AFRORACK

Brian Bamanya is widely recognized for having built Africa’s first homemade modular synthesizer – a massive setup of self-made modules and FX units, named “The Afrorack,” which also lent its name to the project. The electronic wizard from Uganda began constructing his own modular synthesizer because the technology was both hard to obtain and very expensive in his home country. Instead, he turned to local computer repair shops and resources he found online. The result is an acid and metallic strain of techno that’s nearly impossible not to get swept up in.

Brian Bamanya composes music on his DIY modular setup with the awareness that modular synthesizers have largely been developed with European and North American music genres in mind. With The Afrorack-project, he places the instrument into a new context. A great example is the track “African Drum Machine” from his 2022 debut album ‘Afrorack’. Here, the technology creates the polyrhythms found in many East African music traditions, and blends it with video game-like blip-blip sounds. The Afrorack has played at numerous international festivals, including Nyege Nyege, Elevate in Austria, the Dakar Art Biennale, and Sonar in Spain. With improvised live sets, The Afrorack takes audiences on a wonderfully weird journey to a destination not yet known.

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