Neuropa: Where Sound Becomes Vision

I had never experienced anything quite like this before.

The performance took place in Ratas&Kohv, a warm and modern café with brick walls and soft, dimmed lighting. It felt like an unexpectedly cosy setting for what was about to unfold.

On one side of the stage, Paolo F. Bragaglia builds an evolving electronic soundscape live, using analogue synthesizers and digital instruments. Electronic, powerful and immersive, it is the kind of sound that takes over the room. Watching him perform, you can see how completely absorbed he is in what he is creating. At several points, I found myself thinking: I wish I could dance right now.

Beside him, Marco Bragaglia is drawing live, completely absorbed in his own creative process. His digital illustrations appear on a screen placed between the two artists, building up in real time as the performance unfolds.

What makes the experience so fascinating is the way the music and visuals seem to feed off each other. As Paolo’s music builds and shifts, Marco’s drawings evolve alongside it, creating a constantly changing dialogue between sound and image.

You are not simply watching a drawing being made while listening to electronic music. You are watching two artists create together, in real time, each adding another layer to the experience.

It is rare to watch something being created so completely in the moment. The music becomes something you can almost see, while the images give the sound another dimension.

Neuropa: Where Sound Becomes Vision was a powerful, immersive and genuinely joyful experience. One of those performances that makes you realise there are still ways of experiencing music you simply hadn’t thought of before.

While it will not be performed again, the Tallinn Fringe Festival continues through 18 September.

Author: Hélène