The fruit of a crossbreeding of the different cultures that shaped it, the musical representation of the New World, colloquially known as America, has aroused numerous interpretations and fascinations on the part of both European composers and those who inhabited and built this territory. The Orchestre symphonique de Laval invites music lovers to discover the music of the New World in the third major concert of its 2023-2024 season. The program, led by dynamic conductor Naomi Woo, recently appointed head of the National Youth Orchestra of Canada, will highlight works by two composers – one Canadian, the other Chinese-Peruvian, as well as Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, with Quebec jazzwoman Lorraine Desmarais as soloist, and Dvořák’s mythical Symphony no 9. With just a few days to go before the concert, we caught up with Naomi Woo to discuss the program. Find the interview below after reading the program!
New World Music program
Jocelyn Morlock
Hullabaloo
Gabriela Lena Frank
Elegia andina
George Gershwin
Rhapsody in Blue
Antonín Dvořák
Symphony no 9, in E minor, op. 95 ” From the New World “
Since their brilliant studies at Juilliard 2 decades ago, virtuosos Greg Anderson and Elizabeth Joy Roe developed unique skills and eclectism through the classical piano duo. Before their coming to Montreal at Salle Pierre-Mercure on April 21st, they give a generous interview to Alain Brunet at PAN M 360. Not only do they excel as soloists on stages the world over, but they have also played a leading role in updating the piano duo with a repertoire that embraces classical music of the highest standard, as well as works by creative pop artists and great singer-songwriters such as Freddy Mercury, Paul Simon, John Lennon, Paul McCartney and Leonard Cohen. Take a look at their Montreal program to see for yourself, before viewing the PAN M 360 interview!
ANDERSON & ROE ARE PERFORMING AT SALLE PIERRE-MERCURE, SUNDAY APRIL 21ST, 3PM. TICKETS AND INFOS HERE
Program Piano Symphonique
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART Sonata for Two Pianos in D major, K. 448 Allegro con spirito Andante Molto Allegro
ANTONIN DVOŘÁK “Silent Woods” from From the Bohemian Forest, Op. 68, No. 5
JOHN WILLIAMS / ANDERSON & ROE Three Star Wars Fantasies
Ragtime Quietly luminous Toccata
– Intermission
ANDERSON & ROE Nocturne on Neptune (based on Holst’s “Neptune” from The Planets) MAURICE RAVEL / GRYAZNOV “Daybreak” from Daphnis et Chloé
ANDERSON & ROE Hallelujah Variations (Variations on a Theme by Leonard Cohen) JOHN LENNON & PAUL MCCARTNEY / ANDERSON & ROE “Let It Be” from Let It Be
Artistic direction : Irina Krasnyanskaya
Piano : Anderson & Roe
Duration : 1h30, with intermission
Photo credits : Lisa-Marie Mazzucco
With her new EP sadder but better co-produced with Félix Petit, a recording released on April 5 on the Duprince label, HAWA B reaffirms her plural expression; soul and jazz sit comfortably alongside alternative rock and electro. Like a growing number of Afro-descendant artists, the Montreal singer, songwriter and producer transgresses what is conventional for artists of color.
With this in mind, HAWA B sets out “to explore in depth facets of myself that I don’t like. I wanted to transform them into songs that represent me, and that I love, to learn to accept who I am. It made me sadder, but for the better .”
Hawa B or not Hawa B? The sadder but better EP answers the question!
For those who have yet to discover this formidable artist, whom PAN M 360 welcomes here in a video interview (below), let’s remember that she has already shared the stage with Hubert Lenoir, Charlotte Cardin, Greg Beaudin, Marie Gold, Clay and Friends, Dominique Fils-Aimé, FouKi, FELP and more.
EP credits sadder but better
Lyrics, composition: Nadia Hawa Baldé (HAWA B)
Arrangements: Nadia Hawa Baldé et Félix Petit
Piano: Émile Désilets et David Osei-Afrifa
Bass: Jonathan Arseneau
Guitar: Philippe L’allier
Drums: Anthony Pageot et Félix Petit
Flute, Saxophone, Clavier: Félix Petit
Saxophone : Julien Fillion
Production: Félix Petit & Nadia Hawa Baldé
Mix: Jean-Bruno Pinard
Master: Gabriel Meunier
Prise de son: Félix Petit et Patrice Pruneau
The Orchestre national de jazz de Montréal (ONJ) and the ODD SOUND Festival welcome saxophonist and composer Donny McCaslin, under the direction of Montreal conductor, composer and saxophonist Philippe Côté.
