Mosterd na de maaltijd. Mattheus Passion

 

 

Mosterd na de maaltijd?

Ja, zo voelt het wel een beetje om nu nog over de Mattheus-Passie te beginnen. Maar ik doe het toch. Gewoon omdat ik het nog steeds in mijn hoofd heb. En overigens is het ook nog gewoon de ‘witte’ tijd tot aan Pinksteren. Dus het kan gewoon. Pasen is nog niet voorbij.

Een paar dagen voor Pasen, ik denk op de woensdag, appte ik collega Remko. Hij zingt in een koor en ik was een aantal jaren geleden een keer bij een uitvoering van ‘hun’ Mattheus geweest in Bunschoten-Spakenburg. “Ga je nog zingen, dit jaar?” “Ja, vrijdag. Met een koor waar ik sinds kort bij zit. In het Concertgebouw.“ schreef hij terug. “Er zijn nog een paar kaartjes.”

Dat ‘nieuwe koor’ is dus het Toonkunstkoor Amsterdam. Een amateurkoor onder leiding van Boudewijn Jansen, dat met gemak meedraait in het professionele circuit. Het orkest was het Concertgebouw Kamerorkest. Dat kan ik met één woord beschrijven: wereldklasse. De solisten waren ook allemaal professionals: Seil Kim, Niklaus Kost, Siri Karoline Thornhill, Franziska Gottwald, Denzil Delaere en Frans Fiselier. Fenomenaal! En het Roder Jongenskoor (voor de pauze), natuurlijk geen professionals, maar wel haarzuiver. Een veelbelovende bezetting.

En daar zaten we dus, op Goede Vrijdag nog wel, in het Concertgebouw Amsterdam. Het had wel een beetje zeer gedaan want noch de kaartjes noch het parkeren waren een koopje geweest. Maar ja, dat was natuurlijk niets vergeleken met het offer dat daar voor onze ogen werd gebracht. En ja, dan heb ik het natuurlijk in eerste instantie over het lijdensverhaal waar de Passie over gaat. Maar toch ook wel een beetje over wat de musici en de zangers daar voor ons over bleken te hebben. Ik heb het niet getimed, maar een uurtje of drie hebben we daar wel gezeten. En de dames en heren musici, solisten en koorleden hebben al die tijd op de toppen van hun kunnen staan musiceren. Dat vereist botweg conditie. En focus, toewijding. Een avond voor de buis is andere koek.

En hoe was het dan, Wino?

Nou, ik heb verschillende uitvoeringen van de Mattheus op CD en DVD en ik heb er ook al een aantal live meegemaakt. Maar zoiets moois als dit had ik nog niet gehoord. Om te beginnen: de grote zaal van het Concertgebouw is een concertzaal, geen kerk. In een kerk heb je veel nagalm. De muziek vult de ruimte, het komt van alle kanten en de geluiden lopen door als waterverfkleuren. Als het koor even een missertje maakt, valt dat vaak niet zo op omdat de nieuwe noten zich vermengen met noten van meerdere seconden geleden. Als zangers en musici accenten willen leggen, moeten die heel dik worden aangezet, want anders gaan ze verloren. Maar het Concertgebouw is juist ‘droog’. Dat geeft heel veel mogelijkheden om nuances uit te drukken. Maar de zaal is ook onverbiddelijk. Het publiek hoort alles, ook de missers. Nou, ik heb exact één klein missertje gehoord in drie uur live uitvoering van deze uiterst lastig te spelen en te zingen muziek. Alleen dat al is een prestatie van formaat. Maar dat is toch nog niet eens waarom ik er zó van ondersteboven was. Dat waren vooral de nuances in de uitvoering. Bijvoorbeeld de frasering: waar liggen de accenten en waar vallen de stiltes? Die frasering en de dynamiek waren fenomenaal. Bijvoorbeeld in ‘Sind Blitze und Donner” schrok ik echt van het onweer! Ook de omgang met de tempowisselingen in de muziek was uiterst subtiel.

