April 2011 Archive

In the early 1960's, Duke Ellington discovered a young south african pianist going by the name of Dollar Brand.
Over the years, this name underwent a change and with the new name, Abdullah Ibrahim, this pianist became world-famous.



So famous, that on his 70th birthday in 2004, he even got ''happy birthday'' played to him by the NDR Bigband.

In Moers he'll be appearing without any surprise artists - just pure, undiluted and personal - solo on the grand piano. This way he will present his blend of jazz, bebop and folk.
Abdullah Ibrahim solo with his piece Desert Air:



Meditative, calm and relaxed: Abdullah Ibrahim will be the third musician playing on the main stage on Friday.

Official homepage>>

The Greek artist-collective ILIOS forms part of the series Concerts in the dark. On Saturday and on Sunday, the 6 musicians will have 20 minutes each to let their extremes take effect:

„ILIOS 2003 album Old Testament set new standards in sonic savagery with its sadistic jumpcuts between silence and bursts of screaming feedback."
According to a quote from the Englisch music magazine The Wire.

Till Kniola curates the Concerts in the dark and here talks about ILIOS in his own words:






Official homepage>>

From Mülheim an der Ruhr, it's really just a little jump over the Rhine and you'll land in Moers. So, seen in this way, the Mühlheim-born Helge Schneider will be playing for his 'homies' on Monday night!



And there'll be plenty of homely feelings coming out - the theme is Helge's Heimatabend - At home with Helge and the tent will be packed with the following selection of illustrious local guests:
The Dorf, MGV Concordia, Tom Waschat, Roger Trash, Mischlingshund Norbert - the Mongrel and Katrin Mickiewicz will stand on stage, with Helge, together for the Ruhr Valley.

What exactly may we expect during the evening? Jazz, Jazz, Jazz!




Official homepage>>


Helge's Heimatabend - At home with Helge, Monday from 5pm

In 1998, the trumpeter Nils Petter Molvær released Khmer on the Munich label ECM. This album was his big break, and the same year he played at the moers festival with his project Khmer.
After his second visit 2006 he comes back this whitsun and will play in his trio with Stian Westerhus (g) and Erland Dahlen (dr).



One of his purely electronic productions is the album Er (2005). This variety of his music, quite in contrast to the work done with Trio, is synthetic and can sound dirty and full of high electronic sounds that scratch at one's ear-drums. Feeder with Jan Bang on the album Er:




Official homepage>>


Line-up:
Nils Petter Movaer_tp
Stian Westerhus_git
Erland Dahlen_dr

Thione Seck's music is part of the Mbalax style. In Mbalax, Senegalese dance music is mixed with influeces from egypt and india. This explosive mix will surely not allow the first evening at the moers festival to start without a bang. On the main stage in Moers, Thione Seck will be presenting the world-premiere live-concert of his album Orientation, released in 2006 and nominated for the BBC3 Radio's World Music Album of the Year.

Just like these young men in the clip, I'm hoping for an equally fantastic dance performance on the part of the visitors:

A couple of years later, Thione Seck get's a little more romantic:

An emotional and moving night - in all senses of the word - awaits us on Friday.

 

Official Myspace>>

Line-up:

Thione Seck_voc

Awa Ngom_voc

Dara Guissé_xalam

Abdelhoued Zaim_oud

Zied Zouari_violin

David Aubaile_keys, fl

Maurice Zemmour_b

Amar Chaoui_perc

Julien Tekeyan_dr, perc

François Bréant_acc, perc

François Bréant_musical direction

„Drummer, composer, designer, Mac-nerd, espresso-addict, father..." are just a few of the words the Icelandic drummer, Scott McLemore, uses to describe himself.



In this clip from the Sonor Phonic-festival in 2010, Scott McLemore demonstrates his brushing skills in a solo before he goes back to using sticks and hands. Long live the Tomtoms!:



Scott explains his solo-video in the blog on his own homepage, scottmclemore.com.

By the way, you'll find posts to some of his favourite topics on the site - drums, music, design, Mac, espresso & miscellaneous - just klick the various red icons.
Have fun browsing!

