Festival Editions
Sound Exchange II
HAU2, Hallesches Ufer 32, 10963 Berlin → MapTickets: 15 / 11 € concessions
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SunCurated by Carsten Seiffarth and Carsten Stabenow of Dock e.V., Sound Exchange began its search for the roots and current state of experimental music culture in Central and Eastern Europe in 2011. The region has a lively, international network of musicians, cultures and festivals. Since the period of transition started in 1981, however, local traditions and their protagonists – especially the underground movements – have partially been forgotten or escaped wider notice as they reinvented themselves.
In a special two-day programme, several Sound Exchange projects pay homage to a series of Eastern European pioneers via performances by younger-generation artists. The second Sound Exchange performance evening opens with Ensemble Mi-65, a 5-member group of composers, sound artists, and instrumentalists that will perform graphic and verbal scores by Milan Adamčiak, an influential Fluxus artist and composer from Slovakia.
Hungarian Pal Tóth appears under his én moniker to perform an homage to Ernö Király (1919-2007), a composer of chamber music, symphonies, and electronic music, and also an improviser, instrument builder and ethnomusicologist active in the former Yugoslavia. The polyvalent Király sought to expand musical boundaries through his many compositions and self-built instruments such as his quarter tone instrument, the “Zitherphone”.
The continuity between works from pioneering and rising-generation artists in Poland is explored by a sound diffusion of “Synthistory” (1973) by Bogusław Schaeffer, whose experimental approach to both music composition and notation led him to become one of the first Polish composers to take up electronic music. Schaeffer’s piece will be diffused by Łukasz Szałankiewicz, himself an uncompromising experimenter committed to promoting Polish artists both past and present abroad. Szałankiewicz closes the evening with his own live performance, as a response Schaeffer’s legacy.
CTM’s focus on Central and Eastern Europe includes a series of panels and film screenings within the festival’s daytime Discourse programme, as well as a variety of talks and film screenings surrounding the Generation Z : ReNoise exhibition on music and technology pioneers in post-Revolution Russia.
The exhibition Experimental Music in Central and Eastern Europe is also on view in the HAU2 throughout the festival.
Sound Exchange II is presented with the kind support of the Polish Cultural Institute Berlin. The entire Sound Exchange programme at CTM 2014 is presented in collaboration with DOCK e.V.
Milan Adamčiak[SK]
Composer, experimenter, and musicologist; creator of acoustic objects, installations; performer, visual artist, poet, and mystifier, Milan Adamčiak was the first in Slovakia to dedicate himself to exploring intermedia arts after absorbing the ideas of Fluxus and John Cage in the mid 1960s, and has remained the foremost exponent of Fluxus in Slovakia.
Ernö Király[HU]
The chamber music, symphonies, and electronic music of composer and ethnomusicologist Ernö Király (1919 - 2007) has been largely overlooked in his native Yugoslavia and internationally. However, his interest in folk music, unusual instrumentation, and tape music resonates in the work of esteemed contemporaries, among them CTM 2014 featured artist én aka Pal Tóth.
Łukasz Szałankiewicz[PL]
Łukasz Szałankiewicz aka. Zenial is a sound designer, musician, curator, and historian now based in Poznań. A fixture in Poland’s experimental and electronic music scene, Szałankiewicz was involved with early iterations of Krakow’s Unsound Festival, and co-founder of net imprint, AudioTong.
Ensemble Mi–65[SK]
Mi–65 is an occasional band curated by Carsten Seiffarth and Daniel Matej. The project performs graphic and verbal scores by Milan Adamčiak, an influential fluxus artist from Slovakia, and is dedicated to his 65th birthday. The ensemble is made up of: Daniel Matej, Miroslav Tóth, Edgars Rubenis, Arturas Bumsteinas, and Roman Laščiak.
For its appearance at CTM 2014, Ensemble Mi-65 is joined by several local guest musicians.
Enikő Ginzery is a virtuoso cimbalom player known for her imaginative and innovative style. She was born in Bratislava, Slovakia, and works and lives in Berlin. Her main interest is, however, the interpretation of works of contemporary composers, either for solo cimbalom, or for instrumental groups.
Hilary Jeffery is a trombonist, composer, writer and visual artist. Music has been his main activity since 1990 which started with a journey to the Sahara Desert, accompanied by a trombone. Hilary has recorded and played live with many musicians and groups.
Christopher Williams is a Berlin-based composer, improvisor, contrabassist, and organizer originally from San Diego (California), where he studied at the University of California music and composition. Recordings on Incus, Steady Beat, and Eclipse.
Tony Buck, born in Sydney, is a drummer and percussionist. He graduated from the New South Wales Conservatorium of Music, becoming involved in the Australian jazz scene. He is a member of The Necks and leader of Peril. Tony lives and works in Berlin.
én aka Pal Tóth[HU]
Én a.k.a. Pál Tóth is a Hungarian sound artist and radio producer living in Budapest. His weekly radio program, “No Wave”, features contemporary experimental and electro-acoustic music, radio art projects, and music from the Hungarian underground, as well as his own "ether concerts" and “rozart mixes” – collage compositions and live music improvised in real-time.
Bogusław Schaeffer[PL]
Bogusław Schaeffer (1929) is a prolific composer, musicologist, professor, playwright, and graphic artist. His unconventional, interdisciplinary activities have led to him being viewed as a very controversial figure in the world of new music.
