The manDrum
- August 29, 2005
- By Michael Kaulkin
- Friends
- 0 comments
My old friend Chris Mandra appeared out of nowhere this weekend, announcing that he was in San Francisco and on the way to Burning Man. When I say “old”… he was among my first friends when I arrived at the University of the Arts as a freshman, so we’re talking exactly twenty years now. Holy moly.
So, Chris is an interesting guy. He has gone from affable, endearingly pretentious, bearded composition student to shaved-headed Executive Producer of NPR Online to red-streaked, wild-haired electro-acoustic performance, uh, wizardy guy. (OK, not quite sure what’s up with my obsession with Chris’ hairstyle.)
Chris now goes by the name of “kataStatik” (and I relentlessly taunted him by calling him “katatastic”), and he performs on an instrument he invented called the “manDrum”. If I understand correctly, the manDrum consists of sensors he wears under his clothing that interact with software he wrote to control a synthesizer when struck. (Sorry, I’m not hip to all the real terminology.) So, basically, he beats himself silly, and music comes out.
There’s more to it than that. More details and video of the manDrum in action can be found on Chris’ web site. This is all quite removed from the musical world I live in, but it sure is interesting. Plus, I have to say: “manDrum” is a great name.
