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Poland: Call and response festival 03-06 10 2024

Written by Phillip Morton

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Introduction

Every time one improvises in music, it is a plunge into the unknown, not just for the audience, but also for the artists themselves. It involves exploring new undiscovered sounds and emotions that emerge the moment they are produced. Through its emphasis on interacting with the audience, improvised music excels over all other approaches. In Poznań, the annual Spontaneous Music Festival offers a perfect setting for exploring this unique form of art. POZNAN Festival introduction.

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SOURCE: https://kultura.poznan.pl/mim/kultura/en/news/culture,c,101/going-spontaneous-the-great-improvisation,238111.html

This year, it will feature over a dozen Polish and international artists, including some true masters such as John Butcher, Mark Wastell, and Phil Durrant. The entire event will revolve around the theme "Call and Response". The Spontaneous Music Festival delves into everything that is exciting in the tradition of creative music, while inviting audiences to discover new lesser-known aspects of the independent jazz and electronic scenes.

The title of this year's edition pays homage to drummer John Stevens, founder of the legendary Spontaneous Music Ensemble, who passed away 30 years ago. It refers to one of the core methods in improvised music, a technique that plays a crucial role in shaping interactions between musicians.

This technique, rooted in the African musical tradition, involves a dynamic exchange of musical phrases between two or more musicians, with one initiating and the other responding. It has become a key element in many musical genres, not only jazz and blues but also gospel, folk, and classical.

It's worth noting that while the schedule is fairly structured, the four-day Spontaneous Music Festival will - naturally! - remain highly spontaneous. "We've scheduled two concert sessions featuring bands selected entirely ad hoc, meaning these will be the first time these musicians play together in such configurations. The final lineups will be announced to the public at the last minute," say the organisers.

The festival's programme is diverse, one of its key highlights being performances by British saxophonist and improviser John Butcher, who will be celebrating his 70th birthday during the Poznań event. He is a pivotal figure in the world of free-style musical improvisation. Although a decade younger than such pioneers as John Stevens and Evan Parker, Butcher's contribution is equally significant, particularly through his innovative techniques like sonorism (which emphasises sound as a primary means of expression), electroacoustics, and sound painting. At the festival, Butcher will perform both solo and alongside other leading figures in European creative music: percussionist and cellist Mark Wastell, and mandolinist - and former violinist - Phil Durrant.

However, the performance by these three luminaries is only one reason why broken sound fans should not miss the Spontaneous Music Festival. There will also be artists from Germany, including saxophonist Jonas Engel and Andrea Ermke, the latter being described as an "operator of electronic devices". Musicians from Belgium and Denmark will also feature, including piano activist Anaïs Tuerlinckx, known for her "elegiac clamour", and double bassist Adam Pultz Melbye, who is active in acoustic and electronic soundscapes, creating works for sound installations, dance, theatre, and film, and even using algorithmic design.

The festival line-up also includes Argentinian saxophonist Sofia Salvo and Norwegian drummer Ståle Liavik Solberg. As noted by the organisers, the "angry young artists" in attendance will also include musicians from the Iberian Peninsula, like the dynamic Light Machina quartet, created by drummer João Valinho, trumpeter Luís Vicente, guitarist Marcelo dos Reisa, and trombonist Salvoandrei Lucifory. Their music, often trance-like yet measured in its expression, resists easy genre categorisation, despite being clearly influenced by post-rock and free jazz.

Spontaneous Music Festival organisers promise to feature a strong contingent of Polish musicians this year. The noisy punk rock band Zdrój will perform with Jakub Zawada on guitar and Sebastiaan Janssen on drums. You can also count on hearing the electroacoustic project Czarnoziem, led by Michał Giżycki on saxophones and bass clarinet, and Dawid Dąbrowski on modular synthesiser. Dąbrowski, in particular, has garnered significant attention, and it's no wonder - his minimalist compositions often verge on pure noise, with a striking intensity.

The festival's closing promises to be a blast, with John Butcher leading a spontaneously formed orchestra, the Large Ensemble, made up of local Poznań musicians such as pianist Anna Jędrzejewska, violinist Ostap Mańko, and double bassist Ksawery Wójciński.

In addition to dozens of concerts, expect special events. One notable feature will be the screening of Spontaneous Music Ensemble, Oslo 1971, a concert film capturing one of the group's performances during what is considered its peak period. After all, this was when the band produced many iconic recordings featuring the likes of John Stevens, Trevor Watts, Ron Herman, and Julie Tippetts.

For those seeking to delve even deeper into improvised music, workshops will be led by double bassist and composer Adam Pultz Melbye. "We'll explore improvisation through embodiment. By grounding our sound and improvisational practice in breathing and body awareness, we'll work on phrasing and our sense of time," explains Melbye referring to the upcoming sessions.

Sebastian Gabriel

translation: Krzysztof Kotkowski

Spontaneous Music Festival 2024
Dragon Social Club
3-6 October
Tickets and passes: PLN 70-200
To learn more, see: facebook.com/spontaneousmusicfestival

schedule

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