Balloon Kit

was born in Bogotá, Colombia, in 1965 and has also lived in Barcelona, The Hague, and currently New York. In 1996 he married María Mercedes Andrade.

He studied composition and electroacoustic music with Chilean composer Gabriel Brncic at the Phonos Foundation in Barcelona and flute with Hiroshi Kobayashi and Joan Bofill, also in Barcelona. He is currently studying Anthropology in New York City.

Most of Arias' music is improvised and made in collaboration with other musicians. Apart from occasionally playing the flute, he uses unconventional instruments and found objects as sound sources for the music. For a long time he performed with a shifting array of small found objects, amplified with piezzo-electric transducers. Since 1992 he has focused almost exclusively on the balloon kit, a number of rubber balloons attached to a suitable structure and played with the hands and a set of accessories (various kinds of sponges, pieces of Styrofoam, rubber bands, etc).

Long time collaborations have given rise to somewhat regular "groups" at different times and places, such as: Sol Sonoro (with Roberto Gacía and Luis Boyra, Barcelona and Bogotá, 1987-1994); &NiL (with Carlos Gómez and Roberto García, Barcelona, 1989-1992); Taca (with Carlos Gómez and Gabriel Jacovkis, Barcelona, 1988-1991); Guen-Dai (with Hiroshi Kobayashi and Luis Boyra, Barcelona, 1989-1991); duo with José Sarto (Barcelona, 1989-1991); BruitCollage (with Pascal Boudreault, The Hague and New York, 1996 to the present); Other Flutes (with Muriel Vergnaud and Bruce Gremo, New York, 2000-2001); duo with Renato Maselli (The Hague and Buenos Aires, 1996 to the present); duo with Hans Tammen (New York, 1999 to the present); Trío de Improvisación + (with Luis Conde, Gabriel Paiuk, and Diego Chamy, Buenos Aires and New York, 2000 to the present).

He has also collaborated occasionally with, among others: Rodolfo Acosta R., Jakob Draminsky, Axel Dörner, Mauricio Alvarez, Johan van Kreij, Stephie Bütrich, Annie Tångberg, Dror Feiler, Dirk Haubrich, Fernando Abreu, Steve Koenig, Christoph Irmer, Kenta Nagai, Liba Villavecchia, Jane Henry, Dafna Naphtali, Blaise Siwula, Sean Meehan and Miquel Jordà.

He has performed most notably in Barcelona (Miro Foundation, Metrónom, etc), Bogotá (BLAA, Auditorio León de Greiff, etc), Cali (Teatro Jorge Izaacs), Berlin (Haus der Kulturen der Welt), Buenos Aires (Centro Cultural Rojas), Amsterdam (STEIM), The Hague (Korzo Theater, etc), Baltimore (Red Room), and New York (Roulette, ABC No-Rio, etc).

His tape pieces have been heard at the Ciclo Nuevas Músicas (Montevideo), Festival Synthese (Bourges), Instituto Colombo-Americano (Bogotá), and The Institute of Sonology (The Hague), among other places. He recently presented an installation piece at the Zeppelin Sound art Festival in Barcelona.

Arias has published essays in Experimental Musical Instruments (Vol, 13, #2, 1997), and Leonardo Music Journal (Vol. 9, 1999).

Recordings:
Trío de Improvisación + (Paiuk/Conde/Chamy/Arias): live at Roulette, Oct. 27th, 2001
BruitCollage (Boudreault/Arias): Catalogues I & II - Live at Roulette, March 26, 2000
Ricardo Arias & Jane Henry: Live at the Stork Club (WFMU), January 25th 1998