On Friday, Scott McLemore will be in the first band playing at the moers festival 2011:

Iceland's New Liberation Orchestra

The photographer Greg Ponder accompanied the saxophonist Kebbi Williams for over a couple of decades. In 2009, he got carried away into commenting that Kebbi has started to resemble a bohemian:



Whatever the effect his appearance may have, his musical identity is soundly exploring many-sided routes:
he plays meditatively, with electronic accompaniment, radically soloistic as well as rackety:



In a more serene emotional state, and highly concentrated, Kebbi Williams performed with the Chris Dave Trio live in Japan last year.

Chris Dave & Friends will be the second band playing on Friday.

Line-up:
Kebbi Williams_sax
Tim Stewart_git
Pino Palladino_b
Chris Dave_dr

Five years ago, Jan Klare from Münster founded the grand-ensemble The Dorf. For this ensemble, he chose improv-experienced musicians, and he really teases the impossible from them. For example, he makes use of a self-composed piece with the title Unplayable. And that's exactly what it is - unplayable.
Whatever the meaning of such a song might be, he explains it in the following words: ''When I give them something that they are able to do, they'll make something different out of it anyway.''
A portrayal of Jan Klare is available on einfallsreich.tv:

Seun Kuti, the youngest son of Fela Kuti, the founder and father of the Afrobeat, is now the leader of his father's band Egypt 80. Fela was known for never playing songs at his concerts that he had previously recorded in a studio. In contrast to this, his son Seun Kuti makes sure that the legendary songs from the Fela Kuti era get a chance to be performed.

Seun Kuti talks about his work in a show on Red Bull Music Academy Radio.

As every year, the side-shows are packed with prominence. This June, ensembles from the Cologne Music Collective KLAENG will be appearing on the 'Röhre'.
Among others, the Pablo Held Trio is part of this collective. Their special feature: communication without words.
Their concerts haven't had any set lists for a long time. Pablo, Robert and Jonas play freely through their pieces, touch on songs here, use them as arches there, make up new connections or wander from one piece to the next. And they do all this with the exceptional help of their tonal language.
In the following video, the Niels Klein Quartet plays an entire song. And although it's a complete song, it's certainly no less impressive. It starts with a long introduction from Pablo Held on the piano:




An absolute live must-see!


Here, an older and very nice contribution from Pablo Held, including an interview>>

Info about his released albums on the homepage of his label, Pirouet>>

official homepage>>

line-up:
Pablo Held_p
Robert Landfermann_b
Jonas Burgwinkel_dr

Stian Westerhus likes loud music. He distorts his guitar sounds and plays infront of his box towers with feedback. This doesn't seem to be a casual coincidence, but rather a concentrated and intentional way of noise and sound production.

Last year, Stian did a solo performance on a BBC Radio session. You can follow this here along with visual material. Watch out - there's a surprise at the end, so its definitely worth it to also have a look at part 2/5.




His solo-CD, Pitch Black Star Spangled was voted as one of the best albums of the year on grinningtroll.com.
And other than that, he's seen as one of the best (live) artists on the same site. Congratulations, Stian!

We're very excited about both of his concerts in Moers: he'll be appearing with his duo, Monolithic and the Niels Petter Molvaer-Trio.

Official homepage>>

Tia Fuller plays the saxophone in Beyoncé's band... it might sound easy to hide behind such a big name in pop music, but to detach oneself from this association and to gain a foothold in a new context is surely not that easy.
Tia Fuller does it anyway: for more than 6 years she's been leading her own quartet and brings jazz to the point:



Of course she still gets recognised as a saxophonist in the R'n'B scene. On Fox News she spoke about how she handles these two different genres:






line-up:
Tia Fuller_sax
Shamie Royston_p
Mimi Jones_b
Rudy Royston_dr

For six years, unbelievable things have been happening in obscurity: music in the dark, concerts in the dark. For both musicians and listeners the same applies - ears are the only sense organ in use. For some, this might be a strange experiences, but for all it is surely very enriching.  
Till Kniola has his own label, is the editor of a magazine and an event manager, and his motto is 'aufabwegen - on the wayward'. At the moers festival 2011 he'll be curating the side-show Concerts in the Dark and is not only responsible for finding artists for the concerts but for selecting appropriate themes.
After last year's images of landscapes and imaginary places under the heading of ''Stepping into the dark'', this year will be all about ''Luminous Darkness''.