This is in fact the opening concert of the ODDSOUND organization’s festival, whose star piece is Shades of Bowie, a piece by Philippe Côté inspired by the music of David Bowie, composed for Donny McCaslin and the Orchestre national de jazz de Montréal. The American saxophonist and composer, a Montreal regular since the late ’80s, was musical director for the recording of the extraordinary Blackstar album, David Bowie’s final offering.
Philippe Côté has known Donny McCaslin since a long stay in New York some fifteen years ago. McCaslin befriended saxophonist and composer David Binney, with whom he produced the album Lungta, released in concert in 2016 with the ONJ. The rock spirit and electro openness that Donny McCaslin’s music led Bowie to recruit him to the musical direction has taken for several years, and from the pivotal role McCaslin played in Bowie’s masterful final opus Blackstar, Philippe Côté wanted to pay tribute to Bowie as well as his influence on McCaslin’s career by interlacing his music with subtle Bowian evocations.
For the guest soloist, Shades of Bowie is an opportunity to improvise to his heart’s content on an orchestral fresco noticeably reinforced by percussion.
Opening the evening, McGill University’s Jazz Orchestra 1 will present a repertoire including Two fifteen, a piece by Philippe Côté inspired by Lee Tsang’s poem of the same title about residential schools.
So many reasons to interview the soloist and his composer by video, before the concert takes place on Wednesday April 10, an ONJ program in Place des Arts’ 5e salle.
PROGRAM
ORCHESTRE NATIONAL DE JAZZ DE MONTRÉAL
Ariste invité | Donny McCaslin
Chef d’orchestre | Philippe Côté
Saxophones
Jean-Pierre Zanella, Samuel Blais, André Leroux, Frank Lozano, Alexandre Coté
Trombones
Dave Grott, Margaret Donovan, Taylor Donaldson, Jean-Sébastien Vachon
Trompettes
Jocelyn Couture, Aron Doyle, David Carbonneau, Bill Mahar
Violinist Isabella D’Éloize Perron, former Révélation radio-Canada en musique classique 2020-2021, will embark on a major North American tour that will take her to many of the continent’s major cities (Montreal, of course, but also Toronto, Vancouver, New York, Chicago, Boston, and others). Two Quebec cities have also been added: Quebec City and Trois-Rivières. The FILMharmonic Orchestra conducted by Francis Choinière will accompany her in a programme dedicated to the four seasons, those of Vivaldi and those of Piazzolla, coloured by tango. I met the young artist just before the start of this long and beautiful journey.
The singer-songwriter Shaina Hayes made her debut back in 2022 with her album, To Coax A Waltz, a gorgeous country folk affair. Since touring that album around Quebec and other parts of the world, Shaina has signed to Bonsound and just released her follow-up album, Kindergarten Heart.
Once again written by Shaina and her creative team; David Marchand and Francis Ledoux of the noise rock band zouz—which Shaina also plays with live—Kindergarten Heart is, for the most part, a more upbeat album sometimes going for a more indie rock vibe. However, it does make a habit of following Shaina’s penchant for poetic lyrics and songs that usually start with just her and an acoustic guitar. It’s a fantastic follow-up, definitely putting Shaina on the path to becoming more of a household name in the indie folk world.
We spoke with Shaina ahead of the album release show at Le Ministère on April 4 about her time at SXSW, some of the behind-the-scenes of the album, playfulness, and her love of farming/agriculture arts.
Ahead of their program as part of Mélodînes presented by Pro Musica, I sat with violinist Julia Mirzoev, pianist Antoine Rivard-Landry, and cellist Braden McConnell to discuss adapting Beethoven and the exciting concert they have in store for us.
PAN M 360 : Hey everyone, thanks for taking time. I’m lucky to be speaking to all three of you. This piano trio program is rather unique and I was wondering how long you had to prepare this show?
Julia Mirzoev : Well we had a good amount of notice with this one, right?
Antoine Rivard-Landry : Yes, I think that the concept was clear from Pro Musica. It was really a question of figuring out what to pick as far as the repertoire is concerned. I feel like for a piano trio configuration the Beethoven symphonies were the most interesting choice, for sure.
PAN M 360 : I see, and exactly were the thematic guidelines that you had to follow?
Antoine Rivard-Landry : Well the theme is a piano symphonic. So basically symphonic works that have transcribed for piano or in this case, piano trio.
PAN M 360 : Oh I see. So arrangements of orchestral compositions that were not meant to be necessarily performed on the piano.
