Stephanie Pan: taikos
Stelios Manousakis: live electronics, programming
Center no Distractor is an explosion of movement, physicality and gritty, thumping beats, for taiko and live electronics. Performances are simultaneously a concert, an exploration of sound and body, a visual spectacle; it is dance for the ears, the body, the eyes and the mind.
A truly contemporary project by the collaborative duo Stephanie Pan and Stelios Manousakis, Center no Distractor re-contextualizes the taiko in a digital environment while retaining the essence of its aesthetic, athletic and musical qualities. This meld creates a visceral, industrial, post-primal/post-digital experience – an immersive and intense performance full of evolving soundscapes and fine detail, throbbing percussion, gut-moving bass, and turbulent oceans of sound.
The project features fully DIY instruments: Stephanie plays a self-constructed nagado taiko, made from an oak wine barrel which she built over a period of 1.5 years. Stelios has created a modular instrument using SuperCollider, with custom-made processes and generators tuned for responsive, hands-on playing.
Watch videos from:
Modern Body Festival – 2014
Blikopener Festival / Museumnight Delft @ Theater de Veste – 2013
Zeebelt theater (recording of “Nothing aiming is a splinter” EP) – 2012
Center no Distractor: Nothing aiming is a splinter EP [ir002]
Live recorded debut EP by Center no Distractor, taikos and electronics duo.