“Index of Refraction” is the debut album of the duo of Luis Tabuenca (percussion/ drums), Dafna Naphtali (voice/ electronics), recorded at Harvestworks in NY. An 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 they are sound processed through electronic devices.
Tabuenca and Naphtali first met and performed together October 2013, when Tabuenca invited Naphtali to 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 a long term project, continuing in NY, and in a new recording — “Index of Refraction” was released in April on Acheulian Handaxe as CD or digital download (also iTunes). The album is also available on naucleshg and Bandcamp: https://handaxe.bandcamp.com/album/index-of-refraction
“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.
..about Index of Refraction:
This new duo release “Index of Refraction” was recorded at Harvestworks in NY. An 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 they are sound processed through electronic devices.
This concept in mind, we improvised music while processing and manipulating our sounds, both electronically and acoustically, in order to create new sonic landscapes, each track is based on the refractive index of a different medium.
Tabuenca-Naphtali duo is available for bookings in Europe
March 11-28th 2017.
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.
Live Sound Processing Strategies: A free workshop and concert at Harvestworks was on May 12th, 2012
Joining Dafna were masters in their craft: Robert Dick (flutes) and Satoshi Takeishi (percussion):
This evening was created to explore and discuss various live sound processing strategies through performance, lecture and presentation, and will gave participants a foundation for developing their own work. The lecture/presentation was taught by Dafna Naphtali, who uses live sound processing in her work since 1995, and will began with a performance by a trio that included Robert Dick (flutes) and Satoshi Takeishi (percussion).
more information.. 