Julia Mirzoev : Yes, exactly! And so we end up actually having to fill in the roles of a lot of different instruments. So Antoine, of course, has many notes going on at once and Braden and I have to play double stops sometimes or some extra rhythms or extra lines that we wouldn’t have otherwise gotten to in the orchestral parts.
PAN M 360 : So were you all more or less familiar with the works before hearing them in a new arrangement?
Antoine Rivard-Landry : I think we were all more or less familiar with them. I knew all the movements of the symphonies but I had never heard them performed for piano trio. There’s the first movement of the famous Pastoral, for example, the slow movement of the seventh symphony, the minuet of the eighth, and the last movement of the second one. It’s almost like a mashup of some of his more well known symphonic works.
PAN M 360 : I imagine for the piano, these arrangements must be quite demanding,
Antoine Rivard-Landry : Well it’s surprisingly not that bad. The worst one is the last movement of the second symphony because it was written by Beethoven. And Beethoven with pianists is always a bit, you know, there’s no pity there. So it’s very big, but it’s also very fun.
PAN M 360 : I would love to hear how each of you sees the music of Beethoven.
Julia Mirzoev : Yeah. I think he was one of those, he was one of the first composers to make things really grand, really huge. Everything is just really large scale, but the actual music itself is quite pure, not simple though, but just very pure. So I think that kind of parallel is something unique and something that he made good use of.
PAN M 360 : I see, so perhaps you do see him as the bridge between the classical and romantic eras.
Julia Mirzoev : Oh yes.
Braden McConnell : He works with such a range of emotions and characters, and especially in what we’re doing, because we’re playing from the second to the eighth symphony, and I think that’s like 15 years of his career. And I think he had a sense of humour too, because there are these moments where it’s like fortissimo and then all of a sudden it’s all cute and tiny and then back to fortissimo again. And it’s just amazing to me how much range emotionally he can put into these tiny little ideas.
PAN M 360 : And as a pianist do you have a special relationship with Beethoven, Antoine?
Braden McConnell : I think so. For me he offers the best of both worlds because it’s very symmetrical and mathematical, but somehow it’s still very powerful and emotional music. So that’s the challenge of his music for me. It’s challenging to be playing something that is so perfect in its essence, but then so human as well.
PAN M 360 : And I suppose we should give Mr. Arensky his due. I had never heard of this program, what is his role here in the program?
Julia Mirzoev : Well, I think we wanted something contrasting from the Beethoven pieces which explore many thematic worlds and colours, but the Arensky piece is 30 something minutes of absolute lush romanticism. So it’s going a little further than Beethoven, you know, stylistically, but it’s perhaps not as rhythmically complex or, you know, symphonically complex, but it’s simply really beautiful music.
PAN M 360 : And perhaps what can you tell me about the process of taking orchestral work and adapting it for a piano trio? Does the violin or the cello take the melodic role most of the time?
Antoine Rivard-Landry : Oh, that’s a very interesting question. I suppose for some people that’s their job or life’s work. I suppose to do it you have to be a great composer. Those people who wrote the arrangements were great composers too. So I think you have to be a good composer and understand what an orchestra needs in order to construct it.
Julia Mirzoev : I think they probably use a lot of different combinations of substitutions. Sometimes Braden and I will get a different wind instrument, and so we have to emulate that, and the way that a horn solo would sound is a lot different than an oboe solo. We have to adjust accordingly and we can’t just play everything kind of the same way and expect people to buy it. We’re going to have to do our best to bring out the unique characteristics of each voice as they were originally intended.
Braden McConnell : One of the biggest challenges in it is there are moments where Julia and I will play what’s originally an oboe and bassoon duet and then all of a sudden it becomes a string and violin duet, and so we have to respond to each other in a new way. So to find a way to match the colour and the sound so that the first time we play it, you’ve got that kind of more nasally wind sound and then the second time the lusher string sound.
Antoine Rivard-Landry : For my part, sometimes I have to play the strings and it’s good that these two are here because I have to learn how to play a conductor as well. So sometimes they can teach me on, you know, how string players would actually perform certain passages in the orchestra.
PAN M 360 : And I suppose even though the arrangements have already been made, you also have to interpret their score and make it suit your vision?
Antoine Rivard-Landry : Yes for sure, that’s something that we stumble upon a lot. Sometimes I have to say the choices the arrangers made feel a bit weird to me. So that’s a discussion that we have time and again about whether certain sections could be made better. Whether it’s something that we need to adjust in the score or with the instruments, sometimes it’s not clear, but it’s a fun process figuring it out and sort of like being the judge of an arranger.
PAN M 360 : So do you feel you have the liberty to change something in the score if it doesn’t necessarily work for you?
