Guillermo de Llera Blanes visits McGill University, Canada, with project for developing the MidiMbira

In September, Guillermo de Llera Blanes, researcher at INET-md, starts a four months stay in Montreal, Canada, as a visiting researcher at the McGill University, where he will be working with Marcelo M. Wanderley and other colleagues of CIRMMT – Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology and IDMIL – Input Devices and Music Interaction Laboratory, for improving the MidiMbira, a digital musical instrument resulting from his PhD in Musicology – Speciality Ethnomusicology (NOVA University Lisbon, 2025).

Funded by Ibermúsicas and Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, via INET-md, Guillermo will take to Montreal the prototype of the MidiMbira he started developing during the six years of field work and musical creation he conducted in Mozambique, within his PhD project. The instrument combines elements of the mbira with with sensors, MIDI controls and digital processing tools, while retaining a physical relationship with the playing techniques and knowledge associated with the acoustic instrument. 

With the project MidiMbira: Research-Creation of Digital Musical Instruments at CIRMMT and IDMIL, Guillermo will now address problems that emerged during the instrument’s construction and use, including sensor response, tactile and visual feedback, wireless communication and the relationship between technical design and concrete ways of playing. The stay at McGill University will include practical sessions with musicians and researchers, allowing the instrument’s responsiveness and the cultural relevance of its new functions to be evaluated, while also providing the setting for the initial development of complementary sampling and live-looping software.

Fotografias de Guillermo de Llera Blanes®