Kutiman

Kutiman

Ophir Kutiel (born 1982), professionally known as Kutiman, is a musician, composer, producer and animator from Israel. He is best known for creating the online music video project ThruYOU, as well as his self-titled album and collaboration with many other Israeli artists including Hadag Nahash.

Background

Ophir Kutiel was born in Jerusalem and grew up in Zichron Yaacov. He studied piano since the age of six, and then drums and guitar at age 14. When Kutiel was 18, he moved to Tel Aviv to study Jazz at Rimon Music College.

While working at a local convenience store in Tel Aviv, Kutiel tuned into a college radio station that was playing music that was much different than the classical jazz he had been used to playing. Soon after, Sabbo, another Israeli artist and current music partner, introduced him to afrobeat and funk, including the sounds of James Brown and Fela Kuti. His obsession with Fela Kuti and the fact that his last name was similar led him to create the stage-name of Kutiman. He traveled to Jamaica to research reggae and afrobeat and work with Stephen and Damien Marley.

Music career

Kutiman was signed to Melting Pot Music, based in Cologne in 2006. Soon After, his first single, "No Groove Where I Come From" was released and soon after, he released a hit song with Karolina of Habanot Nechama, "Music is Ruling My World". His eponymous debut album - which received an 8.2 from Pitchfork and a 7/10 from PopMatters - was released in the fall of 2007. Under the Radar picked Kutiman as one of the "Artists to Watch in 2008" , along with Glasvegas and MGMT.

Kutiman has worked with many other Israeli artists and is currently working on arrangement and composition of Karolina's solo album. He has also created animated videos for his song, "Chaser" and Hadag Nahash's "Eze Kif".

ThruYOU

In 2009 Kutiman released ThruYOU, an online music video project mixed from samples of YouTube videos. In an Internet radio interview from June 2009, he described how the idea of ThruYOU first came to him:

At first I took some drummers - before I had the idea about ThruYou I took some drummers from YouTube and I played on top of them - just for fun, you know. And then one day, just before I plugged my guitar to play on top of the drummer from YouTube, I thought to myself, you know - maybe I can find a bass and guitar and other players on YouTube to play with this drummer.

Working on ThruYOU project took two months, and Kutiman described it as quite intense:

It took me two months, but it was really intense. I barely eat, I just worked on a computer and went to sleep...day and night, and night and day...didn't see any friends, no family...not even the sun.

After disclosing his work to just twenty friends, Kutiman's project spread virally across the web, racking up more than one million views in less than a week. After viewing ThruYOU, open source advocate Lawrence Lessig praised the project as a pioneer of a new, less regulated form of media, saying "If you come to the Net armed with the idea that the old system of copyright is going to work just fine here, this more than anything is going to get you to recognize: you need some new ideas."

Kutiman does not often travel to promote his project. On the 19th of June, he visited Wrocław, Poland, responding to an invitation made by an Internet radio station. In an interview, he described the interest of various media in the ThruYOU project, and his willingness to focus on his work:

I got a lot of offers, you know, for gigs and for DJing and for just interviews, but I really do my best, you know. I don't really like it, honestly - but you're so nice and kind, so I'm having a great time.

So far, Kutiman has been reluctant to comment on the future of the project. During an interview, he indicated that his ideas and future plans might revolve around "social things" in the future, but didn't specify these plans:

All the feedback from other people really inspired me to keep on doing things, you know, like with a lot of people, and kind of social things. I have a lot of ideas, but I haven't started making anything just yet.

Discography

• No Groove Where I Come From 7" (Afro Kats) October 2006
• No Groove Where I Come From! 12" (MPM) November 2006
• No Reason For You 12" (MPM) March 2007
• Music Is Ruling My World (w/ remix by DJ Day) 12" (MPM) June 2007
• Kutiman CD/LP (MPM) November 2007

External links

• Template:MySpace
• ThruYOU website
• Documentary face-to-face Interview with Kutiman
• Wax Poetics article on Kutiman by David Ma
• Researching thruYOU, annotated mirror
• Copyright v Artistic Voice and the Great Kutiman - MP3 Newswire article on the reaction to Kutiman ThruYou videos
• Frere-Jones, Sasha (30 March 2009). "Heavy Sifting: An Interview With Kutiman". The New Yorker. Retrieved 8 April 2009.