Julia Mirzoev : Oh, yeah, because we’re playing something that’s not in its original form anyways. So that creates a kind of thickler line of what’s acceptable or not in amending the score.
PAN M 360 : Oh that’s fun.
Julia Mirzoev : It really is. And I think some of these arrangements were made a long time ago and you know, even editions of pieces that are standard are constantly being revised as more research gets done. There’s alway revisions happening in the professional editing world and so I feel that we are at liberty to make small changes based on Beethoven’s actual music, but of course we’re not trying to change the whole thing.
Braden McConnell : Yeah, and there’s a certain difference in goal as well, because some of these arrangements were made with the purpose that if you wanted to listen to a Beethoven symphony and you couldn’t get an orchestra together, you should get three friends together and play it in your living room. Whereas now, with an audience full of people who can go on Spotify and listen to 16 different versions of Beethoven’s sixth, sitting patiently and watching us in a concert hall, there’s a certain expectation that it not just kind of reflect the music but we have to convince them that there’s a reason to play it for a piano trio instead of in a symphony.
PAN M 360 : Well that’s an excellent note to end on, I think. We’re very excited for this concert, and it’s soon! I imagine you have one or two more rehearsals ahead of you?
Julia Mirzoev : Oh no, more like three or four.
PAN M 360 : Well best of luck, thanks again!
Julia Mirzoev : Thank you, see you on the 3rd!
Acid House DJs, police officers, rave goers: we are into ‘80s rave culture in the UK. Young people used to grab a flyer, and call a telephone number in a public telephone box to obtain the secret location. And then, it started a cat-and-mouse game between the organizers and the police.
In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats is a virtual reality experience that celebrates multiculturalism and community, through the prism of late ‘80s politics and society. Darren Emerson, the director, succeeded in compiling a single creation: a documentary series, testimonies, archival footage, pieces of period music that make us relive life scenes transcending an entire youth. Emerson is also an artist, writer, producer, and Co-Founder of London production company East City Films. His work, usually, fuses cinema, theatre, music, interaction, immersion, and embodiment. His work is regularly rewarded: Grand Prix Innovation at Festival du Nouveau Cinema, Best VR Experience at the Broadcast Awards, Best VR Narrative at the World Press Photo Awards award for Immersive Non-Fiction at IDFA Doclab, Best Location-Based Entertainment at the prestigious VR Awards 2023 and Venice Biennale! PAN M 360 had the great opportunity to experiment with this masterpiece and talk about it with Darren Emerson.
PAN M 360: Darren, as a director, this is not your first VR film. The list is growinglonger and longer: Witness 360: 7/7 (2015), No Small Talk (BBC, 2016), Letters fromDrancy (Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center, 2023) or in 2024 for SXSW(and many more). Regarding In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats can you tell us more aboutwhat led you to work on the theme of rave culture in the UK in the ‘80s?
Behind the scenes:
Darren Emerson: Ever since I started exploring VR as a creator, I have had this experience in the back of my mind. In a sense, I was waiting for the right time, and the right conditions to be able to make it. Some of that was around the technology maturing to a place where the storytelling was possible, and some of that was also my own craft as an artist in the medium getting to a place where I could do the subject matter justice. I would say that In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats represents the culmination of around 9 years of work and experimentation in the medium of VR, a development from my first piece in 2015 to now. In terms of what led me to this subject, however, well, that is based on a lived experience of rave music in the UK. Although I wasn’t raving in 1989, by 1995 I was old enough to be traveling in my friend’s car to illegal raves around the South of England … and much of the spirit of adventure you feel in Beats is me trying to recapture that. 1989 is a more significant cultural and political time to set the experience in, and it deals with the pioneers of this scene. With In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats, I want to take audiences back into the thrill of one night in 1989, to use this immersive experience to re-examine what this moment means through the intersection of storytelling and interaction.
PAN M 360: I had the chance to experience this remarkable multisensory work and Iadmit that I simply loved it! It is a hybrid documentary at the crossroads of archives.There were testimonials, archive images or videos and even flyers! Explain theartistic process for scripting this complex ensemble.
Darren Emerson: I always start any project by exploring the story first. The technology and the techniques come after that. I think the key to the success of this piece is to frame it over one night: in that sense, you have a clear user journey, a clear first-person narrative, and within that you can explore the wider more textualized documentary narrative. Whilst researching the rave scene I watched many standard documentaries about it, where the formula is to have archive footage married with talking head interviews of people describing what they did and how it felt. It’s a classic music documentary trope. For me that always feels slightly frustrating, because I want to be there, I don’t just want to hear about what happened, I want to be in the middle of the action… to be IN the documentary, and to feel the emotions. In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats is an artistic reaction to this. So, once you have the central concept of the idea (to create a music documentary you partake in), and then frame it within a certain narrative structure (it takes place over one night), then you can start exploring the elements of that night and the environments.
