Juan Blanco (June 29, 1919 in

Mariel, Cuba Mariel is a municipality and town in the Artemisa Province of Cuba. It is located approximately west of the city of Havana. Geography The town is situated on the south-east side of the Mariel Bay. The villages of La Boca, Henequen, Mojica, Quie ...

– November 5, 2008 in

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

) was the first Cuban composer to utilize electroacoustics, spatial music and multimedia.Orovio, Helio. Cuban music from A to Z. Tumi Music Ltd. Bath, UK. 2004. P.29.

Education

Blanco studied at the Municipal Conservatory of Havana with

José Ardévol José Ardévol (13 March 1911, in Barcelona – 7 January 1981, in Havana) was a Cuban composer and conductor of Spanish derivation. As a child, Ardévol studied under his father, Fernando, who was a musician and conductor. He emigrated to Cub ...

Work

Blanco’s first pieces composed in the 1950s, such as “Triptico Coral”, “Cantata de la paz”, “Elegía” and “Divertimento,” conveyed a nationalistic theme. He was the first Cuban composer to create an electroacoustic piece in 1961. This first composition, titled “Musica Para Danza”, was produced with an

oscillator Oscillation is the repetitive or periodic variation, typically in time, of some measure about a central value (often a point of equilibrium) or between two or more different states. Familiar examples of oscillation include a swinging pendulum ...

and three

tape recorder An audio tape recorder, also known as a tape deck, tape player or tape machine or simply a tape recorder, is a sound recording and reproduction device that records and plays back sounds usually using magnetic tape for storage. In its present- ...

s.Juan Blanco, the LNME and the electroacoustic music in Cuba.http://www.electroacustica.cult.cu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=71%3Ajuan-blanco-el-lnme-y-la-musica-electroacustica-en- In 1970, Blanco began to work as a music advisor for the Department of Propaganda of ICAP (Insituto Cubano de Amistad con Los Pueblos). In this capacity, he created electroacoustic music for all the audiovisual materials produced by ICAP.Juan Blanco: Cuba's Pioneer of Electroacoustic MusicBy Neil Leonard III.http://finearts.uvic.ca/icmc2001/info/Leonard_blanco.php3 After working for nine years without payment, Blanco finally obtained financing to establish an Electroacoustic Studio. He was appointed as Director of the Studio, under the condition that he should be the only one to use the facility. After several months, he opened the studio to all composers interested in working with electroacoustic technology, thus creating the ICAP Electroacoustic Music Workshop (TIME), where he provided direct training to participants. In 1990, the ICAP Workshop changed its name to Laboratorio Nacional de Música Electroacústica (LNME), with the objective of promoting and supporting the work of Cuban electroaocustic composers and sound artists. Juan Blanco composed numerous pieces such as Ensemble V, Texturas, Episodio, Contrapunto Espacial, Erotofonias and Studies for recorded group. He served as musical director of the National Council of Culture (Consejo Nacional de Cultura) for several years, and created the International Electroacoustic Music Festival, "Primavera en

Varadero Varadero (), also referred to as ''Playa Azul'' (Blue Beach), is a resort town in the province of Matanzas Province, Matanzas, Cuba, and one of the largest resort areas in the Caribbean. Varadero Beach was rated one of the world's best beaches in ...

" in 1981, with the purpose of presenting Cuban composer’s electroacoustic and avant-garde works to an international audience and to establish relationships with foreign composers and artists.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blanco, Juan Cuban composers Male composers 20th-century classical composers 1919 births 2008 deaths Male classical composers 20th-century male musicians Cuban male musicians