Till Kniola had a chat with me about both topics:




To perceive and to actively play music in the dark is subject to a very special flair. Till Kniola on the interaction with darkness:






The Concerts in the Dark will be taking place on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. On both days, 6 musicians will each be playing a set of max. 20 minutes.

On the non-visible stage we'll have:
Robert Hampson (uk)
Simon Whetham (uk)
Colin Potter (uk)
Alexander Rishaug (no)
Gregory Büttner (de)
ILIOS (gr)

The first time Fusion-Bassist Melvin Gibbs was on stage in Moers was in 1981 and since then he's been back three times. Last year he played with Arto Lindsay in Moers - here's the musical myspace review.
At the beginning of his musical formation Gibbs still played the drums. But not long after that he devoted himself to the electric bass.



In the 80s his sound was therefore percussive, yet still very harmonic:



To find out more about his influences, development and musical orientation, an elaborate interview with Melvin Gibbs can be found at guitarkadia.com.

On Saturday Encryption will be playing on the main stage and on the bass will be no other than Melvin Gibbs:

Ronald Shannon Jackson_dr
Vernon Reid_g
Melvin Gibbs_b

Intermissions? None. Orthrelm start to play and play without breaks. Breathlessly they spurt out their songs, and only fingerboardracing and tomtom-bashing remain to describe their music.
In 2002, Mick Barr and Josh Blair released their first EP: 99 tracks, 13 minutes running time.
2005 saw their next shot: 1 track, 45 minutes running time.

Initially, the sample track is probably quite repetitive and actually nothing changes, but after a couple of minutes one can't help to feel being pulled into a trance which can only be explained by the repetitive character of their music. Orthrelm develop a fascination which I don't want to explain but it surely holds sway.
Try out this trip:



On Saturday Orthrelm will be the fourth band playing in the main tent.

Line-up:
Mick Barr_g
Josh Blair_dr

Bogotá, a city among the Top 40 biggest metropoles in the world.
Bogotá, a city of conflicts between deep poverty and high culture.
Bogotá, a city full of churches and monasteries.
Bogotá, a city with a house on 33rd street. THE house in which some of the most diverse musicians collide.
A collision took place there between the brothers Sergio and Sanatiago Mejía and friends and that collision became known as LA-33. They get together to make music - music that goes through the limbs, shakes bottoms and makes smiles grow on faces - and live in Moers we can expect:




Salsa is their passion, making the party overflow is their job. On Saturday night they'll be the last band playing, which means: out with the chairs, it's time to shake some butt!




Official website>>
Official Myspace-page>>

line-up:
Guillermo Celis_voc
David Cantillo_voc
Pablo Martinez_voc
Roland Nieto_tp
Vladimir Romero_tb
Jose Miguel Vega_tb
Felipe Cardenas_sax
Santiago Mejia_keys
Sergio Mejia_b
Cipriano Rojas_congas
Juan David Fernandez_timbal
Diego Sanchez_bongos

Yesterday was all about Chris Dave and I mentioned his mix of jazz and hip hop. Today's artist, Igmar Thomas moves around in a similar musical sphere. Before going into a long and broad explanation of what its all about, I'll rather let his band do the talking, playing and rapping themselves - here are Igmar Thomas & The Cypher:




Igmar Thomas offers a personal insight into his music in an interview by The Revivalist. It's all about his training and his approach in his blending of jazz and hip hop.
Igmar Thomas & The Cypher are going to play saturday at moers.

Igmar Thomas' blog>>

line-up:
Igmar Thomas_tp
Marcus Strickland_sax
David Bryant_keys
Earl Travis_b
Dana Hawkins_dr

Excited, nervous, constantly improvising, re-inventing, utterly aware of his actions - these thoughts are shooting through my mind as I watch Chris ''Daddy'' Dave on the drums:



For those who expect a drummer who keeps up the groove, supports the rest of the band, and, who once in a while, when he's allowed to, brings in his own soloistic part, will surely be disappointed. But it's sure no pity, not in the least!