The environment is a key part of spatial storytelling, and so part of the process is exploring those environments and how environment and interaction can help the story unfold. Designing environments and interactions that feel intuitive and allow the audiences a sense of agency in the unfolding narrative, is a lot of fun. Some ideas work, and some you test and they fail … it’s about exploring and trying to think differently about how a narrative can unfurl. All the elements you mentioned in the question: archive, animation, interaction, haptics, spatial sound, all have a part to play. The key is making all of these elements fuse together in a way that allows the audience to get lost in it, and forget they are wearing a headset.
PAN M 360: The visual is a crucial part, of course. Multiple software types are used:Unity, Maya, Blender, Substance Painter or Abode After Effects. Regarding music, wetouch the heart of the subject. Among other things, I was able to recognize music byMax Cooper or Joe Goddard. How did this alchemy come about?
Darren Emerson: Originally, I had this idea that all the tracks would need to be from 1989/90. And most are … but then I also didn’t want to be slavishly rigid to that concept if it didn’t feel like it was serving the audience. So, in the end, there were a couple of modern tracks that I felt would work in a more cinematic sense. Joe Goddard’s track “Children” for the ending; which feels euphoric and somewhat sentimental yet still a banging track, and then Max Cooper’s track “Aleph 2” for what I feel is one of the most pivotal scenes in the experience. I’m a big fan of Max, and his videos, and I remember coming across this track and instantly visualizing what became the scene of people in convoys of cars trying to get to the rave whilst being pursued by the police, which takes place in an ethereal world of classic flyer artwork!
To be honest, at the time I was struggling with that scene conceptually, and that track really inspired my approach to it. There are also a few tracks from a big UK Acid House label called Network Records which was based near Coventry in the midlands of the UK, and they were one of the biggest labels for this music in that era, and they still re-issue tracks today. So it was good to work with them on discovering lesser-known tracks from the period. And of course, opening the experience with Orbital’s “Chime” was a no-brainer. It’s such a seminal track of the period…and a true classic! As is Joey Beltram’s “Energy Flash” when you get to the rave.
PAN M 360: Last year, you made a totally different VR film, created by the Illinois Holocaust Museum called Letters from Drancy. It is a poignant virtual reality experience that illuminates the power of an unbreakable bond between a mother and her daughter during the Holocaust. How do you approach such diverse and varied subjects while defining the appropriate VR production techniques to obtain a unique experience each time?
Venice Immersive 2023 – Letters From Drancy
Darren Emerson: I started Letters From Drancy a month after the completion of In Pursuitof Repetitive Beats, and it’s fair to say it was a bit of a shift mentally. However, I consider the most important element of any VR project to be storytelling, and so I really leaned back into that craft, which I would probably describe as a form of creative non-fiction storytelling. So, the focus for me was the challenge of how I represented the protagonist Marion Deichmann’s story and do justice to the legacy of her mother and the history of the Holocaust. It is such an important and vital topic, and emotionally very challenging, but I wanted to try and find the universal elements in the story that really spoke to me, and that I thought would speak to the audience.
Ultimately the decision was to not make this piece about the horrors of the Holocaust but to make it about the love we have for those who mean the most to us, and how that love remains present within us even when those people depart. I think when people come out of Letters From Drancy they aren’t crying because of the tragedy of the Holocaust (although that is obviously important to acknowledge and live with), but they are crying in the acknowledgment that the human heart has an unbridled capacity to love and forgive. That is a credit to the remarkable Marion Deichmann, someone whom I am in awe of and feel so privileged to have met.
PAN M 360: For future projects, are there any themes you would like to address orinnovations to implement?
Darren Emerson: Most of my work really centres on ideas and themes around community. I’m interested in how the experiences themselves can not only observe and comment on notions of community but can also create moments within them where the audience themselves feel as if they are part of a community and act within that context. I’d say I am definitely a humanistic director; I like to examine and recontextualize our lived experience, and I guess try to make sense of it. The good and the bad! In terms of VR and future projects, I think my goal is to keep pushing the medium forward, to keep telling complex and rich narratives, and to create work that explores my passions, and that contains within it something important that I want to impart to audiences. This could be about human connection, it could be about the importance of community, it could be about the joy of dancing, but I want to really move audiences emotionally. Getting a VR experience off the ground is challenging. Being funded to create something you believe in is an enormous privilege. Each time I make something I think to myself that this could be the last time I ever get this opportunity, so I better leave it all out there! I want to blow people’s minds!
