PVDLoop Returns!

From Friday, October to 13 through Sunday the 15, the Y2K17 Providence International Looping Festival will return to AS220’s main stage. The three-day event brings together 30 local, national and international live looping artists to celebrate, educate, demonstrate and spread their musical craft.

Live looping is the recording and playback of a piece of music in real-time. Every looper has their own style and creates music that spans a broad range of genres. Many amazingly talented musicians and multimedia artists will be on-hand at PVDLoop this year creating original music live, including traditional Americana/folk, poetry, rap, jazz and experimental.

Some of the biggest performers will include Osaka, Japan-based mandolin player/luthier Hideki Nakanishi-Mandoman, Martin Janiček (Prague), Philippe Ollivier (Paris) and Texas/Providence collaboration WD-41. In addition, “We’ve got traveling artists who are expanding genres, such as Cindy Sawprano, the Coloratura soprano who is the Queen of the Musical Saw; Jules Taylor, whose music is true Americana; and Ian Bouras and Randy Branch, who will be creating new music from very specific experiences,” says PVDLoop founder Laurie Amat.

Amat describes the atmosphere at PVDLoop (a grassroots festival with a limited budget, it’s worth noting) as “friendly and flexible… We want our audience members to feel comfortable enough to talk to the performers, perhaps even be inspired to go and try looping long after PVDLoop. There will also be a chance to try looping at our Saturday afternoon in a workshop called Touch the Gear [when the public can see  various looping programs and gear up-close, talk to musicians, ask questions and maybe even make music for themselves].”

In another workshop, Parisian musician Philippe Ollivier will demonstrate looping with his multitrack looping program “Logelloop 4” and AS220 Industries will be showing off their Arduino-based modules (including the Reverbalizer).

Amat grew up in Providence, but she left many years ago for San Francisco. As for what inspired her to produce this music fest in her hometown once she moved back, she explains, “Providence is a city where there is enormous local talent, and yet I see also as a vibrant international arts city … I wanted to create something that would allow me to show off my wonderful home to a very large cultural community, and celebrate Providence being the city I always thought it could be.”

PVDLoop is an official International Y2K Network event. For more information, visit as220.org/event/the-pvdloop-festival.