Raven Chacon
Encyclopedia
Raven Chacon is an American
composer
and artist
. He is known as a composer of chamber music
as well as a solo performer of experimental noise music
. As an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation
, he is a member of the American Indian art collective, Postcommodity, with whom he has developed multi-media installations which have been exhibited internationally.
and New Zealand
. He has received commissions from the University of Mary Washington
and the ERGO Ensemble.
Chacon also performs in the bands Cobra//group, KILT, Tenderizor and Dog Shit Taco.
He may also be responsible for the audio-recycling projects of The Kleptones
(U.S).
While he was studying music at the California Institute of the Arts
, he was a student of James Tenney
, Morton Subotnick
, and Wadada Leo Smith
. He lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico
and has served as Composer-in-Residence with the Native American Composers Apprenticeship Project
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
and artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
. He is known as a composer of chamber music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
as well as a solo performer of experimental noise music
Noise music
Noise music is a term used to describe varieties of avant-garde music and sound art that may use elements such as cacophony, dissonance, atonality, noise, indeterminacy, and repetition in their realization. Noise music can feature distortion, various types of acoustically or electronically...
. As an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation
Navajo Nation
The Navajo Nation is a semi-autonomous Native American-governed territory covering , occupying all of northeastern Arizona, the southeastern portion of Utah, and northwestern New Mexico...
, he is a member of the American Indian art collective, Postcommodity, with whom he has developed multi-media installations which have been exhibited internationally.
Performances
Chacon has recorded many works for classical and electronic instruments and ensembles and has had many performances and exhibits of his work across the U.S. as well as in EuropeEurope
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. He has received commissions from the University of Mary Washington
University of Mary Washington
The University of Mary Washington is a public, coeducational liberal arts college located in the city of Fredericksburg, Virginia, USA. Founded in 1908 by the Commonwealth of Virginia as a normal school, during much of the twentieth century it was part of the University of Virginia, until...
and the ERGO Ensemble.
Chacon also performs in the bands Cobra//group, KILT, Tenderizor and Dog Shit Taco.
He may also be responsible for the audio-recycling projects of The Kleptones
The Kleptones
The Kleptones, aka Eric Kleptone, is a DJ from Brighton in the United Kingdom who produces internet-only mashup albums. Typically, he mixes rock/R&B instrumentals with rap and hip-hop vocals in a style that is "fun...and often surprising." His name is a parody of the famous guitarist, Eric...
(U.S).
While he was studying music at the California Institute of the Arts
California Institute of the Arts
The California Institute of the Arts, commonly referred to as CalArts, is located in Valencia, in Los Angeles County, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the United States created specifically for students of both the visual and the...
, he was a student of James Tenney
James Tenney
James Tenney was an American composer and influential music theorist.-Biography:Tenney was born in Silver City, New Mexico, and grew up in Arizona and Colorado. He attended the University of Denver, the Juilliard School of Music, Bennington College and the University of Illinois...
, Morton Subotnick
Morton Subotnick
Morton Subotnick is an American composer of electronic music, best known for his Silver Apples of the Moon, the first electronic work commissioned by a record company, Nonesuch...
, and Wadada Leo Smith
Wadada Leo Smith
Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith is a trumpeter and composer working primarily in the fields of avant-garde jazz and free improvisation.-Biography:...
. He lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque is the largest city in the state of New Mexico, United States. It is the county seat of Bernalillo County and is situated in the central part of the state, straddling the Rio Grande. The city population was 545,852 as of the 2010 Census and ranks as the 32nd-largest city in the U.S. As...
and has served as Composer-in-Residence with the Native American Composers Apprenticeship Project
Native American Composers Apprenticeship Project
Founded in 2001, the Native American Composers Apprenticeship Project is an outreach program of the Grand Canyon Music Festival that is dedicated to teaching Native American young people to compose concert music. Each year, young musicians work with a Native American composer and a string quartet...
.
Partial discography
- (w/ Postcommodity) Your New Age Dream Contains More Blood Than You Can Imagine 12"LP (Anarchymoon, 2011)
- (w/ Bob BellerueBob BellerueBob Bellerue is an American composer and performer of music.In 2003, Bellerue studied at California Institute of the Arts, with contemporaries Mark Trayle, Morton Subotnick, Vinny Golia, and Dick Hebdige, and received an MFA in Music....
) Kitchen Sorcery (Prison Tatt Records, 2011) - At The Point Where The Rivers Crossed, We Drew Our Knives 12"LP (Anarchymoon, 2010)
- Black Streaked Hum (Lightning Speak/Featherspines, 2009)
- Overheard Songs (Innova, 2006)
- (split w/ Torturing Nurse) The Incredible 17000 KM Split (8K Mob, 2006)
- (w/ Jeff GburekJeff GburekJeff Gburek, born 1963, is a guitarist/electronic music composer and sound sculptor working throughout Western Europe and the USA. He employs extended and prepared guitar techniques, signal processing, open source applications and field recordings to create richly textural music linked to musique...
) Jesus Was A Wino (Herbal Records, 2005) - Still/life (Sicksicksick, 2004)
- (as The Kleptones) Meet the Beatless, (Sicksicksick, 2003)
External links
- Raven Chacon official site
- Raven Chacon biography from American Composers Forum site
- The Kleptones Meet the Beatless
- Postcommodity