The ElectroSpit wins the 2020 Guthman Competition
"For those of you that may believe that everything in music was already invented, centuries ago, we beg to disagree," Georgia Tech President Ángel Cabrera said in his opening speech to a capacity crowd at the Ferst Center.
With those words, he kicked off a show that no one in the audience is soon to forget.
This year's competition took a new direction by pairing each finalist's instrument with a virtuoso - a skilled musician from the Atlanta area. In brief performances together, they showed how new musical instruments and technologies can change how music is performed.
First Place: The ElectroSpit
The Electrospit, created by Bosko, reimagined the classic talkbox as a portable device paired with a smartphone. Along with keyboardist and hip-hop entrepreneur Craig King and DJ David Lopez, he enthralled the crowd with an exciting performance that drew from his experience working with musicians such as Outkast.
Second Place: The MEMO/MOVE
Krzysztof Cybulski's MEMO/MOVE uses motorized sliders to create unusual musical textures. He performed with MILK + SIZZ, a Grammy and Latin Grammy Award Wining husband and wife production team. After the show, Cybulski said: "My instrument is a little bit nerdy. Milk + Sizz made it sound cool."
Third Place: The Svampolin
Laurel S. Pardue's Svampolin, a hybrid acoustic-electronic instrument, wowed the judges with its technical ingenuity and its ability to transform and re-tune the sounds coming directly from the instrument. Pardue played a duet with Georgia Tech music technology major Ally Stout on two Svampolins. Stout explained to the audience about how the instrument incorporated the best features of both acoustic and electric string instruments into a single device.
People's Choice Award: The ElectroSpit
With his engaging and interactive performance, it came with little surprise that Bosko also took home the People's Choice award for the evening. Everyone in the Ferst Center, along with those watching the live stream, were invited to vote for their favorite instrument.