Luam Clarindo

Luam Clarindo is a Brazilian percussionist, improviser, and researcher based in Portugal. He is a PhD student in Artistic Creation at the University of Aveiro and a member of INET-md’s Creation, Performance, and Artistic Research group. His work explores the intersection of experimental music, embodied performance, and digital technology, with a particular focus on gesture-based sonic modulation and hybrid acoustic-digital instruments. His research centers on Hypercuíca, an augmented Afro-Brazilian friction drum combining acoustic performance, motion sensing, and digital signal processing. In 2026, he showcased Hypercuíca at the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME 26′), where he also co-authored the paper Hypercuica: Augmenting and Performing with an Afro-Brazilian Friction Drum. His artistic and research activities have been presented in Brazil, Portugal, Germany, Spain, and the UK. Luam holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Music, specializing in Sound Creation, from the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR), and studied percussion at the Conservatory of Popular Brazilian Music in Curitiba. His practice embraces imagination and free improvisation as fundamental modes of artistic creation.

Doctoral Project

Título
Hypercuíca: Augmenting and Performing with an Afro-Brazilian Friction Drum

Advisor
Nuno Aroso and Filipe Lopes (co-advisor)

Resumo

This project proposes the creation of experimental performances with the Hypercuíca, an augmented version of an Afro-Brazilian friction drum traditionally associated with samba carioca. While the cuíca has a distinctive sonic and cultural identity, it has rarely been explored as a central instrument in real-time interactive music systems. This project aims to expand the instrument’s sonic and performative affordances by integrating sensors, reactive and interactive systems, and digital signal processing, enabling gesture-based modulation of its natural timbre. The research adopts a practice-based methodology combined with a Research through Design framework, in which iterative prototypes are developed, tested in performance laboratories, and critically analysed through audiovisual documentation and autoethnographic evaluation. This process investigates new forms of gestural control between performer and semi-autonomous musical systems. The outcomes include experimental performances, the development of an augmented percussion instrument, and a documented artistic research framework addressing human–machine co-creation in electroacoustic and digital musical instrument performance.

Keywords

Practice-based research; Augmented percussion instruments; Gestural control; New Interfaces for Musical Expression; Live electroacoustic improvisation.

Ciência Vitae

ORCID

Luam Clarindo

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