Despite his huge compulsion to experiment, Dave's Duo plays tighter than the groove-control might allow:



On Friday, as the second band of the festival, this drum-set will be presented as a true leader of the band, hip-hop will be combined with jazz and the unheard of will be created.
Have fun while being totally fascinated and blown-away by:

Kebbi Williams_sax
Tim Stewart_git
Pino Palladino_b
Chris Dave_dr

Japan is generally featured quite frequently at the moers festival and Michiyo Yagi has turned into a recurring guest from the land of the setting sun. Creating Japanese soundscapes on the koto are her specialty and with this, she has sparked a special interest in Peter Brötzmann, Bugge Wesseltoft and John Zorn, among others. Together with them she has played many sessions in various line-ups (and, of course, the three gentleman, too, have already performed in Moers.)
In 1999, in collaboration with John Zorn, she released her solo album Shizukuon under John Zorn's music label, Tzadik.
The first and thus far last time Michiyo Yagi was active in the moers festival tent was a few years prior, in 1992 to be precise, at the time with a 7-headed koto-ensemble.
This year, she'll be here with her double-trio: two contra-bassists and two drummers will be accompanying her, from calm sounds to mighty excesses.

Michiyo Yagi Double Trio with Rouge:




Michiyo Yagi Double Trio on stage saturday at Moers.

line-up:
Michiyo Yagi_21-string koto, 17-string bass koto, voice
Todd Nicholson_b
Takashi Sugawa_b, c
Tamaya Honda_dr
Nori Tanaka_dr

As the mayor of  Reykjavík, the comedian Jon Gnarr, calls for ''a drug-free parliament till 2020''. A joke? Well, not quite. After the economic collapse of Iceland in 2008, the mock-party was elected with 35 percent of the votes.
In the framework of these elections, Einar Örn Benediktsson was appointed to the position of party responsible for culture. He had been the trumpeter and singer of Björk's first band, The Sugarcubes, and this is also the relation to the moers festival, as one of his first decisions in office was to substantially increase funding for the Reykjavík Jazz Festival. Haukur Gröndal promptly founded the Iceland's New Liberation Orchestra where he plays the saxophone and is the musical arranger for this 8-man band.
The band describes their music as ''original, multicoloured music influenced by free jazz, classical music, urban and rural sounds with a straight out message''.
Last year, this sound could be heard in Reykjavík, this year on Whitsun, we'll be hearing them in Moers - as the very first band on Friday, at 5pm in the tent.



Website of Haukur Grondal>>


complete line-up:
Haukur Gröndal - bandleader, alto saxophone, clarinet and flute
Jóel Pálsson - tenor saxophone, clarinet
Birkir Freyr Matthíasson - trumpet, fluegelhorn
Samúel J. Samúelsson - trombone
Valdimar Kolbeinn Sigurjónsson - double bass
Þorgrímur Jónsson - double bass
Pétur Grétarsson - percussion, electronics
Scott McLemore - drums

The press-conference is over, the programm has been revealed, now let's turn to the really important thing: the music and the musicians!

This year too we'll be seeing performances by both soloists as well as a 25-man orchestras. Today's emphasis will be on a medium-sized combo, a quartet called The Ambush Party. In 2006, a saxophonist, a cellist, a pianist and a drummer got together in Amsterdam to collectively create free improvised soundscapes.

The Ambush Party - the name is their game. Lying in ambush, they suprise their audience with sound-attacks or with silence and contentment, sometimes they even surprise themselves.
We have a live-recording to serve as a prime example of their improvisation. Their music functions from out of the moment, and their album, released this year, has been practiced, recorded and burnt to CD without editing. It can be listened to on their Soundcloud-site.
Image and sound together will follow here: Natalio Sued, Harald Austbø, Oscar Jan Hoogland, Marcos Baggiani played together at the dOek festival #9 in Amsterdam at the end of last year:





The Ambush Party will be the first band to play on the main stage on Saturday.

