Ismail Negm

Ismail Negm became interested in electronics in 2013 after becoming a member of Eastern Bloc. His first project was to build a MFOS Sound Lab mini-synth, and then he quickly followed up with CGS Serge modules. He has since built dozens of Eurorack modules, 4U modules, and a Buchla 208. He is one of the three cofounders of ModularMondays, a free weekly performance series that gives musicians a chance to perform in a safe environment among peers. He has performed and improvised live at several dozen events, often with multi-channel spatialization, has trained at EMPAC and SAT, and has given several modular synthesis workshops. His approach to composition and improvisation centers around three points: creating familiarity – and hence anticipation – through coherence over repetition; capturing the listener with sound objects on the uncanny border between the natural and the synthetic; and insisting on narrative as the purpose of form.