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Modulisme: 20251117 Early ElectroMIX #50 (Audio)
https://modular-station.com/modulisme/early-electromix/50/
The Electric Constellation: Women Who Dreamt in Voltage
We know that the truth is that electricity has no gender.
But these women gave it a face, a rhythm, a flesh.
They transformed lightning into a whisper.
They made the current flow.
Tracklist:
Jocy de Oliveira – Estória (1981 / Fif)
Beatriz Ferreyra – Demeures aquatiques (1967 / Sub Rosa)
Daria Semegen – Electronic Composition No. 1 (1972 / Columbia)
Pauline Oliveros – Alien Bog (1967 / Pogus)
Alice Shields – Dance Piece No.3 (1970 / New World)
Micheline Coulombe Saint-Marcoux – Trakadie (1970 / RCI)
Delia Derbyshire – Pot-au-feu (1968/BBC Radio Enterprises)
Daphné Oram – Episode Metallic (1964/Paradigm)
It is high time to give visibility to these works on our platform and draw attention to an essential fact: for decades, the historiography of electroacoustic music has been written from a narrow perspective—centered on a handful of European and North American men: Schaeffer, Henry, Luening, Stockhausen, Bayle, Maderna, Ussachevsky, Berio, Parmegiani and Ferrari...
The dominant narrative has often presented this history as a linear progression of technical innovations, led by male “inventors” of sound technology, while women were relegated to the role of assistants, performers, or anomalies.
In reality, the studios of the 1950s and 1960s—from the GRM in Paris to the WDR in Cologne—employed many female composers whose creativity was overshadowed by institutional hierarchies and editorial practices.
The works you will hear in this mix directly challenge this imbalance.
In Latin America, Jocy de Oliveira has fused electronics, voice, and performance in visionary multimedia works (Estória, Solitude Trilogy), connecting the intimate and the technological.
From Argentina, Beatriz Ferreyra is part of a vast constellation of female composers who, often alone and despite institutional invisibility, have redefined the possibilities of electronic sound across continents.
In Great Britain, Daphne Oram, co-founder of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, built her own machine—the Oramics—to literally “draw” sound, thus claiming creation as an act of authorship.
In North America, Pauline Oliveros redefined listening itself through her practice of Deep Listening, conceiving technology as an extension of perception and empathy.
Daria Semegen, active in American university studios, composed complex polyphonic tape works (Electronic Composition No. 1) that rivaled the structural rigor of her male contemporaries—but were rarely recognized as such.
In Canada, Micheline Coulombe Saint-Marcoux pushed the boundaries of electroacoustic theater and sound spatialization, while in the United States, Alice Shields explored the expressive and ritualistic potential of electronic voice transformation—anticipating current debates on the posthuman and cyborg identities.
Despite their differences, they all share a radical reinterpretation of what electronic music can mean: a space for emotion, embodiment, and plurality, rather than a simple demonstration of technical power. Their approaches emphasize intuition, listening, and transformation—qualities long devalued in a masculinized discourse of control and systems. Together, they reveal that the history of electroacoustic music is not a single European lineage, but a global network of poetic, experimental, and resolutely diverse voices.
"Modulisme," formerly "Early ElectroMIX," is a platform that aims to support original composing for analog modular systems but not only… A radio program airing music made using modular systems… Each program lasts one hour and is especially dedicated to one composer and features some exclusive music made for us.