Luis Tabuenca and Dafna Naphtali in their duo combine explorations of sound and rhythm merging classic electroacoustic aesthetics with the energy of free improvised music. With Naphtali’s live processing of Tabuenca’s colorful percussion and her own extended vocals the duo breaks into new sonic territory away from any sense of traditional narrative.
“Index of Refraction”, the debut album of the duo of Luis Tabuenca (percussion/ drums), Dafna Naphtali (voice/ electronics), was recorded at Harvestworks in NYC. Index of Refraction of a material is a dimensionless number that describes how light propagates through that medium. Inspired by this definition, and translated/transposed to musical vocabulary– an index of refraction could be an analogy to the way in which acoustical instruments and the human voice behave when the duo sound processes them through electronic devices as they improvise– creating new sonic landscapes.
“secret codes of impromptu action.. elegance behind the expressiveness..Naphtali’s non-figurative melodic diversions, glimpses of a cross of Tenko Ueno and a slightly inebriated Meredith Monk.. “
Massimo Ricci / Touching Extremes.
at work in NY:
After the duo’s initial performance in Spain, Luis Tabuenca came to NY in Spring of 2014 for a residency at NYU’s Waverly labs. He and Naphtali performed shows around NY — as a duo, and with other collaborators — trio with Izzi Ramkisssoon (bass), and a quintet at The Firehouse Space with Briggan Krauss (sax), Stephanie Griffin (viola) and Jonas Tauber (bass). Their work together in NY culminated in the first album of this duo.
Tabuenca-Naphtali duo is available for bookings in Europe
February 15-25, 2020. Contact — post@dafna.info.
Tabuenca and Naphtali first met and performed together October 2013, when Tabuenca invited Naphtali to his Festival Audio Tangente in Burgos, Spain, which he curated with the theme of voice and electronics. The duo’s communicative and energetic performance at the festival was the beginning of their long term project, continuing in NY, and in the recording — “Index of Refraction” (2014) on Acheulian Handaxe as CD or digital download (iTunes) and Bandcamp: https://handaxe.bandcamp.com/album/index-of-refraction
Dafna Naphtali y Luis Tabuenca / Festival Audio Tangente, Burgos España Nov. 26, 2013 from Dafna Naphtali on Vimeo.
BicycleWheel-and-Feedback from Dafna Naphtali on Vimeo.