Hommage to André Duracell (Page 2 of 3)

damn, supported him a couple of times in cambridge, nice chap.

i used to watch his vids alll the time. total shame he lost his hearing -  i wanted to see him play live pretty badly.

It's totally amazing... it's so intense and mesmerising... I can't stop watching this. Thank you for sharing it. It's a pity he lost his hearing, he is so skilled and talented...

I made a documentary with Duracell in, back in 2008, called One Man in the Band… in it he describes how he uses piezo triggers on the drums to advance the mod synth. He's a great performer… into the concept of 'physical electronics'. Apologies for a shameless plug of the film, but it's here on this site: www.onemanintheband.com

Is there any hope of him being able to use a cochlear implant to restore his hearing?

Hi everyone, just created an account to update people about Andre (Duracell). He has a channel on You Tube https://www.youtube.com/user/wonderninj … shelf_id=0 where he plays an Mbira but hasn't posted anything in over a year. I did contact him through the channel and he confirmed he was indeed Duracell but that he suffers from hyperacusis and his left ear is very sensitive to the slightest sound. He can only play very quiet music for a short period of time before feeling a lot of pain.

He said he lives pretty much as a hermit now due to his tinnitus and so I think he's pretty much given up making music. It sounds like he is in a lot of pain with his hearing and so I guess he has to be very careful these days. He did urge me to take care of my hearing and so I have taken his advice and make sure not to listen to loud music for long periods of time.

Let Andre be a cautionary lesson for everyone and really try to look after your ears. I would urge anyone going to concerts or shows etc to wear earplugs and to listen to music at a comfortable level when at home or making music. While you might not be that bothered now, over time you can do significant and serious damage to your hearing and I wouldn't want anyone to suffer like Andre has/is.

Yeah his reaction is fantastic. It's like he's trying to work out what the hell is going on and how Duracell's doing it and then there's a moment where he suddenly gets it and goes "Oh right, I get it now" and starts dancing.

It's such a shame no recorded music of this was released. There are other videos where Duracell starts improvising his own material and you get the feeling that he was really on the cusp of something big (well relatively so in the world of experimental electronica). Black Pus is in a similar vein and I think Duracell could have done something like that with his setup (minus the crazy vocals).