Category: Music

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While Benni Gurn and I are still working on our John Cage documentary (Cage 64) – thanks to the pandemic – my friend Yui Onodera has already released the beautiful soundtrack that he created for it: “Ray”.

Yui is not only responsible for the soundtrack, I also visited him in Tokyo three years ago, where I conducted a series of interviews with him on how John Cage influenced his work. “Without Cage, I would probably not make any music at all,” he said. It was then when I introduced him to avantgarde legend Toshi Ichiyanagi, whom I had interviewed before – it was great to see the meeting of these two generations. I still remember the shy, respectful way in which Yui greeted Ichiyanagi – which was of course also ‘typically Japanese’: They did not exchange a lot of words, and they didn’t need to, their decent gestures said it all. One of the reasons why I love this country so much.

Here’s the photo we took afterwards.

Since then, Yui has made quite a career (and also collaborated with another musician whose work I like a lot, Robert Lippok; I was lucky to be in Karachi to record his fabulous session at Amin Gulgee’s place). Benni and I especially love the title track, “Ray” – we are very thankful to be able to feature it as the opening music for our film. It somehow reminds me of my favorite track from Wim Wender’s “Pina”, Jun Miyake’s “Lillies of the Valley” – to me, they are both on the same level, and they also share a few characteristics, for instance the subtle, hypnotic rhythm. Yui’s is more meditative, much slower, which works very well with our images – wait and see (hopefully we are finally done in 2022). Until then: Enjoy the music.

https://serein.co.uk/releases/yui-onodera-ray?fbclid=IwAR1fMfE3eG32jI2tz_Hf5JkaU9m3mhySsLRwSjIahCe8sxpX7jNNZRIscrM

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In their transdisciplinary project, artist duo KREUSER/CAILLEAU explores the imagery and sounds of money.

When and how does a piece of paper or an artwork acquire an exchange value? How is its value determined and put into practice? Although we live in a globalized world and economy, local history, traditions, approaches and interpretations of exchange are different. What can be summed up with „exchange“ in English requires many different words in German: Austausch, Umtausch, Eintausch, Abtausch. What they all have in common is a given or to be determined relation to a value. How do we define that value, what’s the exchange rate? How does value look like in artistic practice? How does it sound?

KREUSER/CAILLEAU is a duo project of German composer Timo Kreuser and French filmmaker Guillaume Cailleau. Their fetish is approaching objects as containers of different functions. By ignoring the primary features of things, and instead focusing on the potential of the object itself as a sonic and visual stimulator, meaning gets molded into new contexts and the original understanding of it is undermined.

PARENTAL ADVISORY: IMPLICIT CONTENT!

More info at: https://www.goethe.de/ins/my/de/ver.cfm?fuseaction=events.detail&event_id=21750171

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The solely artist and volunteer-run, grassroots international festival of experimental film, video art and music, KLEX – Kuala Lumpur Experimental Film, Video & Music Festival, is back with its 10th edition! KLEX 2019: ZERO ONE 0 1, will take place from 6-8 December 2019, at The Saxophone Store (Level 2 & Level 4), and RAW Art Space, spaces run independently by artists. The festival includes KLEX Open Programmes, International Guest Programmes and Music Performances.

The 10th festival theme is 0 1 Zero One. The 0 and 1 are binary codes; of nothingness and of existence; of a recurrent life cycle that begins, ends, and begins again. KLEX acknowledges this cycle of existence that is supported solely by artists and volunteers, serving as an important platform in South East Asia that introduces contemporary experimental cinema and improvised music, from the region and worldwide, to the Malaysian audience.

KLEX 2019 is made possible with the gracious support from Goethe-Institut Malaysia and Japan Foundation Asia Centre, and other organisations that support our international guests. Come join us for our 10th birthday celebration! And please spread the word and bring your fantastic friends along!

OPENING NIGHT: FRIDAY, 6 December, 7:30pm
@ The Saxophone Store (Level 2)
with light refreshment & opening film screening for free!

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This tune without a title, just showing the instruction ‘Nostalgically’, was composed by British Polymath George Spencer-Brown. It is to be found in his book “Löwenzähne – A Lion’s Teeth” (Bohmeier Verlag) and is interpreted for the first time here by Manfred Portugall. We want to use it as a part of the soundtrack for the film on GSB, “Universal Man”. This is the first, most ‘pure’ version of it.
An ‘orchestral’ attempt.
The ‘circuit’ version.

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Do you wonder sometimes about sound and vision? This Friday (31 May), vocal improviser and video artist Kok Siew-Wai will join the improvisation session between visual artists and musicians in the “Imaging Music” series at Kuala Lumpur’s RAW ART SPACE. The session will see visual artists Ong Chia Koon and Tey Beng Tze accompanied by Siew and the astonishing Yong “Juara” Yandsen. Come and sit right down to receive the gift of sound and vision!

Address:
No.8, 4th Floor, Jalan Panggung
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 50000


https://www.facebook.com/events/181862606091324/

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Kompakt’s next Pop Ambient compilation, curated by Wolfgang Voigt, comes out on November 30th, 2018. My friend Yui Onodera, who’s working on the soundtrack of the cage I’m currently producing, has also contributed a track.

