Manafonistas

 

The Rotterdam INVISIBLE COLUMNS concert revealed as a dedicated affair of kindred spirits in immediate communion

 
 

 
 

as an element of it there was the vocal duetting of Sanem Kalfa with Jan Bang 

 
 

 
 

it took place in the deep blue industrial dome of the Van Nelle Factory

 
 

 
 

with its magnificent space

 
 

 
 

and reverb

 
 

 

 

Rotterdam’s North Sea Round Town Festival, spread over the whole city, is on now for 8 days

and will last another week with its 300 concerts 

many at special sites 

 

a truly wild thing every day and night 

 

 

with its highest light SANEM KALFA’s INVISIBLE COLUMNS 

at industrial monument Van Nelle Factory 

w/

 

Sanem Kalfa – voice, electronics

Alice de Maio – dance 

Jan Bang, voice, sampling, electronics 

Ambrose Akinmusire, trumpet

Kit Downes, organ 

 

something was in the air that gave leeway to this wonder of confluence of kindred spirits 

a n d 

it turned out a launch for furthermore 

We all know the experience of futile attempts to catch something touching, moving and beautiful: it’s moving with each attempt to catch it or is gone at the same moment that we caught it. It’s a bit like catching your own shadow. This phenomenon plays a crucial role in art and music. To deal with it is a central challenge for the artist/musician AND the beholder, the audience too. It’s just the way of dealing with this tension, which is constitutive of great creation and intense experience of it …

 

READ MORE HIER

 

 

 

 

Was die Vokalistin und Cellistin Sanem Kalfa betrifft, finden sich auf Manafonistas bereits einige Spuren. Es sind Spuren, die einer längeren Zusammenarbeit entstammen: Zusammenarbeit mit einer kühnen und farbenreichen Künstlerin und Persönlichkeit, die von Mal zu Mal voller Überraschungen steckt, eine Zusammenarbeit mit einer expressiven Persönlichkeit, in der Leichtigkeit des Seins mit dessen Schwere und den dunklen Seiten der Seele eine erstaunlich bewegliche Liaison bilden. Dazu gesellt sich eine intellektuelle Brillianz, die ebenso unsensationell wie beharrlich um die Ecke schaut. 

 

Sanem hat, wie ihre Solovorstellungen zeigen, den Mut zum elementar Einfachen, aus dem Nähe zu zwischenpersönlichen Vibrationen entsteht und befreiende wie erheiternde Höhenflüge entspringen – alles transportiert und entfacht durch eine unglaublich wendige Stimme. 

 

In Rotterdam wird sie im Juni beim Festival North Sea Round Town diese Se/aiten als Artist in Focus in vielfältiger Zusammenarbeit zum Tragen bringen. Zentral dabei steht eine Zusammenarbeit mit Jan Bang, Kit Downs und Ambrose Akinmusire im aussergewöhnlichen Raum der alten Van Nelle Fabrik, die ein Echo von 12 Sekunden hat. Ja genau, die ehemalige Kaffee-, Tee- und Tabakfabrik (der bekannte schwere Shag alter Zeiten als Rauchen noch gang und gäbe war).  Zwischen 1925 und 1931 gebaut, gehört diese Anlage zu den herausragenden Ikonen der Industriearchitektur. Zu dem Anlass kommt hier auf Manafonistas ein Zweiteiler zu Sanem Kalfa. 

 

 

 

Daten:

 

18.Mai  Sanem Kalfa’s MIRACULOUS LAYERS – The Space, Amsterdam

25. Mai  Sanem Kalfa (voc, cello)/ Lucija Gregov (cello, synth, field recordings)/ Alice de Maio, Kelly Bigirindayyi (dance) – Driebergen Farm

21. Juni   Sanem Kalfa’s MIRACULOUS LAYERS – Tineke Postma (sax), Marta Warelis (p), Sun-Mi Hong (dr) –  BIMhuis Amsterdam

23. Juni  Sanem Kalfa’s INVISIBLE COLUMNS Sanem Kalfa (voc/cello)/ Jan Bang (sampling) / Ambrose Akinmusire (trumpet)/ Kit Downs (keys)/ Alice de Maio (dance) – Van Nelle Fabriek, Rotterdam

