Dann Disciglio - Cacti Cartridge Music (2023)

Cacti Cartridge Music is a series of performances in which living, amplified cacti are utilized like phonograph cartridges, to play the grooves of vinyl records. Due to the abundance of contact points and the unique resonant qualities of cacti, a dynamic range of timbres and playing styles are possible. The title of this work is an allusion to a work by John Cage’s Cartridge Music (1960), which instructs performers to “insert all manner of unspecified small objects into the [phonograph] cartridge [...] such as pipe cleaners, matches, feathers, wires.”