De magie van religieuze muziek zit voor mij veel in de dissonanten, wissels, tempi en in de stiltes. Bij iedere dissonant, toonsoortwissel, syncoop of tempowissel opent zich de deur naar de hemel weer wat verder en in de stilte stroomt het Goddelijke dan door die open deur naar binnen. En omdat die stiltes in een concertzaal echt stil zijn, kan er veel naar binnen. En dan gebeurt het! Kippenvel, een brok in mijn keel en tranen in mijn ogen.

En let wel, dit wonder voltrekt zich alleen maar bij een geniale compositie als deze en als het orkest, de solisten en de koren zich laten inspireren, perfect met elkaar musiceren, als de zaal het toelaat en als het publiek in staat is om het te ontvangen.

Alles kwam bij elkaar, die avond.

“De Matthäus van 2022 wordt onze mooiste ooit.” schrijft Marjolein Zinkstok van het Toonkunstkoor Amsterdam in het programmaboekje/libretto. Het was in ieder geval de mooiste die ik ooit heb gehoord.

Wino Penris

Kairos #125, January 2021

The number of Kairosses slowly grow, our Wo. is still a quarter of a year behind. Is that important? Not really, as he shares his inner most experiences with you on an individual episode of the programme .No makes for Concertzender. It's on the Internet perhaps for forever, so what is a month in the face of infinity? Kairos subjects Wo. to music that he's not subjected to on a daily basis. Except in those instances where the influence of the Blog comes together in writing and radio. Where the twain do meet, so to say. Continue reading and you will find out what happened in the next hour.

The familiar notes and the dark, pleasant voice announcing Kairos come to me through my computer box speakers. I find myself bracing for another musical adventure. Let's go.

A wave of synthesizers roll over me and a female voice speaking a Slavic language speaks to me in a language I don't understand, except for the world Hollanda. This is about me, as a citizen, I rejoice. The voice changes to Dutch, a story about war, dark colours. The music has nothing to do with the story, I read in the playlist. The music is Blear Moon's 'Winter Journal'. Long held notes on a synthesizer. The story is a recording of Richard Bolhuis and Hybrid Agency called 'Ongehoorde verhalen' (Unheard Stories). Ninar is telling her life's story about a war and the longing for what once was had to be left behind. Only memories remain. The mix is quite impressive, as Blear Moon's music is a presence, almost an entity. There may even be a female ghost voice looped into the music. Blear Moon reminds me of that weird movie 'The Blair Witch Project'.

The music changes to a more upbeat instrument. A harp? I don't know. The Estonian duo Maarja Nuut and Ruum return to Kairos. The violinist plays a basic theme over which she starts singing, with intervals. More a recital of tones that a melody at first. Like the violin notes being repeated over and over, so the voice repeats. In the background waves hitting the beach sound. In the atmospheric singing with loads of echo added, slowly but surely vocal melodies as stapled. I'm reminded of Celtic music, let's say Enya for the ease of an example. The melody is taken over by other instruments. I take it Ruum is at work now in 'Mahe'. I find myself slowly but surely moving into the layers of music, able "to walk" around in there.

Another story starts. Johnny tells that he is not always feeling good. He only shows the good side of himself to the world. When he does not feel good, he leaves. Behind him there's music, a little chaotic Johnny announces silence in his words, that Kairos reflects. It was quiet for a few seconds!

Maarja Nuut returns with her voiced looping different backgrounds before the lead melody starts. Sung with a high voice she sings in her Estonian language, I suppose. 'Kurb Laulik' from there moves into a plucked violin sequence. Slowly grown more and more, layer for layer. The voices replaced by a bass sound. Beautifully done with a magical folk like element, not unlike Norwegian singer Susanna. Do the dark, estranging sounds belong or are they mixed in? I do not know.