Here’s Voigt’s statement: “When a record label thrives after 25 years thanks to a focus of what was expected to be a short-lived music phenomenon called techno, then it stands to prove two things; that techno has taken its place amongst ‘serious’ genres. KOMPAKT has never been only for techno, but stands as a broad-minded entity that has set out to cross-pollinatewithin the realm of electronic music. Through its course, KOMPAKT has sent all kinds of sub-genres, and crossover adventures based on the non-negotiable 4/4 beat around the world. The 100% kick drum-free Pop Ambient series is the most endearing and enduring concept that I have had the pleasure to curate. I felt there was a strong need to add a certain elegance — ensouled by discourse as much as hedonism — to a sound that was recognized as ‘chill out’ music that could be heard in back rooms and forgotten festival areas. Over the years, I like to imagine that Pop Ambient has crystallized into musical universe of its own. I put together this year’s edition by plowing through an ocean of sonic jewelry from all over the world. For this special edition, I create a homogenous experience that would both appeal to our followers and continue our tradition while integrating new micro-facets from neighboring musical universes as much as possible. The headline ‘Ambient’ might sound a little too humble but it still helps as a necessary means of orientation in the best possible sense. Same goes for another dear tradition: Veronika Unland’s abstract-floral cover design that keeps on pleasing our sore eyes year after year. Although every Pop Ambient edition doesn’t shy away from diving into the relevant question of ‘What is contemporary discourse music’, in the end it boils down to that elevated moment where all theory dissolves into ambient air, into a higher state of cosmic bliss. Pop Ambient is sacral music for non-believers.”

Tracklist
A1 Thore Pfeiffer – Alles Wird
A2 Coupler – A Plain Of
A3 The Black Frame – The Uncertainty Principle
B1 Kenneth James Gibson – Gone Too Soon
B2 Morgen Wurde – Schien Immer feat. Maria Estrella
C1 Gregor Schwellenbach – Rot 2
C2 Last Train To Brooklyn – Bluebird
C3 Max Würden feat. Luis Reichard – Zweitens
C4 Thomas Fehlmann – Karenina
D1 Leandro Fresco – Araña De Vidrio
D2 Yui Onodera – Cromo 3
D3 Triola – Adren
D4 Max Würden – Core

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Guided Tour by Dr. Markus Heidingsfelder, Assistant Professor, Communication and Design at Habib University, through the German part of Outsiders: Geniale Dilletanten.

The guided tour takes place on Friday 23rd of April, from 3pm-4pm. The exhibition is open from 11am to 5 pm (except for Sundays) until 30th of April.
 
The Goethe-Institut Pakistan, in collaboration with Amin Gulgee Gallery is thrilled to present Outsiders, a curated event series that showcases the intense flurry of cultural activity that was the ‘Brilliant Dilletantes’ (or Geniale Dilletanten) subculture in 1980s Berlin and across Germany, curated by Mathilde Weh and Leonhard Emmerling.
 
It is an international touring exhibition which is accompanied by live performances, film screenings and panel discussions in featuring revered artists and experimental musicians. Since the early 1980s particularly Berlin has been a magnet and inspiration for international artists such as Nick Cave, The Necks, David Bowie, and Brian Eno.
 
Geniale Dilletanten was the term used to announce a concert held in Berlin’s Tempodrom in 1981. The deliberately misspelled title has become synonymous with an era of artistic upheaval in Germany that brought the country’s edgy artistic scene international recognition. Exploding from its roots in German art schools, punk rock and Dada, the movement represented a radical departure from the mainstream, marked by cross-genre experimentation, the use of new electronic equipment, and adopting German rather than English as language. It portrays seven key experimental bands – Einstürzende Neubauten, Die Tödliche Doris, Der Plan, Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle (F.S.K.), Palais Schaumburg, Ornament und Verbrechen, and Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft (D.A.F.) – as well as visual artists, filmmakers and designers from West and East Germany. The exhibition is the most comprehensive survey of the 1980s German subculture to date, incorporating a rich array of video and photographic material, interview films, audio samples, magazines, posters and other artefacts capturing the bold and daring scene, exploring the simultaneous rapid and rebellious developments in art, film, fashion and design.
 
The Pakistani counterpart is curated by Amin Gulgee, Zarmeene Shah and Zeerak Ahmed. Posed as a response to the German exhibition, the Pakistani segment explores notions of sub/counter-culture in the country, investigating myriad forms of this from the 1970s to present day. By no means a definitive survey, the exhibition in fact attempts to prompt a series of questions that investigate the idea of counter culture in the Pakistani.
 
What can you expect (take your time to explore the exhibition):
 
Photos, posters, vinyl covers, texts and songs from the early 80s.
A wealth of audiovisual content including audio tracks on iPads by all the seven featured bands.
Films about these bands:
•           Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft/ D.A.F. (20:24)
•           Ornament und Verbrechen (06:41)
•           Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle/ F.S.K. (24:16)
•           Der Plan (22:00)
•           Palais Schaumburg (14:58)
A film about subcultures in the GDR (German Democratic Republic): Memories of a Happening/ Spuren des Performativen – Intermedia I in Coswig 1985. A film by Thomas Claus (45:00)
Interviewfilm 1 and 2 (23:23/48:56) with eyewitnesses and musicians from the time
A selection of experimental art films, curated by Florian Wüst (60:00)
A film on fashion and art (55:26)
 
For registration please contact Zoya Ahmed: Zoya.Ahmed@goethe.de
 
Address:
Amin Gulgee Gallery, ST-2A, Clifton Block 3, Karachi (next to South City Hospital)
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