F is always in speaker 5, A is always speaker 9, T is always 3… 42 phonemes, 16 speakers, one voice. the performance space as larynx.
“Language is the mechanism whereby you understand what I’m thinking better than I do. (Where ‘I’ is defined by those changes for which I is required).”
Poet, writer, performer, improviser, Chris Mann’s works for voice are based on complex texts, freely composed to allow a play of wit and humor. He explores the textures and gestures of Australian speech, with its rhythms and qualities of color, pitch, intonation and emphasis.
He has collaborated widely with composers, film-makers, and electronic music composers. He has received commissions from Radio France, Paris Autumn, National Public Radio, Composers Forum, Australian Biennale, Ars Electronica, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, BBC … He has held residencies at the Shire of Healesville in Victoria, ABC Staff Union, Harvestworks, RPI’s iEar Studios …
Chris Mann performs extensively worldwide with Machine for Making Sense, Chris Mann and teh Impediments, and solo.