An acoustic guitar comes in joined by a second one. The slow melody slowly grows with some atmospherics in the background. Michael Tanner & Sharron Kraus play 'Valley4'. The poem of this month is by Jan Kleefstra, read out after which 'Valley 4' continues its meandering melody. The atmospherics in the background could be a meandering brook in a forest. Slowly but surely carrying the water to a lower point. Never in a hurry but certainly adhering to the laws of nature. The next story is about a person who walks the route to work for 20 years, never seeing, again by Johnny. Tanner and Kraus wind up soon.

They are replaced by dark sounds, changing the mood less then perhaps expected as the mood wasn't joyful already. It is only that the dark piano notes stress the darkness a little more. It becomes more obvious, not much darker. Moonchy & Tobias return to Kairos. 'Dum' is actually quite interesting and nice. Nothing like I remember the whole album to be. Moonchy's voice got in my hair quite soon there. Here it is absolutely beautiful, while the dark music underscores the deeper shade of her voice. 'Dum' is a song deserving to be heard.

From Tiny Room Records it's only a small step to Snowstar Records. It becomes even better. Label owner Stefan Breuer played bass in I Am Oak for several years. The Corona album, where I Am Oak rerecorded 50 songs, for having something to do in the first lockdown, called 'Odd Seeds' is a beautiful album. You can find my review somewhere late last year on the blog. 'Clavicles' is a nice, small song, just keyboard and Thijs Kuijken's voice with loads of echo on it. It simply works. A review can be that simple and still fully justified.

A piano takes over. Slowly tinkering away over a bass progression. It is SYML with 'In Between Breaths'. One of the many albums released in the past two years, where a pianist plays romantic, neoclassical pieces, alone or with more accompaniment. In this context I notice that it is relaxing to listen, so it works.

The lightness of 'In Between Breaths' disappears instantly. The dark side is moving in once more. Long held, dark notes hover into my room. Creaking doors and floor boards, a voice of the devil is all that is missing here. What to make of this? Let me call it intriguing.

There's no time to linger on my thoughts too long, as the next song comes in already. Piiptsjilling's 'Unkrûd' is slowly playing itself out. What is it I'm hearing? Extremely long held notes coming from a ...? I do not know. I suppose some sort of synthesizer or a singing saw. That's another option. A female voice sings notes, a male voice recites a poem on weeds, the translation of the title by the way. Ah, I hear an electric guitar playing a few isolated notes. Unkrûd is experimental but also quite listenable. It is also exciting in a way as it's unpredictable when something is added to this form of minimal music.

When a choir is added, I know .No is mixing away. First dark male voices than the ladies come in. A John Cage composition from the Rothko Chapel album. It's been a while since we heard this on Kairos and I welcome its return. Like a chapel or church has, the choir singing has an effect on my mental composition. A sort of rest and awe come over me while I listen to small nuances in the vocal melody. I do wander whether it is gratifying for the choir members to sing Cage. The members or perhaps better, sections of the choir are used to produce sounds, monotonous sounds and not nice flowing melodies. On the other hand, they do sing Cage and are on record. So perhaps it's honourable to be involved in this experimental choir music. Personally I prefer playing in a band, singing pop, blues and rock tunes from a while back.

Dark tones on an organ, long held once again, are added before the choir is slowly faded out. Stars of the Lid is the name of the band or artist. The music clearly fits this Kairos. It was January, the darkest month and music like this belongs there and not in the ever lighter evenings of April. That is my fault of course. A matter of keeping up. A piano moves into the long held notes. Beware folks. If you thought that only the DeWaele brothers can do successful mash ups, listen to .No. He's mixing Stars of the Lid's 'Don't Bother They're Here' with SYML's 'Where We Landed' and not much later with Olafur Arnalds' 'Frá Upphafi'. The listener is treated to something that does not exist in the real world outside of Kairos. It takes a tremendously good set of ears and the dedication to actually do something with the connections .No hears in his head. I have to say it works. The dark piano notes blend into the dark, moody sounds behind it.