In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats is being hosted at the Centre PHI Until April 28.Tickets Here
Martha Wainwright needs no introduction. She’s a famous singer-songwriter, yes, but since 2019 she’s also the owner of Ursa, a superb space for musicians and audiences in search of intimacy, located in Danny Saint-Pierre’s former Little House on Avenue du Parc. The space has rapidly become a fixture on the Montreal music scene. What started out as a monthly jazz-ish get-together will be transformed, from 26 to 29 March, into a true festival. It’ll be jazz at its most legit, of course, old and brand new, but there’ll also be some experimental, electro and non-gendered stylistic detours, with indie music peeking out from the brand new clothes of this event. Produced in partnership with Pop Montreal (whose offices are just upstairs, which is perfect!), the Montreal Anti-Jazz Police Festival promises to be a great night out, packed with three concerts a night, and at a very small price!
A few names on stage : Dave Binney, Erika Angell, Sarah Pagé, Tommy Crane, Sarah Rossy, Andrew Barr, Bellbird…
The Semaine du Neuf, organized by Le Vivier, is drawing to a close, but there are still some fine discoveries to be made this weekend.One of them is the graduation concert of German composer Matthias Krüger, winner of the 2023-2024 New Music Residency awarded by CALQ, Le Vivier and the Goethe-Institut.This concert, to be held on Sunday at Ascension of Our Lord Church, will take us on an exploration of the sound potential of the organ, with the addition of an electronic device that controls the instrument in real-time.This concert will also be an opportunity to hear the work resulting from his residency, L’être contre le vent.
PAN M 360 spoke to Matthias Krüger about his artistic residency, his creative process and his fascination with sound.
PAN M 360: What were the aims of the residency you’ll be concluding with Sunday’s concert?
MATTHIAS KRÜGER: It’s a four-month residency, divided into two parts. I was here last autumn for two and a half months, and now I’m back for six weeks. It’s a residency for which you apply with a project of your choice. The idea is really to discover the place, meet people and be inspired by another environment.
PAN M 360: How did you come to set up this project?
MATTHIAS KRÜGER: When I arrived, I knew I wanted to do a work for a computer-controlled organ. Then I met Adrian Foster [the organist for Sunday’s concert] who was very interested and gave me access to the organ at Ascension of Our Lord Church. Towards the end of the first part of the residency, we went to try out the organ, and it was really great, very inspiring and exciting! And from there came the idea of doing a concert at the end of my residency, and making it an improvisation based on ideas.
PAN M 360: Tell us about the electronic component of your project.
MATTHIAS KRÜGER: In a way, this project is also about lutherie, electronic lutherie. You have to start by asking yourself what parameters you want to control in the organ, particularly on this organ, because not all computer-controlled organs work in the same way. Once you’ve understood that, you need to configure and program. Then there’s always the question: how do you control the parameters and the sound? Because that’s what music is all about. It’s the manipulation of sound over time.
PAN M 360: What characterizes this project, which combines acoustic and electronic sounds?
MATTHIAS KRÜGER: When you make electronic music, you realize just how complex an instrumental sound is, in its gesture, evolution and amplitude. You have to take into account all the movements required to produce a sound. So how can we create this richness in another way? The problem with electronic composition is to control several things at once so that they become organic.
All this has repercussions on the music we compose or imagine. Obviously, you have to know the instrument before you can compose for it. After that, the music flows from all the possibilities offered by the instrument. What’s interesting for me, above all, is to achieve mastery of the instrument, but also to be able to divert it a little, to do something else with it.
PAN M 360: So the concert will be a kind of four-handed organ concert but distanced?
MATTHIAS KRÜGER: Yes, it’s a bit like that. There’s a lot of coordination between us. For example, Adrian can play on one keyboard without it making a sound, or I can take the notes he’s playing and send them to another keyboard. I can also control the rhythm and registers, for example. There’s a kind of interactivity in the device that goes both ways.
PAN M 360: What was it about this particular organ, at Ascension of Our Lord Church, that lent itself so well to your project?
MATTHIAS KRÜGER: Not every organ is suitable for this. Not only do you need an electrified organ, but you also need a midified organ. Already, that narrows down the possible choices. Also, the availability of the organ was important, since the residency was done in two stages. When I was away, without access to the instrument, I could do maybe half the work. But after that, you have to test the device and hear how it goes. This question of access was very, very important.
