My practice sits at the intersection of sound art, experimental music, and instrument-based performance, and is informed by my experience with electronic circuitry, synthesis, acousmatic music, improvisation and sound art; my interest in the perception of sound; and my understanding of sound as an acoustic, psychoacoustic and cultural phenomenon.
I’m better known for my work with the tromba marina, a rare string instrument mostly used between the Middle Ages and the Baroque eras in Europe. Through extended techniques, amplification, and electronic processing, I explore the instrument’s unique possibilities. For me, this instrument represents the “Other” because of its exclusion from the Western musical canon and its historical association with sailors, fools, nuns and the personification of Death.
I’ve also worked with other unconventional instruments and objects such as megaphones, the lyre and the Cristal Baschet, as well as field recordings and electronics, subwoofers and self-made speakers.
By using all these elements, I aim to question conventional hierarchies of music and sound-making.
Bio
Alma Laprida (San Miguel, Argentina) is a musician and multi-disciplinary artist whose creative pursuits encompass composition, improvisation, performance, installation, instrument building and radiophonic pieces. She’s known for her work with the tromba marina, a rare string instrument mostly used between the Middle Ages and the Baroque eras in Europa. She has also worked with other unconventional instruments and objects such as megaphones, the lyre and the Cristal Baschet, as well as field recordings and electronics. Alma has released three solo albums, collaborated on two, and contributed to various compilations.
In 2021, after a decade of creative work and life in Buenos Aires, Alma relocated to Maryland, USA, and is very active in the DC artistic scene. Besides her solo work, she’s part of Hypnotized Chickens and the Bureau of Sensory Affairs, and leads the Tromba Marina Quartet.
Selected recent press
Best Experimental Music on Bandcamp: January 2023
Harmonic Series (review)
MUSEXPLAT (en español)
Alma Laprida 