Easter Island is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is renowned for its nearly 1,000 extant monumental statues, called moai, which were created by the early Rapa Nui people. In 1995, UNESCO named Easter Island a World Heritage Site, with much of the island protected within Rapa Nui National Park.
In music, extended technique is unconventional, unorthodox, or non-traditional methods of singing or of playing musical instruments employed to obtain unusual sounds or timbres.
Moai or moʻai are monolithic human figures carved by the Rapa Nui people on Rapa Nui in eastern Polynesia between the years 1250 and 1500. Nearly half are still at Rano Raraku, the main moai quarry, but hundreds were transported from there and set on stone platforms called ahu around the island's perimeter. Almost all moai have overly large heads, which account for three-eighths of the size of the whole statue. They also have no legs. The moai are chiefly the living faces of deified ancestors.
D'Addario is a family-owned and operated American multinational company that specializes in musical instrument accessories, headquartered in Farmingdale, Long Island, New York.
White Noise are an English experimental electronic music band formed in London in 1968, after American-born David Vorhaus, a classical bass player with a background in physics and electronic engineering, attended a lecture by Delia Derbyshire, a sound scientist at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Derbyshire and Brian Hodgson, then both former members of electronic music project Unit Delta Plus, joined Vorhaus to form the band.
Aksak Maboul are a Belgian avant-rock band founded in 1977 by Marc Hollander with Vincent Kenis, and now revolving around Hollander and Véronique Vincent. Aksak Maboul hasn't stopped changing shape and form throughout its existence, exploring diverse musical styles with their own aesthetic approach.
Anthony Francis Keigwin Monkman was an English rock, classical and film score composer, and a founding member of both the progressive rock band Curved Air and the classical/rock fusion band Sky.
Charles Hayward is an English drummer and was a founding member of the experimental rock groups This Heat and Camberwell Now. He also played with Mal Dean's Amazing Band, Dolphin Logic, and gigged and recorded with Phil Manzanera in the group Quiet Sun project as well as a short stint with Gong. He was a session musician on The Raincoats' second album, Odyshape, and on one occasion played drums for the anarchist punk band Crass. Since the late 1980s, Hayward has released several solo projects and participated in various collaborations, most notably Massacre with Bill Laswell and Fred Frith.
Yuri Landman is a Dutch inventor of musical instruments and musician who has made several experimental electric string instruments for a number of artists including Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth, Liars, Jad Fair of Half Japanese, Liam Finn, and Laura-Mary Carter. Besides his musical activities he is also a graphic novel artist.
Hoa Hakananai'a is a moai, a statue from Easter Island. It was taken from Orongo, Easter Island in 1868 by the crew of a British ship and is now in the British Museum in London.
Since the removal from Easter Island in 1868 of the moai now displayed at the British Museum, a total of 12 moai are known to have been removed from Easter Island and to remain overseas. Some of the moai have been further transferred between museums and private collections, for reasons such as the moai's preservation, academic research and for public education.
Amoebic Ensemble was an instrumental band in the 1990s, from Providence, Rhode Island, headed by Alec K. Redfearn, who wrote the music and arrangements for the group, and played accordion. The band emerged from the remnants of Redfearn's former band, Space Heater.
Tim Smith's Spratleys are an English psychedelic rock band originally formed by Cardiacs leader Tim Smith and Joanne Spratley in 1998. The band changed their name to Tim Smith's Spratleys Rats in 2021. As of 2024, the band's name is simply Tim Smith's Spratleys.
Victoria Vita Polyova is a Ukrainian composer.
Patrick Higgins is an American avant-garde composer, guitarist, and producer from New York City, known for his work in experimental and contemporary classical music. Higgins plays guitar and composes in Zs, described by The New York Times as "one of the strongest avant-garde bands in New York." Heralded as a "formidable concert music composer" and "one of the most gifted guitarists working today", Higgins has received attention for bridging traditions including baroque chamber music, contemporary noise, and 20th century minimalism.
75 Dollar Bill is a musical duo formed in New York City in 2012. Its members are Che Chen (guitar), formerly of True Primes, and Rick Brown (drums), formerly of V-Effect and Curlew. Sasha Frere-Jones described their music as displaying "a certain kind of formal fullness and technical freedom," which he said has helped introduce jazz to a new generation. Other critics have noted that their music shows signs of Mauritanian influences, because Chen studied Moorish music in Mauritania with Jheich Ould Chighaly in 2013. Their first full-length album, Wooden Bag, was released in 2015 by Other Music Recording Company. Their second album, Wood/Metal/Plastic/Pattern/Rhythm/Rock, was released in 2016 on the Los Angeles-based label Thin Wrist.
Peasant is a studio album by avant-garde folk musician Richard Dawson, released on 2 June 2017 by Weird World. Each song on the album is from the perspective of a different fictional narrator. Although it is set in the Kingdom of Bryneich, from the 400s to the 600s CE, it is intended to be a modern record, the stories and plight of each character largely contain universal themes that connect to the present day.
Laura Cannell is a British composer and improvising recorder player and violinist. Her work is known for combining the influences of early music, folk and experimental music. Her debut solo album Quick Sparrows over the Black Earth (2014), was named as a top album of 2014 by The Wire and her album Reckonings was named in the best albums and tracks of 2018 in The Guardian. Cannell's music has been frequently broadcast on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 6Music, NTS Radio and internationally.
"Arabesque" is a song by British rock band Coldplay from their eighth studio album Everyday Life. It was released on 24 October 2019, along with the single "Orphans", and appears on the first side of the album Sunrise. The song features vocals by Belgian singer Stromae, horn sections by Nigerian musician Femi Kuti, and oud contributions from Palestinian group Le Trio Joubran.
Angharad Davies is a Welsh violinist and composer, known for her work in the field of free improvisation, her use of prepared violin, her extensive discography and collaborative work with other musicians.
