biography
Canadian composer jef chippewa is particularily interested in questions of cultural awareness and identity in regards to the composer’s responsibility in inheriting or appropriating cultural heritage. Understanding the impossibility of definitive articulation or comprehension of cultural identity does not justify conscious ignorance of any of its aspects. Nor does it excuse irresponsibility in cultural appropriation, and this applies equally to the appropriation of one’s “own” culture (cultural heritage) as to that of another culture or sub-culture (“external influences”).
Although chippewa has pursued formal studies at the Université de Montréal and Concordia University, personal research has made an important contribution to his musical education.
His compositions have been performed in such concert series and festivals as Ai-Maako (Santiago), EuCuE (Montréal), Darmstadt Ferienkurse, FUTURA (France), Inventionen (Berlin), ISCM (Stuttgart, 2006) MANTIS (Manchester UK) and Visiones Sonores (Morelia, Mexico). Groups such as ensemble recherche, asamisimasa and Ensemble contemporain de Montréal have performed his compositions. His work can be heard on CD, notably on Cache 2000, a compilation of the top-placing works in an annual competition organised by the Canadian Electroacoustic Community (CEC).
He is currently completing work on a new composition (for flute, piano, drumset and several dozen sound-objects) commissioned by Berlin-based Trio Nexus, and is also working on a new electroacoustic composition. He is currently completing work on a new composition (for flute, piano, drumset and several dozen sound-objects) commissioned by Berlin-based Trio Nexus, and is composing a new work commissioned by Berlin’s LUX:NM ensemble with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts. Upcoming projects include a string trio and a 30-minute work for 12 field drums.
He has been invited to do composition residencies at The Banff Centre (Music & Sound), Leighton Studios (Banff Centre) and Centro Mexicano para la Música y Artes Sonoras (Morelia, Mexico).
In 1999, chippewa founded shirling & neueweise, a company specialised in New Music notation, which collaborates with composers, ensembles and publishers (mathias spahlinger, Sebastian Claren, Bernhard Lang, ensemble recherche, PEER Music-Classical, Breitkopf & Härtel). The excellent quality of his work is recognized internationally by his peers, and examples of scores he has prepared appear in Notations 21 (Theresa Tisano, ed., 2009). Since 2009, shirling & neueweise has been involved in the promotion of the work of Canadian electroacoustic composers Marcelle Deschênes, Gilles Gobeil, David Berezan and Dominique Bassal, resulting in numerous new performances of their works internationally.
Since 2005, he is the Administrative co-Director of the Canadian Electroacoustic Community, Canada’s national association for electroacoustic music, and Coordinating Editor for the CEC’s quarterly electronic journal, eContact! His efforts in this position have contributed greatly to an important increase in the CEC’s presence on the international scene.