24. Juni  Teis Semey’s MIDNIGHT MESS Teis Semey (g) / Kit Downs (organ), Sanem Kalfa, Marta Arpini, Fuensanta Mendez, Liva Dumpe (voc) – Oude Kerk Charlois, Rotterdam

25. Juni  Duo Sanem Kalfa / Tineke Postma (sax) – Driebergen Farm, Rotterdam

27. Juni  Duo Sanem Kalfa / Hajo Boerema (church organ) – Laurens Church, Rotterdam

28. Juni  Sanem Kalfa’s TELEVIZYON w/Marta Warelis (p) / Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (b) / Nasim López-Palacios Navarro (perc) – Worm, Rotterdam

29.Juni  Sanem Kalfa feat. North Sea String Quartet (George Dumitriu, Yanna Pelser,  Pablo Rodriguez,  Thomas van Geelen) – Batavierhuis, Rotterdam

30. juni  Duo Sanem Kalfa / Peter Somuah (tr) – De Machinist, Rotterdam  (Peter Somuah is a premièring ACT musician)

2.Juli  Duo Sanem Kalfa / George Dumitriu (g, violin)  Jazz Bike Tour, Rotterdam

 

 

P.S.: HIER ist ein Portrait auf Französisch zu lesen, das als Titelstory auf der Plattform CITIZEN JAZZ erschienen ist. CITIZEN JAZZ ist sehr breit europäisch orientiert und es lohnt sich, dort zu stöbern oder zu recherchieren.

 

 

Ein unheimliches surreales Werk von Richard Dawson, der seinen Philip K. Dick kennt, und mit neuen Liedern eine Zukunft heimsucht, für die das Wort dystopisch eine leere Hülse wäre – das kommt noch in diesem Jahr. Wir werden „The Ruby Cord“ auflegen. Das Ende der Welt, wie wir sie kannten und sehen wollten, hat ohnehin schon lange begonnen. Widerstandsfähige Lieder sind auch eine Waffe. „And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow“ – dieser treffliche Tirel des neuen Teils von Weyes Blood eröffnet den spätherbstlichen Reigen abgründiger Alben weiblicherseits. Alte Horizonte, die sich dem Vergessen verschliessen, bieten die zwei  Songzyklen „Sorrows Away“ und „A Tarot Of The Green Wood“  der exquisiten  Schottinnen von The Unthanks und Burd Ellen.

 

 

 

 

2023 geht dann gut los mit dem schottischen Barden James Yorkston und seinen Lieblingsschweden, mit einem neuen Album des Ex-Go-Betweens Robert Forster (da spielt die Familie mit wie in Enos „Wunderwerk“ (O. Westfeld)), mit einer neuen Arbeit von Vokalist, Elektroniker und Live-Sampler Jan Bang – und last, but not least, ein weiteres Opus von John Cale, der im März 80 wurde: „Mercy“ heisst es, und den Song „Story of Blood“ (s.o.), welchen er mit Weyes Blood aufgenommen hat, finde ich nach erstem Hören (und Anschauen) bewegend und fesselnd. Am 20. Januar kommt dann endlich auch Wilcos „Cruel Country“ auf den Markt, als Vinyl und Cd. Morgen erscheint übrigens Bill Callahan‘s „Reality“. (m.e.)

 

Weit entfernt erklingen Gongs, eine Trompete schwebt in den Raum, wie ein feiner Nebel, der nachts über einem dunklen Fluss die Geister der Verstorbenen imitiert. Bekannte Klänge, Stimmfetzen, ein fernes Murmeln, Drones ziehen wie Motten in Zeitlupe durch die zunehmende Finsternis. Zart berührt der mysteriöse Bogenmacher sein virtuelles Instrument und holt ungehörte Farben daraus hervor, haucht sie ins Namenlose und verklingt. Ein subtiles Falsett, fast unsichtbar, irrlichtert über den verlorenen Klängen einer Sho. Verhallt leise bis dann unendlich ziehend ein uralter Trompetenton erklingt und die Geister, denen eine Manifestation nicht vergönnt ist, ganz sanft weckt und mit ihnen wie hypnotisiert im Regen umhertreibt. Das beschwört den Magier des subtilsten Hauches, der eine Pastorale im zwielichtigen Traumland entstehen und lange eingepflanzte Erinnerungen an narkotische Parallelwelten aufsteigen lässt. Erinnerungen, die mir so unbekannt sind und die verstörende Wesen, die die alten Tempel hüten auf den Plan rufen, zirpend, klagend, flüchtig und fernsüchtig verloren. Nur von dort sinken die somnolenten Schwestern, die sanft das Geschehen dieser Zwischenwelt umkreisten, fast einem Schlaflied gleich ins Bodenlose und setzen einen Punkt, indem sie die geheimnisvollen Geschichten des Bogenmachers leise verhallen lassen.

