Smartphones as musical instruments in three contemporary works

Three recent projects explore the creative potential of mobile phones as sound-producing devices, moving beyond their conventional role as music players. Bernard Cavanna's "Geek Bagatelles" reworks fragments of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, performed by the Orchestra Sinfonica Abruzzese alongside a choir of smartphones from a Roman high school, whose sounds vary based on movement via an app. Antonio Mastrogiacomo's "Suonerie" (Setola di Maiale, 2017) is a montage of ringtones that, following Walter Benjamin's theory of historical criticism, reflects daily life as representation, encouraging public manipulation of sounds. Christopher Kirkley assembled three mixtapes titled "Music from Saharan Cellphones" (Sahel Sounds, 2010-11), using audio from memory cards collected in the Saharan Africa, promoting music-making despite internet restrictions. The article, by Vincenzo Santarcangelo, appears in Artribune Magazine #42.