Semay Wu – music maker mash – is a Scotland-based composer, media/sound artist, improviser and cellist.
Making electroacoustic work with a free improvisational lens, Semay brings a unique interdisciplinary approach to her compositions, as fixed media or live, as solo, or in collaboration with artists in other genres of music, movement, poetry, mark-making and/or theatre.
Semay has made graphic scores, audio/video-pieces, site-specific sound-works, performance/interactive-installations, as well as producing an online audio cookbook for Manchester’s communities during lockdown: Sounds Like Scran.
Since 2022, Semay has been releasing solo material:
Semay developed her sound at the heart of Manchester’s musical communities (1996+) whilst training at the Royal Northern College of Music (with Jenny Curtis and Clive Greensmith). She further trained at the Institute of Sonology and STEIM in The Netherlands (2013-16) to focus more on interdisciplinary electronics, placing attention on sonic and gestural languages. her work has involved DIY electronics, sensor technology, live-capture/fixed visuals, and programming through MaxMSP software.
The sabbatical year (2013-14) in The Netherlands was generously enabled by Katherine McGillivray’s Get a Life Fund. Semay sincerely acknowledges their support in catalysing and furthering her creative development that has been fundamental to her work today.
Semay also initiated a discussion series based in The Hague in 2016, re-balancing conversations around gender, equality and diversity within electronic music and sound art. New Emergences is a non-profit organisation since 2018.