 

Yesterday: One night, years and years ago, some of us journalists joined Jon Hassell, and in that Norwegian pub that had nothing exotic or fourth world-like in its ambience, I introduced Jon to the great-great daughter of Gustav Mahler who was a cellist in a Symphony Orchestra. And that was special. Punkt has always been about the closing of circles.  (m.e.) 

 

Tomorrow: Renowned Norwegian artists celebrate the music of the influential trumpet player and composer Jon Hassell. The influential American trumpeter and composer Jon Hassell passed away on June 26, 2021. This year Hassell would have turned 85, and we wish to honor him with a memorial concert at Victoria on his birthday on March 22. This evening you will hear an all-star team of Norwegian musicians who have all either collaborated with Jon Hassell or have a relationship to his music.

On stage are three generations of inspired trumpeters, in addition to former members of Hassell’s band, who played with him both live and in studio. Several of them collaborated with him on Jon Balke’s „Siwan“ project and played with him at the Punkt Festival in Kristiansand. The music this eveningwill be composed by, or inspired by, Jon Hassell. The memorial concert is produced in collaboration with Punkt, which Hassell visited several times, and is organized in consultation with Hassell’s family. We hope you will join us on Tuesday. See you there!

LINE UP: Nils Petter Molvær – trumpet, Arve Henriksen – trumpet, Kristina Fransson – trumpet, Harpreet Bansal – violin, Eivind Aarset – guitar, Jon Balke – keys, Helge Norbakken – percussion, Jan Bang – live sampling, Erik Honoré – live sampling, keys, Arnaud Mercier – sound

The concert has been streamed live on youtube.
You missed it? Here we go …

 

Ladies and gentleman, this is 2011, and this is the „Alpha-Room“: Nils Petter Molvaer came with a helicopter. He had a concert the night before at the Munch Museum. No long time for preparations. But Guy Sigsworth is well prepared. It starts with some classical motives, like a grown up’s memory of listenng to some Goldberg Variations on a strange children´s birthday party. It takes a while till Nils Petter seems to find a key for the music. We hear a sample of a Justin Bieber song. Is anyone in the mood for Saturday Night Fever? Punkt turning disco? After a while (and some rippy rappy pop moments), Guy´s creating breathing space for the trumpet. Melancolia and exuberance.

 

It is still 2011, you better believe it. For the first time at Punkt, there is a special room, with the flair of an old French cinema. You‘re  watching live-remixes on screen that are taking place simultaneously. It has a documentary feeling, old nouvelle vague like (the school of Jacques Rivette). Here I see,the final live-remix of the 7th Punktfestival. Marilyn Mazur working with a small drum kit, Nils Petter Molvaer playing Nils Petter Molvaer and, suggesting some distant breath of „Bitches Brew“. Jan Bang, Erik Honore, Eivind Aarset, the usual suspects. They will be the usual suspects ten years from now on. An old vanishing word came to my mind that only makes sense in a Thomas Pynchon  novel like  „Inherent Vice“ – or in very relaxed Punkt moment – the word is „groovy“. Blame this on the Beta Room, too, it has a 1968 vibe.

 The title could be from a movie, or a poem, or a thriller. But it comes from sounds. Ambiguity is a point on the second album of Eivind Aarset and Jan Bang. Always a delight if a certain sound is not linked to a clearly defined emotion. It all moves in between, in moderate tempi, and different modes of slow, slow motion. Daring and adventurous, the duo‘s musics doesn’t serve at all some listeners‘ needs for recognizable grooves or old school ambience. There‘s a free spirit wailing, and chances are good all these strangely constructed, floating pieces of pure imagination put a soft spell on you. Call „Snow Catches on her Eyelashes“ modern mood music if you want – and if you don‘t mind goose skin, a recurring sense of wonder, and moments of pure excitement. 