This composition of Arnald is another estranging affair, seemingly announcing danger or evil. I kind help thinking of that Medieval clad devil monster in the first episodes of the Netflix serie 'The Irregulars'. I haven't watched further yet, so don't ask me what comes next.

All in all this was a dark Kairos, matching the time of year. Also a Kairos that allows one to think and take the time to do so. To contemplate what I was hearing. It's almost one hour later and I am listening to the slow piano and violins of Olafur Arnalds' 'Lokaðu Augunum' and feeling quite alright.

Wo.

Here's the link to the Kairos show:

https://www.concertzender.nl/programma/kairos_588697/ 

 

or listen to our Spotify Playlist to find out what we are writing about:

https://open.spotify.com/user/glazu53/playlist/6R9FgPd2btrMuMaIrYeCh6?si=KI6LzLaAS5K-wsez5oSO2g
 

This is the Playlist:

00:13 – 07:34  Blear Moon. Winter Journal.
EP ‘Winter Journal’. ΠΑΝΘΕΟΝ Records (Pantheon).

00:18 – 00:27  Richard Bolhuis/Hybrid Agency. Ninar (fragment).  Ongehoorde verhalen: https://hybridagency.bandcamp.com/album/ongehoorde-verhalen.

01:14 – 02:05  Richard Bolhuis/Hybrid Agency. Ninar (fragment).  Ongehoorde verhalen: https://hybridagency.bandcamp.com/album/ongehoorde-verhalen.

03:14 – 04:23  Richard Bolhuis/Hybrid Agency. Ninar (fragment).  Ongehoorde verhalen: https://hybridagency.bandcamp.com/album/ongehoorde-verhalen.

07:20 – 08:04  Richard Bolhuis/Hybrid Agency. Ninar (fragment).  Ongehoorde verhalen: https://hybridagency.bandcamp.com/album/ongehoorde-verhalen.

07:48 – 12:47  Maarja Nuut & Ruum. Mahe. Album Muunduja. 130701 Lt. CD13-30P.

12:29 – 14:52  Richard Bolhuis/Hybrid Agency. Johnny (fragment). Ongehoorde verhalen: https://hybridagency.bandcamp.com/album/ongehoorde-verhalen.

14:50 – 18:57  Maarja Nuut & Ruum. Kurb Laulik.
Album Muunduja. 130701 Lt. CD13-30P.

18:36 – 23:50  Michael Tanner& Sharron Kraus. Valley4 (slightly altered by Wino Penris).
Album “In the Rheidol Valley”. Morctapes.

18:46 – 18:54  Maarja Nuut & Ruum. Kurb Laulik (fragment).
Album Muunduja. 130701 Lt. CD13-30P.

18:54 – 18:57  Maarja Nuut & Ruum. Kurb Laulik (fragment).
Album Muunduja. 130701 Lt. CD13-30P.

20:07 – 20:39  Poem by Jan Kleefstra from his collection ‘Verlegen land’. 

22:11 – 22:44  Richard Bolhuis/Hybrid Agency. Johnny (fragment). Ongehoorde verhalen: https://hybridagency.bandcamp.com/album/ongehoorde-verhalen.

23:38 – 26:46  Moonchy & Tobias. Dum.
Album ‘Moonchy & Tobias III. Tiny Room Records.

26:26 – 29:48  I Am Oak. Clavicles. Album ‘Odd Seeds’. Snowstar Records.

29:38 – 33:02  SYML. In between breaths. EP ‘You Knew It Was Me’. V2 Records. 

32:36 – 34:19  Akasha Project. Quantality Part 2 (fragment).
Album ‘H2 the Quantum Music of Hydrogen’. Klangwirkstoff Records ‎– KW005.

