versiones arruinadas (ruined versions)

this is a collection of pieces created over many years on the premise of processing materials. these processes are done by a number of different mediums that range from analog synthesis, kinetic sound sculptures, resonant objects and oddly methodological recording techniques. these procedures are applied alone or combined in an attempt to modify or blur the first layer that we perceive when we listen sound material. what if the normative listening formats were others? what’s left out as residual? which qualities of content can transcend the way it is delivered? the material chosen for these operations is in some way capricious in that it responds to my history, preferences and has different reasons to be there. the first piece is made filtering several organ master-works youtube collections by j. s. bach. the second piece is done with a live recording of "kilómetro once" by chamamé duo rudi & nini flores processed through an analog synth. the third piece is a filtered multichannel version of a track by the japanese noise-rock band boredoms. the forth piece is a processed version of "i fall in love too easily" by chet baker. the fifth piece is a 'ruined version' of a song of mine. and the sixth piece comes from a recording of a reading of sergio parra's poem "la manoseada" done by himself—'manosear', in spanish, is 'to put your hands on something and touch it, probably too much'. the reasons for these operations are as varied as the material. some things i've heard so many times that have already solidify as different pieces in the way i listen to them. some of this music that is processed is extremely hard for me to listen, and the process is done in an attempt to change that perceptive focus. others are just the result of unusual listening practices (mostly listening through objects) that have become a matter of research for me.

cecilia lopez, 2018

on versiones arruinadas by v. aguado machuca

the heterogeneity of the materials that make up this collection disrupts its identity. this work exists only as a fragment torn from a larger whole (cecilia lopez's 'history'), so one should not be surprised that a personal selection would generate such diversity. the particular connections within these collected works would prevent anyone from having a subjective insight over each subject matter. there are as well no chances to work out a cognitive vantage position in respect to her processing techniques; barely any raw material can be discerned. "the premise of processing materials" gives therefore way to open-meanings to read these processes, something much more significant than our knowledge of what exactly is being done. while she simultaneously uses varied pre-existing materials, which enable her work to accrue meanings, she also makes gestures that are themselves meaning-bearing. this is why these notes forego a subjective interpretation (what is behind her procedure) or an archeological approach (what are her raw material processing techniques), and instead offer a speculative stance. the aim of these notes is to explore—and to some extent, to reveal—the elusive nature of these collected works.

every work of cecilia lopez brings a certain contingency to mind, and these 'ruined versions' are not immune to this. the metaphor coupling the words 'ruined' and 'versions' is based on the idea of a tightly working system of equivocation (i.e., the phenomenon whereby words are used in an intentionally not clear and confusing way) that defines a set of interim operations (versions), which seems to be determined by an unwanted situation (ruined). in view of this instability, using the categories of 'piece' and 'version' as clearly distinct would be—to say the least—questionable: "bach arruinado" ("ruined bach") is a bach's version. it's well known that bach's music supports all kinds of versions and styles (e.g., glenn gould's performances). a difficult question to answer challenges us in this regard: which qualities of a bach's version can—and cannot—deviate from the original piece for it to remain defined as 'a version'?

of particular interest is the idea that how someone does his or her singling out determines what is singled out. this piece suggests that the role of the musician may be to single out 'arrangements' or 'versions'. what in the musical tradition was called composing ('creatio ex nihilo') is in this case limited to the act of choosing and using pre-existing works. this type of action falls within a particular tradition that is often cited as appropriation art (following sherrie levine; or 'plunderphonics', following john oswald), an artistic practice that defies concepts as apparently well-defined as 'authorship', 'artwork', 'copyright' or 'artistic genre'. sound and visual studies have usually tended to follow this line of interpretation in regard to this practice, but in this case one could say—with the risk of over-simplifying—that the material is chosen as an intuitive act. lopez is a pianist, and any pianist has a love-hate relationship with bach's compositions. it may have to do with a kind of economy of enthusiasm and control in the nostalgic act, which one might call a romantic abandon. it's tempting to listen to the piece in this way, in terms of delight in the 'neurosis of childhood', in the ruins of childhood, but then we would enter an uncontrollable psychoanalytic field.

