitar approach. Your work can be heard in https://berlau.bandcamp.com. Fernando Ramalho, guitarist and music producer, was born in Lisbon in 1975. Following a musical journey that began in the early 1990s, he is currently developing several projects, in particular Berlau, a project that moves through various experimental music and sound fields, from drone exploration to work with field recordings or to free improvisation, trying to build a language of his own in the approach to electric guitar.

 

 

05 July 2018 | Library, Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Porto | Curated by by Ana Carolina Avillez, Isabel Leite, João Leite, Laura Gil, Marlene Borges and Tânia Moreira

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