33:55 – 40:15  Piiptsjilling. Unkrûd. Album ‘Wurdskrieme’. Mariska Baars, Romke Kleefstra, Rutger Zuydervelt. Poem: Jan Kleefstra. Expermedia XPCD012.

39:21 – 45:50  John Cage. Four2. Huston Chamber Choir.
Album ‘Rothko Chapel’. ECM New Series 2378 4811796.

45:22 – 55:33  Stars of the Lid. Don’t bother they’re here.
Album ‘And their Refinement of the Decline’. Krank 100.

49:06 – 53:41  SYML. Where we landed. EP ‘You Knew It Was Me’. V2 Records.

54:58 – 56:45  Olafur Arnalds. Frá upphafi.
Album ‘Dyad 1909’. Erased Tapes Records eratp19 cd.

56:45 – 59:57  Olafur Arnalds. Lokaðu Augunum – Dyad 1909 Version (fade out).
Album ‘Dyad 1909’. Erased Tapes Records eratp19 cd.

Kairos 107, June 2019 on Concertzender

Is there a way to open this Kairos in an original way? Not this month. Wo. is running behind due to pressing other business and holiday and starts to catch up by listening to the last spring Kairos of 2019.

As the familiar intro sound of Kairos descends on me, I settle in for an hour of listening to music that is not found regularly on this blog. It starts wth deep male voices and a what? a drone flying and the buzzing sound caught on tape? Layers of "oooohhh" fill my head with mixed solidly behind it a synthesizer playing the exact same note.

African kind of singing takes over, followed by a female voice. It is my introduction to Lisa Gerrard in her collaboration with Pieter Bourke. Gerrard is known best as half of the Australian duo Dead Can Dance, a band that passed me by. 'Pilgrimage Of The Children' can put a person in a certain trance and as such is pleasant. As stand alone music it passes me by totally. It probably works best for me in this context.

A piano joins in, in the background a concersation that does not become fully audible. Eva de Roovere plays 'Lo' from her latest album 'La Loba'. Darker chords/notes are ended by a single high note. Creating a special effect in the music, a moment to look forward to.

Her song ends abruptly and is replaced by a drone. A female voice singing 'ooohhh' with behind it an electronic sound. This at times is so brittle. Although the music swells and declines like a wave on a tranquil beach. Through the music a woman breaths and then recites a text, whispering just as subtly as the music itself is. When static works its way into the brittle music, a change seems to be announced. Although nothing changes, Benjamin van Esser, is playing with the mind of the listener as he is with his music. Step by step the composition is taken apart, as if he took a scissor to the tape while expressing an inner madness that is escaping through all the seems. The female singing and reciting is taking on a frantic tone. Nothing is what it seemed any longer. An environment is created in which anything can happen, within the context created by Van Esser. 'Everytime I Hear Everytime I See' is a challenging composition. Parts of it could be the soundtrack of a horromovie, with ghosts and poltergeists occupying the whole neighbourhood. And yet, Van Esser manages to put the lid on everything in the second half of his work. Tranquility returns in the form a male voice droning 'ooohhh'., but there's no denying the disconcerting vibes occurring in the background. 'Everytime I Hear Everytime I See' is a disquieting piece of work. More 'Rosemary's Baby' than 'Ave Maria'.

When Lisa Gerrard returns I am ready for a change to get me off the 14 minutes by Van Esser, but have to brace myself for 9 minutes none the less. Gerrard starts off singing with a deep voice, with long notes and little words. The synths behind her playing long, single notes as well, allowing for very little variation in the music. When percussion joins in, the song comes alive, creating an eastern vibe. It seems that Gerrard is exploring world music on her album 'Duality', again with Pieter Bourke at her side. After a while, when simply no variation sets in, I understand that Gerrard really let herself be inspired by eastern music. The monotonous sound being exactly what keeps me away from it in daily life. This is not for me.

