The Idea
Playing together (music, that is) with people anywhere on the planet. Or, theoretically, somewhere else entirely. Intercontinental Radical Improvisation. This was the idea. And it became kybermusik.
History
Attempts started between Krispen Hartung and Straschill early in 2005, first using self-hosted audio streaming servers. Which is ok if one player is reacting to the other one.
Then, something called „ninjam“ appeared. A technology that would round up the inevitable latency so it made sense in some musical metre. Great if you were playing to a click track. Or, playing on a computer inside a DAW-like think, anyway. This brought the thing forward.
Between 2005 and 2008, several things happened. Including performances of Straschill and collaborators (which ended up on an album), and sessions between artists playing at different festivals and live venues.
Examples of the latter were the 2006 BEMF (with Hartung/Walker performing there and Straschill at Salon Erna in München), a sub-event of the 2006 Santa Cruz Live-Looping Festival, an event in 2008 as part of Finloop in Helsinki (pairing the onsite performers with acts from across the globe), and a nice happening at Boise’s The Record Exchange as part of BEMF3 (also in 2008).