|
Rafael
Toral is a musician and artist. Born in Lisbon, he has been performing
live since 1984. Having attempted to study music, he realized his path
was one of exploration and discovery, to which conventional music teaching
was irrelevant. He learned acoustics, electronics and music writing, having
started to write music on paper after his former fascination with graphic
scores. In 1994, Wave Field determined a shift in composing methods, taking
from then on sound itself as the basic matter for all music, thus rendering
his work unwriteable. Considered later in the 1990's by the Chicago Reader
to be "one of the most gifted and innovative guitarists of the decade",
he has been working on the possibilities of ambient music (variable attention
listening process) and improvisation with higher levels of risk (using
instruments or systems that behave in unpredictable ways), among other
things.
Developing solo work since 1987, with a strong focus on how sound phenomena,
ambient sound and artistic fruition are inter-related and weaving a unique
blend of references such as ambient, rock, chance and improvisation, Toral
recorded several solo CDs, two with the MIMEO orchestra and two with com
No Noise Reduction, an experimental project with long time friend and
collaborator Paulo Feliciano (see discography). He has performed throughout
Europe, Japan, Canada and extensively in the USA, as well as with Sei
Miguel, Phill Niblock, Rhys Chatham, John Zorn, Thurston Moore, Dean Roberts,
Christian Fennesz, Lee Ranaldo and Jim O'Rourke. He has also produced
rock bands (Pop dell'Arte, Tina and the Top Ten, Supernova, Toast, Clockwork),
presented video and multimedia installations and recorded music of Phill
Niblock and John Cage.
In 1996 Toral collaborated with Rhys Chatham as curator and coordinator
for 100 guitarists in Lisbon for his performance An Angel Moves too fast
to See. In 1998 he participated in the Acqua Matrix show at Lisbon’s
Expo’98, collaborating with David Toop and an international creative
team, composing a piece for remote-controlled boat horns. Later in this
year he becomes a member of the Mimeo orchestra. In 1999, with Paulo Feliciano,
built the “white cube”, a light generating device interactive
with sound spectrum, and participated as guest in Sonic Youth's record
NYC Ghosts and Flowers. In 2000, again with Paulo Feliciano, participated,
with the mixed-media installation Toyzone (modified electronic toys, custom
relay circuits and multiple sensors), in “Sonic Boom – the
Art of Sound”, an exhibition at the Hayward Gallery in London, alongside
Christian Marclay, Pan Sonic, Ryoji Ikeda and Brian Eno. In 2003 Toral
produced the first Anthology of Portuguese Electronic Music, and in early
2005 he collaborated with Alvin Lucier, as assistant to setting up his
"Empty Vessels" installation at Serralves Museum, Porto.
Having produced video pieces since 1994, used in both live performances
and installations, his visual output has been increasing. His installations
usually have an interactive and unpredictable behavior, often using processing
of generative feedback systems, such as Toyzone or Echo Room, a piece
for delayed feedback random sound filtering, recently installed at the
ICC in Tokyo.
Between 2002 and 2004 he operated a radical change in most aspects of
his music practice and thinking, launching the so-called Space program
- a work program establishing approaches to real-time performance and
use of silence new to his past work, and including projects for many live
pieces and recordings. |
|