Luckily Jesse Mac Cormack returns to Kairos, I notice. Will this not be too out of place I wonder while Lisa Gerrard is filling up her nine minute slot? I will find out soon. Mac Cormack has been found on these pages before of course, to favourable reception. 'Give A Chance' is a song from his latest album, 'Now'. There is a small part in between the two I can't place. 'Give A Chance' is a haunted song that comes closest to the work on his two previous EPs. Where in general he steps away from his early work and certainly from his intensive live performances. Also in this song scary things are going on, so it certainly fits with what went on before. Sounds and music seem to burst from an invisible wall that is incapable of stopping the stream coming from behind it. Interesting is the right word to use here. What is it I'm hearing exactly? What is it meant to do? What does it do to my mind? All questions that go unanswered for now, as the next song draws attention to itself.

An acoustic guitar playing with a lot ambience around it like it is played in a large room with loads of resonance in it. 'Embrace The Spirit Of Love' indeed. The song is the epitome of straightforwardness compared to most other going on this Kairos, a point of rest.

And then, a English poem. Now that is something new. Father, mother, love. And a piano starts playing with a soft beat behind it. A composition that takes its time. There's obviously no hurry in 'Nocturne 3'. Slowly but surely Ben Lukas Boysen flashes out his composition with a synth, a single deep note on the piano, a cymbal note and perhaps even the exploding sound of an electric guitar but mixed deep into the background so that none of the earsplitting noise of the studio reaches the listener, just its effect. It is not the first time that I'm liking what I'm hearing from Boysen on Kairos.

All bad things come in threes, is a saying that has no foundation as most truths of this kind don't, though undeniably sometimes they do. So here's Lisa Gerrard again. No 'ooohhh' but 'aaahhh' and 'iiiieee', so there's a deviation from some things that went before on this Kairos. 'The Unfolding' is more of a church choir piece. Gregorian actually. Somewhere in between is 'Nocturne 3' again, but don't ask me where.

The change comes with a trumpet in 'November' of Trio Ramberget. The softly meandering background of the song is mixed with the garbage collection truck that has driven into the street. Oddly enough the sounds somehow seem able to mix, but as the truck moves closer 'November' is slowly but surely drowned out.

It is not until the banjo of Broeder Dieleman chimes in, the music wins out again. 'Groot Eiland' was released this spring and discussed on this blog extensively. The soft and brooding song sets itself apart softly but surely. Listening to the song again, I notice how the accompanying voices and music almost seem to be set apart from Toon Dieleman's voice and his banjo. It fits but not in an everyday way. It forces to listen to the music and find out how it works. Because that it does.

It is 'November' that returns and the garbage truck has nearly left my street. Silence seems to replace Broeder Dieleman but that is a deception. Droning sounds are battling it out in the background before the trumpet returns. Listening a bit more attentively to Trio Ramberget I notice two things. The first is that the musical minds of most of the people on this (and all) Kairosses work totally different from mine. Where's the sparkle of a great 3 minute pop song? It seems like it is not in them. The second is that in a way the music in 'November' could be a part of Sophie Hunger's universe, a singer-songwriter who features regularly on Kairos and I am a fan of. That's what a musically perceptive mind can discover as well.

Eleni Era's 'No One's Near' ends this month. The Berlin based Cypriot singer featured on this blog earlier this year. She's in the Sophie Hunger league. A singer-songwriter but very much with a mind of her own and willing and able to face up to and expand the limits that traditional songwriting throw in the face of the musician. I am certain that what we are hearing here in no way comes near to the first version Ms. Era came up with, but is the result of a search for what else could be done with the song. What we hear is a mysterious composition that, once again, suggests ghosts and, albeit, gentle poltergeists are in the vicinity. It seems I have found a theme for this month after all.

Wo.

