Ben Nobuto: SERENITY 2.0 | Manchester Collective

Ben Nobuto’s work is utterly contemporary. His music assimilates and responds to the dizzying array of digital media that Generation Z have lived with since birth. His first language is the internet. On, off, and on again. Attention and fragmentation. Manchester Collective was proud to commission and premiere this new work by Ben as part of our Heavy Metal tour in 2021.

"SERENITY 2.0 takes the form of a guided meditation that’s continually derailed. Listeners are invited to enter into a relaxed, meditative state, despite knowing fully well that any kind of serenity here is impossible. As if programmed by a machine, the music randomly starts and stops, switches material, slows down and speeds up, cycling through fragments of 80s Japanese pop, YouTube vlogs, folk jigs, TED Talks, and Baroque music in endless permutations. The ‘2.0’ in the title refers to something like a software update, as if the music you’re listening to wants to upgrade and, in turn, upgrade you." – Ben Nobuto

Filmed at The White Hotel in Salford

Percussion: Beibei Wang
Violin: Rakhi Singh
Violin: Julian Azkoul
Viola: Ruth Gibson
Cello: Stephanie Tress
Live Electronics: Joe Reiser

Film: Dan Parrott

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