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A contemporary percussionist and exceptional improviser, Nuria Andorrà has persisted in the search for her own language ever since, as a child, she was astonished to discover the vital, energetic universe of sound that percussion opened up in her body. "I can feel the vibration in my stomach", she says at one point in the interview. Artistic director of the MontMusic festival and percussion teacher at the Reus conservatory, Nuria Andorrà's interest lies in the interdisciplinary, where body, image and sound unite to offer a singular, untransmissible emotion. Recently awarded the Alicia Prize by the Catalan Academy of Music 2021, she is considered one of the finest improvisers in Europe today. Nuria Andorrà has also collaborated with artists such as Carles Santos, Hector Parra, Fred Frith and Joëlle Léandre, among others.
As a child, you didn't marvel at the piano, but at percussion.
I was a restless child, and when I discovered percussion, a whole universe opened up for me.
Over time, have you come to understand that first emotion in the world of percussion?
I think I was touched by the most original essence. I felt the vibration in my stomach. It filled me up. Before the arrival of other instruments, I imagine that in the beginning there was percussion, that human beings started beating and singing, before anything else, right?
Yes, there's something atavistic and telluric about percussion. Looking to the present, would you say there's a boom in the world of percussion led by women?
Maybe, it's possible, although I think we're going backwards, there's a regression. I look at music student classes and I think that today there should be parity, but I don't see it.
So you don't think we can speak of a current movement?
Perhaps it's a pendulum swing. There's no study or analysis, but I have the feeling, yes, that there aren't enough models.
You're an artist, percussionist, teacher, researcher and even festival director. How do all these facets fit together? What unites them?
Some facets are militant, and all are intertwined. For example, I see pedagogy as the egalitarian transmission of knowledge. I don't believe in the authoritarian role of the teacher. In fact, for me, it's a vital anchor point, which is why I teach in an academy. Research is an enriching dialogue with other artists, because in the contemporary milieu, there's a lot of room for research. The aim of an artist like me is to get on stage and surround herself with other musicians who are as skilled or more skilled than I am, seeking interrelation and interdisciplinarity to create the same emotion, the same feeling.
You teach contemporary improvisation. But how do you teach it?
There's already a language based on structures or on the resistance of the material, with its philosophy on when to intervene and when not to, and so on. In addition, there are a series of elements that come into play during improvisation, such as listening, for example. In fact, listening is rarely taught, yet there's a tendency to over-teach the score. We don't offer students the resources that would enable them to self-regulate and be their own guides. In improvisation, it's important to focus on listening, interacting with others and knowing how to react in real time on stage.
Like a conversation?
It is indeed a conversation, in which a creative process develops, a shaking that spreads. We start talking about spring and end up reflecting on the body. What's more, being in real time on stage, it requires the audience to participate and be attentive to what's going on, to listen and discover where the violin melody is going to move, when it's going to merge with the percussion, and so on. A dialogue full of nuances in which, for example, the percussion not only accompanies, but also creates the melody.
Would you say there's a lack of a culture of listening to contemporary music?
Yes, there's a lack of listening, and we're light-years away from being able to get it, especially if you look at our musical programs compared with those of other countries. We need a lot of education. Contemporary music invites you to make an effort and you'll be rewarded, but the institutions don't support it, and it's this kind of music that needs that support.
How would you assess the current scene in Spain, Catalonia and Barcelona?
I'd just say that in France and Germany, they're on a different level.
What about festivals like Mixtur or LEM?
It's very interesting, but there's a lack of economic and institutional support. I run an improvisation festival , MontMusic, and I've noticed that my European colleagues get better support. Here, we're starting from scratch and adding a bit of militancy. LEM and NOA do excellent work, but they complain about the same weaknesses. LEM has been a success. Little by little, I think we'll reach a higher level.
What are you working on at the moment?
MiratgesAn interdisciplinary piece, with a sound structure on stage, based on interaction and improvisation. We're very excited about it and are waiting to see what happens. I'm also working on NU.Aa video work in which I process in real time the percussive sounds of stones and ceramics, and especially the cowbells of my grandfather, who was a shepherd. I'm rediscovering the original sounds of my childhood. In fact, the bells still smell of lamb! In between these projects, I'm continuing my improvisation concerts. In June, I'll be giving my first public performance in Barcelona at the Mercat del Flors, Constelacionesthe piece for which I won the Alicia Prize.
How would you define your style, your creative universe?
I don't know, that's a very difficult question to answer. I'd rather you listened and put the labels on. But perhaps my music seeks extremes, both dynamic and energetic, power and fragility of sound, I like to interact and communicate in real time on stage, with fixed structures, but also open.
What criteria do you use to choose a certain instrument or sound?
I try to listen to myself and find out what I need to do to evolve as an artist, what I need to study to improve. In ConstelacionesI worked with the emotions in each scene and the rhythm-energy I wanted to find in the piece as a whole. Once I had these, I concentrated on the timing of the scene, asking myself what crescendo it requires, what fragility the piece demands, while finding enough strength to move forward, making the delicate interact with the energetic. For NU.Aas it was during confinement, I felt the need to return to my origins, to find out why I had devoted myself to percussion. So I looked for the sounds that resonated in me as a child, that enveloped me. I think of the night, the first dreams of my childhood, the ceramics in the house that produced sounds, the stones that come from the earth. From all this, I've been able to extract matter, to understand what it offers me.
Do you strive for diversity?
Yes, because I don't limit myself to a single sound. Percussion encompasses a universe present in all cultures. For example, I travel to discover percussion in India or Turkey.
What do you think of the voice as an instrument? Does it have its own resonance?
I like it a lot, yes. It's an instrument that attracts me and inspires a lot of respect.
What was your experience of the pandemic?
It was contradictory. On the one hand, I had more time to create Constelaciones. The pandemic forced me to stop, which is very important. But with the pandemic, you have to adapt to very uncertain circumstances that we all experience or suffer from. In the music world, for example, I mean the fact that a musician may or may not test positive, I'm thinking of last-minute concert cancellations and so on. In a way, the pandemic is slowing down growth, even if I have the feeling that it's expanding.
Txema Seglers