You can listen to this Kairos here on Concertzender:

https://www.concertzender.nl/programma/kairos_508699/


This is the playlist of Kairos 107:

00:00  Edwin van der Hoeven. Resonance  meditation in 3rd chakra (several fragments). Album ‘Spirit of Love’. Colin Bates & Edwin van der Hoeven. LeaveForMorMusic.
01:54  Lisa Gerrard & Pieter Bourke. Pilgrimage of Lost Children. Album ‘Duality’. 4AD-CAD 8004CD.
05:20  Eva de Roovere. Lo. Album ‘La Loba’. V2 Reords.
07:27  Benjamin van Esser. Everytime I Hear everytime I See. Album ‘I am Error’. LAK Unlimited.
21:45  Lisa Gerrard & Pieter Bourke. Shadow Magnet. Album ‘Duality’. 4AD-CAD 8004CD.
30:17  Jesse Mac Cormack. Give A Chance. Album ‘Now’. V2 Records.
35:07  Edwin van der Hoeven. Guitar Theme from ‘Embrace the Spirit of Love’. Album ‘Spirit of Love’. Colin Bates & Edwin van der Hoeven. LeaveForMorMusic.
36:42  Ben Lukas Boysen. Nocturne 3. Album ‘Spells’. Erased Tapes Records ERATP085CD.
40:03  Lisa Gerrard & Pieter Bourke. The unfolding (several fragments). Album ‘Duality’. 4AD-CAD 8004CD.
43:14  Ben Lukas Boysen. Nocturne 3 (fragment). Album ‘Spells’. Erased Tapes Records ERATP085CD.
43:22  Trio Ramberget. November (fragment). Self-released.
47:11  Broeder Dieleman. Groot Eiland. Snowstar Records.
51:45  Trio Ramberget. November (fragment). Self-released.
56:30  Eleni Era. No one’s near. Album ‘Rise Love’. Louvana Records.
Poem: Wilma Gijzen-Bakker

Kairos 106, May 2019, Concertzender

Come a new month come Kairos. Wo. settles in to listen for an hour to .No's radio show on Concertzender and shares his experiences with you, unfiltered, direct to screen. Let's read on and see where the music takes Wo.'s mind this time.

A piano moves through the familiar intro. Soft, darkish notes meander towards their fully own moment. The composition comes from an album I reviewed earlier this year. Another of the Dutch composers that have a piano as main instrument. 'Abandoned City' comes from Jacco Wynia's album 'Discomfort'. Soft, soothing and unpretentious his music comes to me and is welcomed.

Slowly female voices mix with Wynia's piano playing. It is not until a drum sets in that I'm certain a new song has started. With 'Fly' an un-Kairos like pop song enters my room. It may also be the first artist from Cyprus on this program. Eleni Era currently lives in and works from Berlin, her record is released via a Cyprus record label. The review of 'Rise Love' can also be found on these pages. "Fly' is a soft flowing song that is made just a little different by the rhythmically played organ. This gives the song a different feel from most of these sweet and soft sounding songs, showing Eleni Era's talent as an arranger.

Harrold Roeland returns to Kairos with 'Five Landscapes For 23 Speakers'. As if the sea washes over me, ghosts make old doors and wooden floors creak. This fragment is an experience in itself. All immersive and almost scary. Luckily I'm listening through two speakers only. Somewhere along the way 'Sile' from KJ Rothweiler was mixed into this experience. I have no clue where the one started nor the other ended. It could also be a complete mash up by .No. Whatever this was what I was listening to, it was impressive.

A dialect sets in with an acoustic guitar as accompaniment. I leave the crashing waves and creaking doors behind. Peter Clijssen sings 'Smoor' from his album 'Vagantenkost'. I notice I am faintly remembered by 'Sad-eyed Lady of the Low Land', one of Bob Dylan's greatest songs. The song does not last for 17 minutes as the playlist tells me. That would have made 'Smoor' a long, long song.