And... in Moers this year we'll be having performances by... we'll be seeing... so, who will actully be playing at this year's moers festival??

All the bands have been scouted and found, all the points on the programme finalised, and all the musicians have been invited. Now the programme can be released: tomorrow at 1pm you will find out the precise plans. You can be there too, on our live video-stream on the homepage at www.moers-festival.de.

Another 68 days until the 10th of June, until the first concert of the moers festival 2011. I have just been clicking through a couple of video portals, looking at clips from festivals over the past few years and I have to admit, my anticipation is growing enormously!

On the day after tomorrow, the 6th of April, at 1pm, the programme of this year's festival will be announced at the official press conference, and with this the first infos regarding performing bands will be appearing here on the blog.

I sincerely invite you to reduce the waiting time by having a look at two video montages from previous festivals. On our archives-page you can find videos and photos from 2008 until 2010: click here.

Tinka Koch is the founder of the moers festival blog.

In 2009 she launched it in order to keep you, the festival visitors, in the forefront regarding the latest information on bands, artists, projects and anecdotes. During past Whitsun festivals, we typed, photographed, filmed and posted continuously and we will guarantee you that this will not change this year!

The only change is that the 'scribbler in charge' is no longer Tinka Koch, but me - Cornelius  Kämmerling.

Copyright: Kölner Studentenwerk Photo: Cornelia Gerecke

In handing over the the blog to me, Tinka posed me a couple of questions, which I would like to share with you:

Tinka: Cornelius, when was the first time you were in Moers?

Cornelius: In 2007 I was asked to facilitate the video blog at the time and I accepted this offer with enthusiasm! Of course I had already known about the festival before that, but I had only made it onto the festival grounds on  one occasion before that - namely onto the camping site. I did not notice much of the activity in the circus tent at the time.
My first year at the moers festival was therefore all the more impressive! And now I am addicted - in a very positive sense.

Tinka: How have you been involved in the moers festival up until now?

Cornelius: The way I have experienced it, the moers festival is very open to new kinds of media and I have thus been able to try out various elements since 2007: not only have I conducted interviews for the video blog, but I led and facilitated discussions in the festival radio station and in the internet-video livestream.

Tinka: Which have been your personal highlights?

Cornelius: Directly after a festival it is quite simple to name them, now however, in retrospect after some four years, it is somewhat difficult for me to say. During those 3 or 4 days of the finest music I am usually so blown away that I first need to create order again. Concerts that usually leave a deep impression on me are those that take place in the sideshows:
The Concerts in the Dark, which are free improvisations by musicians and are performed in complete blackness, as well as the morning sessions are really fascinating: here one encounters musicians that have completed their main performances on the main stage   during the festival and can be heard in virtual privacy on the morning of another day. These insights into musical subtleties and bold conversations are absolutely for me. Absolutely good, absolutely captivating, absolutely necessary!

Tinka: What do you do otherwise, are you in some way involved in the Jazz scene? As a musician?

Cornelius: I am no musician unfortunately (or fortunately, rather?!). I am more interested in the conversations with musicians about music - I do radio. For over four years I have been the editor-in-chief of a Jazz broadcast called The Nightfly on the Cologne Highschool Radio Kölncampus. Here, Cologne Jazz musicians come in and out in a continuous stream, play live sets in the studio and talk to me about their music. In this way I have gained an inside view of the (Cologne) Jazz scene and can follow, with increasing enthusiasm, all the way-out musical styles, which I would like to get more involved in. Regarding the current and especially the improvised part of the music, I always look forward to the moers festival.

Tinka: What are your plans for the blog?

Cornelius: Well, you have already made use of many possibilities that I will also make use of, for example posting videos, linking interviews, recounting little anecdotes...
But seeing that my personal, journalistic emphasis rests on radio as a medium, I plan on conducting interviews, which I will then post on the blog as audio streams. I already have some ideas floating around in my mind... but, of course, I will reveal nothing concrete before the press conference on the 6th of April. Only this much: it will definitely be worth your while to keep a regular eye on the blog!