Wojciech Błażejczyk. Born in 1981, he graduated in composition from Warsaw’s Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in the class of Zygmunt Krauze, sound engineering from the class of Andrzej Lupa, as well as in journalism and political sciences from the University of Warsaw. He is a lecturer at the Faculty of Composition, Conducting and eory of Music, Fryderyk Chopin University of Music. His works have been performed at many festivals in Poland and abroad, including New Music Concerts (Toronto), Warsaw Autumn, Polish Modern: New Directions in Polish Music Since 1945 (New York), Visegrad Portraits, Musica Moderna, Musica Electronica Nova, Musica Polonica Nova, Poznań Music Spring, Warsaw Music Encounters, and AudioArt by ensembles such as Musikfabrik, Polish Radio Orchestra, United Instruments of Lucilin, Gorzów Philharmonic, New Music Concerts Ensemble, Wratislavia Orchestra, Radom Chamber Orchestra, Kwadrofonik, Sinfonia Iuventus, and Hashtag Ensemble. In 2014–15 he was composer in residence at the Jan Szyrocki Academic Choir, West Pomeranian University of Technology, as part of the Institute of Music and Dance’s residency programme. He writes both acoustic and electroacoustic music, as well as works for theatre and film. Wojciech Błażejczyk has won prizes at several competitions for composers, including the 3rd Prize at the 1st Arboretum International Krzysztof Pendrecki Competition as well as the 2nd and 1st Prize at the Tadeusz Baird Competition for Young Composers (2010 and 2011). His Warsaw Music was a finalist of the European Broadcasting Union’s 2016 Palma Ars Acustica. In 2013 he took part in the IRCAM Forum Workshops in Paris and in 2017, in the Composer Collider programme with the Musikfabrik ensemble (2017). In 2013 For Tune Records released the CD Loopovisations, featuring his compositions for solo electric guitar, with chamber ensembles and electronics. In 2018 Requiem Record released his CD Trash Music. He recorded 2 improvised CD’s with Hashtag Ensemble (Visegard Songs, 2013, and #Witkacy, 2018, both released by Requiem Records.
Wojciech Błażejczyk is also active as a guitarist. He performs new and improvised music on the electric guitar and using electronics as well as objectophones: musical instruments he constructs out of everyday objects, the sound of which is transformed live. He has appeared in concert at festivals such as Warsaw Autumn, Sacrum Profanum, Ad Libitum, Musica Moderna, Ankun : Neue Musik, Olympus Jazz Festival and Meridien. He performs with Hashtag Ensemble, a group specialising in new music, and colaborates with Delirium Ensemble. In addition, he performs improvised music, appearing notably with Mud Cavaliers, Electronisches Glück, Adam Pierończyk, Agata Zubel, Krzysztof Knittel, and Joëlle Léandre. He is also part of the improvising trio Sonofrenia as well as the Silent Movie ensemble, which performs live music to silent films. As a sound engineer, he specialises in recording and projecting sound at concerts of new music as well as creating sound design for film. He conducted electroacoustic music workshops at the Synthesis International Composition Course in Radziejowice. He also conducts workshops for children, exploring electroacoustic music and use of objects in music.
#NetworkMusic. How many things have you liked on Facebook? 10? By analyzing your likes, the computer algorithm knows about you more than your workmates. 100? It knows more than your parents. 240? It knows more than your partner. It knows what shoes you wear, what you eat, what newspapers you read, who you will vote for in the future elections, where you were yesterday afternoon and where you will be tomorrow morning. The algorithm knows, because you teach it by browsing, searching for information on the web, watching virtual content. Just imagine what one could do with this knowledge.
#NetworkMusic is a piece that maps network mechanisms. In the instrumental layer – the mechanism of packet switching, ie data transfer (in this case sound) divided into packets (phrases) between nodes (which are musicians). In the text layer – content downloaded from portals, Facebook, browsers, websites. In the electronic layer – digital distortion of voice (network errors) and the mechanism of producing redundant data (audio downloaded from YouTube), whose sole purpose is to catch the attention of the Internet user. The more attention, the more profits from advertisements (click-throughs). Sound material is based to a large extent on Internet domain addresses, which are converted into sounds (heights or rhythms) based on special algorithms. These are addresses provided by almost one hundred people who responded to the #Domenofon action, which I carried out before the digital premiere of the piece.
In the K segment of the piece, the vocalist makes a list of his likes on Facebook. This list should be authentic (and different for each performer). The words spoken by him are distorted by errors simulating network errors. At the same time, each word leaves behind a spectral trail that grows throughout the K segment until the distorted sound magma is created. It is the equivalent of digital footprint that every web user leaves behind because his network activity is tracked by search engine algorithms, social media, etc. In this way, the algorithm creates user’s PERSONALITY PROFILE that can be used for marketing, political purposes, and probably in the future, also others.
The electronic layer is prepared in the form of a tape, divided into short fragments, as well as live electronics, including the singer’s voice processing. Tape and live electronics presets are triggered by the guitarist using MIDI pedals and Korg Nanocontrol as well as by the singer using the MIDI keyboard. It is indicated in the score. The whole electronics is programmed in one patch in the MAX 7 software, in 6-channels system (5.1).