it's obvious that appropriation art generally tends to be confused with or assimilated to that linguistic phenomenon called irony. one of the most significant features or practices in this idea of appropriation art is updating old stereotypes and musical genres in decline: think of 'postinternet art', following the definition of the artist marisa olson; think also of the particular way of using pre-existing materials in the vaporwave music. appropriation art in this sense involves the imitation of the stylistic twitches of other styles, capitalizes on the uniqueness of these styles and seizes on their idiosyncrasies and eccentricities to produce an imitation which mocks the original—the very idea of original. hence the term 'appropriation art' is used for the description of a particular style, which relies on techniques like mashup, turntablism or time stretching, and brings to view the entire range of aesthetic categories such as 'kitsch', 'camp', 'bastard', etc. all this may be connected with a pretended nostalgia, or an ironic impulse, which leads to complacency in the impulse itself. irony thus becomes the subject matter of this kind of works.

the act of ruining one of her own unreleased songs avoids any notion of turning cecilia lopez of a caricature of the appropriation art. irony may indeed come to the tip of the tongue to describe "canción arruinada" ("ruined song"), but this piece does neither thematize the irony nor reduce it to an artistic device —to heighten the artistic effect. rather, it may suggest that those who insist overbearingly on the ironic character of their work will become victims of the irony of others (or themselves). following the literary theorist paul de man (who in turn follows friedrich schlegel), it seems to be impossible to get hold of a clear definition of irony, so i would like—in my attempt to shelter this collection of pieces against the suspicion of frivolity—to make a last remark. there is a significant distinction between 'appropriation art' as a stylized convention that may have learned its ironic distance and commercial sheen from pop art (as an artistic strategy) and 'appropriation art' as a practice based on a usable set of artistic materials, including the works of other artists (for aesthetic reasons). cecilia lopez's work could be considered 'appropriation art' not in the former sense, as an artistic style, but in the latter, as a practice that focuses on the problematic nature of description itself.

any expectations that one may have about the following lines being able to accurately describe cecilia lopez's work becomes suspended by this last remark. what is it, then, in this work that gets us out of the descriptive way? despite, or rather because of, their elusive nature, this work encompasses many types of perceptions, which provide many meanings. one further aspect can be approached on aural perceptual terms, e.g., the poetic invocation of ruining a noise music piece challenges the limits of our sensibility: "boredoms arruinados" ("ruined boredoms") comes from a song—quite 'ruined' itself—by the japanoise band boredoms. there is no doubt that boredoms' music values above all the extreme ways in which sound stimulates our senses, fires them up and takes the listener's mind to a psychedelic spin, where ('phenomenological', following the writer salomé voegelin, who in turn follows merleau-ponty) questions of individual human perception unfold. but it helps a little to think of this work on a personal level: "some of this music that is processed is extremely hard for me to listen", she says.

cecilia lopez draws her subject back from her own experience—that experience which many people share: "kilómetro once" is a kind of anthem of the argentine province of corrientes that reflects a culture that has a close relationship with the paraná river; and chamamé duo rudi & nini flores has a version of this folkloric song for classical guitar and accordion; which, in turn, is versioned by cecilia lopez using among other devices a korg ms-20 synthesizer—yet keeping the chamamé flow—and is called "rudi y nini arruinados" ("ruined rudi & nini"). this collection of pieces runs the gamut of music subjects. love, and its popularization and vulgarization, is her favorite one. "chet arruinado" comes from the famous song "i fall in love too easily" by chet baker. despite the fact that it changes beyond recognition, the subject matter of this version seems to be the love, which intertwines with the corresponding economy of enthusiasm and ironic distance, and outweighs emotive considerations. now, if this invites you to listen "i fall in love too easily" you will probably be disappointed—not if you really know what's going on.

yet there is an emotive moment of resonance in the poem "la manoseada" ("the groped girl") when sergio parra reads: "soy la del barrio / la más manoseada del centro de santiago / la menos besada del país / tengo la sonrisa más dulce / entre todas mis amigas de la calle / y las piernas más arqueadas que la marta mateluna / aún mantengo mi acento sureña / canto de memoria los temas de julio iglesias / leo a cortázar / hago el amor con un muchacho / de la cuadra que escribe poesía". that is an explicit enough, out-and-out romantic, passage. the highly emotional content of these lines is quite tampered—even groped, or rather fondled—in cecilia lopez's version, also called "la manoseada", in which sound is processed by a hand-operated device. this process disrupts, or possibly confirms, the lines of sergio parra's poem. the listener, searching for some kind of sense, is presented with the task of parsing the messages while these are modified by a filtering process—or, if i may use the metaphor, inserted in parenthesis. the listener must allow these modifiers in some way or filter them out, in order to recover some semblance of the concatenated messages. this brings to mind that all poetic messages are similarly fragmented, both when being received and when being transmitted. at least from the listener's perspective (ours), this encourages us to combine the different ways of assimilating music—listening, reading and looking—into one single form: thinking.

v. aguado machuca