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When i travelled through beautiful Cuba in 2011 I spent some days in Santiago de Cuba before leaving to Baracoa. My friends and I ran into a special place dedicated to the music and dance of rumba. We sat in a room listening and watching – thankful for this coincidence. The lovely people served rum. Then i saw this man dancing. What he did connected me to many different moods and thoughts. Immediately I knew that these different perspectives on the scene had to be developed. So the idea to make 4 interpretations on this rumba dance came to life.

The subtitles „transmission 01 – 04“ refer to the term “transmettre” used by the french anthropologist and media philosopher Régis Debray (read his story!!) when he wrote about the transmission of cultural aspects in media environment. The process of transmission and translation and not the medium itself is in the center of his theory.

Transmission 01: (video 01)
We see the roots of popular dancing, we see Michael Jackson, we see the basic ideas of our musical background. We see Jazz.

Transmission 02: (video 02)
The main instrument here is the conga. so i recorded one in detail: swiped it, rubbed it, punched it, knocked it, hit it on the side, on the metal, on the skin, and yeah, drummed it – then i arranged the sounds. This is a focus on the instrument. (Thanks to Drumhouse Vienna for letting me record one of their instruments!)

Transmission 03: (video 03)
The video-camera also recorded the sound. It was analyzed and the data spread on new drum- and other sounds. You can feel the vibe transported from the original instrumentation to electronic sounds, you can feel the „in between“.

Transmission 04: (video 04)
People invent hierarchies without legitimation. Our past is a history of pain. This is an aggressive view. The condesending laughing aristocrat or the rich spoiled kids view (attention: stereotype) – the guys you definitely won’t have much fun with – compared to this cuban people full of joy.