 

 

Michael: This second duo album has a different feel compared to Dream Logic. How would you describe its overall mood, or subtlely changing atmospheres? The title of the album suggests a cinematic flair, though it‘s certainly not related to a certain movie.

 

Jan Bang: The album was recorded in the Punkt Studio in Kristiansand over a long period of time. Some of the first sketches (i.e. Asphalt Lake) started already in 2012. Others came during the main recording period between 2017 -2019. With the „Dream Logic“ album (ECM), the working process was shorter in span, but that was where we gained a good work flow together in the studio. A lot of the same techniques were repeated on „Snow Collected On Her Eyelashes“, but with different outcome. I like to think of the album and its title as a travelogue. The title refers if you will to a modern traveler in a Northern hemisphere, but can have different meaning to others.

 

It seems to me that most of the music grew out of improvisations, and post-production has been big deal here. How would you describe the process of these pieces finally finding its shape within a well-chosen sequence?

 

Not entirely true. Some of the pieces (i.e. Monochrome), and the two „Sphere“ pieces started with both of us in the same room. Serenade, Purplebright and Asphalt lake started with programming which was later carefully shaped with Eivind onboard. The pianist Hilde Norbakken and myself had done a few live performances of Before the wedding, before we decided it would be a possible candidate for the album with a guitar overdub by Eivind. A couple of compositions were more or less his, like „Nightspell“ and „Two days in June“, the latter being, at least in my book, the centerpiece of the album.

 

Can you describe the process of working on one track of your choice, to make clear how sometimes things fall into place organically, or, on the other side, need some treatments in the details to fulfil the expectations of the two of you?

 

The above mentioned Two days in June is based on a live performance Eivind did with dancer Christine Brunel who sadly passed away during the making of the album. I added cello and small treated sounds to give it more focus. In the coda I added some programming that I had originally done for the German theremin player Barbara Buchholtz, who sadly passed away far too young. The piece is a celebration in memory of them both. The two „Sphere“ pieces and Monochrome were done pretty fast.

 

Of course, you shy away from labeling such an album, because every branding narrows the perspective. But can you name some of the inspirations while working on an album that looks through a territory of sounds beyond standard experimentalism.

 

I guess the material comes together with inspirations from different angles: the baselines you can so often find in music from the past, from the 50´s when bass parts often played single notes without the virtuosity that with exceptions came came later. The other sound ideal comes from modern composition and the way both of us have incorporated a more European contemporary sound world that is an amalgam of the acoustic and electronic world of sounds. Working with the Ensemble Modern, different free improvisers like Sidsel Endresen, Hamid Drake and recently now in London with a recording session with David Toop and Confront label owner Mark Wastell – has given me inspiration to step into the unknown with curiosity. 

 

Jan Bang wrote me something that sounded interesting, in regards to small bass lines in old music from the 50‘s, as part of an e-mail interview, concerning his forthcoming album with Eivind Aarset, „Snow Catches On Her Eyelashes“ (Jazzland). I really didn‘t know exactly what he meant (just had some ideas) and asked for examples – among them, then, a song by Marlene Dietrich, „Lazy Afternoon“. Listen to the track, and you’ll understand. By the way, it‘s such a wonderful song, its mood, its slowness. The interview with Jan will be posted here on the day of the album‘s release, on March 13th. After playing one track from it, in my last radio night, „The Witness“, the responses were quiet enthusiastic, from Harald Rehmann, Martina Weber, and other friends and strangers. Stunning, for an album that owns all features of experimental music in its truest sense, a strange hybrid of musique concrète, free improv, ambient – one of these records for the infamous imaginary movies in our heads, which, I have to admit, I never have seen when listening to even the most „in-between“-music.

 

Michael: Now I listened to that two note thing of the bass in Marlene‘s song you mentioned. Such a sound from the bottom, minimal impulse, discreet company, but what an impact, IF you focus on it. I think I wouldn’t normally realize these tiny fragments when listening to the song. Mhm. One could possibly write a little book on it, a universal pattern, a link between decades, cultures, styles, nearly archetypal. All these things at the  margins.

Jan: It surely is effective, and worth an article if not a book on the subject matter.

Michael: A small book it would be, Jan, on that two tone thing, sure, not as big as the ones on twelve tone music.

Jan: Haha.