PAN M 360: What themes do you particularly like to explore in your work?
MATTHIAS KRÜGER: What interests me is the fascination of sound, i.e. imagining myself in a silent, reverberant space. And my activity determines the existence of sound. And that’s what’s interesting about the organ: it’s always integrated into a space, it’s not a mobile instrument. This is what gives it its particular acoustics, and these acoustics mean that the sound is much less localized, coming from just about everywhere. The interesting thing about this is that you can create a context in which the identity of the sound is blurred.
PAN M 360: And how will this manifest itself in L’être contre le vent?
MATTHIAS KRÜGER: With the electronics in the room, this will blur the source of the sound a little. Since the sound seems to come from everywhere, it encompasses us. And with loudspeakers, we can also add another layer that gives the organ a slightly mysterious, monumental effect. Because the organ is a gigantic instrument, it can make a lot of noise, but it can also be very fine.
After that, controlling the organ by computer gives it a sense of eternity. It’s only possible on the organ. There’s this feeling of being out of time, which is already a bit inscribed in the way the instrument works. The potential to create something never before heard on the organ is enormous.
PAN M 360: The work you’ll be presenting is entitled L’être contre le vent.What does this title mean to you?
MATTHIAS KRÜGER: It’s taken from a poem by Paul Valéry, La jeune parque. The connection isn’t very close, it’s more an evocation of the organ being fed by the wind. Wind, and by extension air, are inherent to music. Without air, there’s no music, as in space, for example. For me, the wind is also a powerful metaphor for the sound that touches us, surrounds us and confronts us. In the poem, at the end, there’s this image of a woman at the seaside and the wind engulfs her. She puts her being against the wind. Ultimately, she’s contemplating her whole existence by looking out and confronting these forces of nature.
So I wanted to try and imagine in this church space being confronted with a mass of sound that seems eternal, but of course isn’t, because art is always artificial. It’s not about the truth, but rather about evoking the truth. Or to recall the truth. In fact, music is something very physical, something that enters our bodies. It’s this holistic aspect that fascinates me, this bodily aspect, that I generally seek in my music. I thought that, for this project, it was a very beautiful image.
Matthias Krüger’s L’être contre le vent will be presented on Sunday, March 17 at 8:30 pm at Ascension of Our Lord Church, as part of Semaine du Neuf, presented by Le Vivier. INFO AND TICKETS HERE!
FIFA, MUTEK and the Société des Arts Technologiques (SAT), with the support of the Consulate General of France in Quebec City, present an exceptional line-up, this Friday March 15 in the SAT Dome, of electronic artists from North Africa (Tunisia) and the Middle East (Lebanon). The event is part of the Regards de femmes program in partnership with the Paris-based Institut du monde arabe.
Deena Abdelwahed is the evening’s star artist, one of the most promising producers and DJs to emerge on the alternative electronic scene in recent years. This Tunisian, based in Toulouse since 2015, has produced numerous critically acclaimed albums on the sublime Parisian label InFiné.
Entwining an electro musical body, deep bass, percussive rhythms as well as an Arabian envelope, Deena has developed a unique and innovative sonic identity. PAN M 360 had the pleasure of speaking with her to shed light on her career path, her creative codes and her perception of the ever-evolving scene.
PAN M 360: Deena, your path and rise on the alternative electronic scene are remarkable because your musical and artistic identity are totally unique. Whether it’s your musical selections for your DJ sets or your productions (EP, album), we sense through it all an immense amount of research and thought, but also your individuality shining through. It’s undeniable that you’re one of those female personalities with unparalleled charisma. How would you sum up your career so far?
Deena Abdelwahed: Woah! Thank you for this very flattering introduction! I feel like I’m still in my infancy! Even after 8 years of touring… and it feels like it’s far from over. In any case, I’m very grateful for the years that have gone by, and I’m very grateful to the people who’ve had faith in me and helped me move forward 🙂 Jbal Rrsas loosened things up in me. Since this album, I’m keen to go even further and develop more live performances such as touring, or to deepen my political and philosophical views in relation to music, as well as acquiring new and innovative creative skills.
PAN M 360: Since 2017, your releases -Klabb, Khonnar, Dhakar, Jbal Rrsas, having been very successful- have been on the InFiné label. This is an extremely eclectic and famous label-Carl Craig, Clara Moto, Murcof to name but a few-offering a broad musical spectrum ranging from classical to pop to electro. How did the two of you come together?
Deena Abdelwahed: Quickly! I’d even say it was love at first sight, or maybe a stroke of luck too. My tour agent had discovered me and was already working with InFiné. They asked if I had any demos for them to listen to, and the Klabb EP came out.
PAN M 360: Part of your artistic beauty comes from the authenticity and sincerity of your message through your creations. For example, Khonnar is a work that acts as a manifesto, declaring war on the violence and oppression imposed by borders, migration rules and repressive legislation. Your musical selections also send out a message about the Swana community’s ability to explore modernity and creativity in music, and to break away from folklore clichés, which are certainly an asset, but can also compartmentalize. Could you tell us more about this aspect of your commitment?
Deena Abdelwahed: Indeed, I couldn’t make music just for the sake of making music given my life path. Certainly, I’m in love with club music and its constant innovation, nevertheless, in view of my personal experiences in terms of geopolitics in connection with my region, with the fact that I’m the daughter of Tunisian immigrants and evolving in the Western world, it’s more than natural for me to draw on all these influences to compose, In addition, when I’m looking for tracks to mix, it’s a great source of inspiration for me.To be honest, it’s not an easy path I’ve chosen, because electronic music already has its school and so does oriental music. It takes talent and patience to turn all that on its head and develop my musical universe so that it too becomes the new convention, the new norm.
PAN M 360: You’ve performed extensively in Europe and North Africa: Sonar Festival, Dunes Electroniques in Tunisia, CTM Festival in Berlin, Dekmantel in Amsterdam, Dour festival in Belgium, Lunchmeat Festival in Prague, not to mention clubs such as Feu-Concrete in Paris, Berghain in Berlin, Mutabor in Moscow and more recently the Trabendo (Arte Concert broadcast). Mutek has programmed you in Mexico and Montreal (2023). Today, what brings you here to Montreal is a collaboration between Mutek and FIFA in partnership with the Institut du Monde Arabe (Paris). How are you going to approach your DJ set for this evening?
Deena Abdelwahed: I’m thinking of approaching this DJ set in a very personal way, i.e. as if I were at home! During my last Mutek performance, I quickly familiarized myself with the audience. What’s more, I’ve got a lot of friends here. This time I’d like to play a challenging, charged DJ set, THICK.
Live at ARTE Mix O Trabendo 2023
PAN M 360: In the fall of 2023, I wrote a long report on Montreal’s Swana electronic scene, which is under-represented in terms of programming even though the population represents the 2nd largest visible minority group and the pool of artists is abundant. So it’s fitting that Mutek should offer a line-up of 100% Swana electronic artists! Nevertheless, on the international scene, we’ve seen the rise and dynamism of many artists on the electronic scene. How do you perceive all this in Europe or internationally?
Deena Abdelwahed: I agree with you. Looking at the situation in Europe or internationally, I can see that there is more “visibility”. What’s more, Arab artists are finally starting to deconstruct and re-establish their relationship with Arab music. Sometimes for its own sake, sometimes for its musical aestheticism! It’s a pretty complete and rich cultural baggage! Before, I had the impression that we were just out of step… out of date. The democratization of club music and the facilitation of musical composition via computer has encouraged everyone to get involved, and to discover multiple ways of demonstrating and making visible one’s authenticity.
PAN M 360: To conclude this interview, PAN M 360 would like to know what your future projects are?
Deena Abdelwahed: Answering my emails on time 😀 meeting deadlines 😀
I have quite a few projects, but I can’t talk about them right now. They’re all commissions. And I’m continuing my Jbal Rrsas Live Set tour too.
That’s it! Thanks for this interview! Hope to see you soon!
Presented jointly by MUTEK, the Society for Arts and Technology and the Art Film Festival, this program including Deena Abdelwahed, Liliane Chlea and Nahash is scheduled at the SAT this Friday, March 15, 10pm. Info and tickets HERE
“Cool Trad” is the third album by Nicolas Boulerice, conceived with Frédéric Samson, a long-time friend and collaborator. Diverging from the mainstream currents of Quebecois traditional music, “Cool Trad” embraces the essence of texts, poetry, and the oral tradition of North America, alongside the melodies and jigs of antiquity, all while infusing it a modern jazz sensibility. This fusion is exemplified through a collection of approximately twelve songs performed at moderate to slow tempos. In this third collaborative effort, Nicolas and Frédéric expand beyond their usual voice-double bass duo, incorporating the baritone guitar and the melodica into their compositions.
SHOWS TO ATTEND
Friday 1er mars Studio Telus Grand Théâtre Québec Saturday 2 mars La petite Place des Arts Saint-Mathieu-du-Parc Sunday 03 mars Maison de la musique Sorel Satirday 13 avril CRAPO St-Félix-de-Valois
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