No, I am being taken into unchartered territory instead. A sound scape is going to test my resolve it seems. Strange noises creep from under the keyboard sounds and something more undefinable. I close my eyes trying to discern what it is I am hearing, but I just can not lay my finger on. After a lot of bells being played against each other, I move into something that for a lack of a better word I call modern classic, yet it is ripped apart by a dark sound, as if a motorcycle with a broken exhaust pipe is driven through a nature reserve. Nature reacts though, with a deep dark sound showing its discontent. The monthly poem is read, a poem by Harrold Roeland. The sound of water returns, like drops of water falling on the ground, yet there's also something creeky in this sound as well. A woman's voice reads out the same text over and over and I am reminded of a modern art video, where things can be repeated over and over and over. The whole is estranging. I feel like going on a trip within my own head. Substances seem to have been entered there without my consent but are there anyway for me to deal with. Is this pleasant? No, but not unpleasant either. Whatever it all is, it has nothing to do with me, yet effects me directly. There's no hiding from the voice nor from the droning sound in the background. Slowly it gets even weirder, a sound like erasing all comes up regularly. And then a Pink Floyd like sound enters.

'Unkrûd' by Piiptsjilling must have started. The mood remains ever so dark, but the extreme weirdness has left Kairos. I am still firmly within my mind. There's nothing taking me out of there just yet. The composition becomes louder, an electric guitar enters and a voice singing long, long held notes. Mariska Baars, Romke Kleefstra & Rutger Zuydervelt form a trio that I have encountered before on Kairos. The singing is exotic, like Greek singing, enchanting. The Frisian text is like a incantation, as if I need to be put under a spell. Nothing happens in 'Unkrûd', yet everything slowly changes, my mood, the very room I'm sitting in it seems. It is like claws reaching out to me, without ever being able to get to me, so I can remain where I am. The threat is there though, constantly. Somewhere in the dark behind this music.

The music changes, the light does not return though. My mind has been influenced by the music that came before. KJ Rothweiler's 'Caro' has sounded on Kairos before. I remember the few played notes that are repeated over and over again. First the higher ones than the lower. There's a guitar behind the piano, a bass and a whole studio's atmosphere filled with the residue of the sounds escaping from the instruments. 'Caro' is totally atmospheric. Rothweiler is not in a hurry and plays his small theme for us over and over. I feel like in a loop and guess that it may just be that.

A female voice takes over. Eleni Era returns in this Kairos with a second track from 'Rise Love', the title track. A song that combines 'Twin Peaks' with Moby's huge hit of over 20 years ago. At the same time it somehow plays with modern dance music, without ever letting huge beats enter her song. It is all so subtle, with a little jazz influence woven in for good measure. Her clear voice makes the best of this song and lifts it up even more. .No weaves in a poem in just the right place. 'Rise Love' is an impressive song (and yes, there are the birds once again) and all enriching the real talent Eleni Era is.

'Rise Love' seems to somehow fall to the floor at the ending, crashing like a crystal vase in to a thousand and one, irreparable pieces. From these pieces Manu Delago emerges with a flute and modern sounds, made into a collage of sounds, where there is no telling where Delago starts and .No's work ends. And when female voices enter as well, it becomes even more confusing. I do notice though that I have left the darkness behind totally and am smiling because of what I am hearing. So these are the Trondheim Voices in a way I am sure they have never heard themselves and neither has Manu Delago. A new experience for all except for the creator of this program. He seems to be outdoing himself and let all loose where his creativity is concerned.

Tall Ships sings a little something, after it has taken over from the creative part. 'Road Not Taken' is moody, yet beautiful song. Birds are everywhere and certainly not a part of the original song. A modern singer-songwriter is at work here. There are so many of them, yet Tall Ships manages to touch me with 'Road Not Taken'.

Followers of this blog know that Jesse Mac Cormack has released a new album, his first full length, an album he worked on for years. Gone is the extreme madness of his live shows, the exorcism that is a huge part of his work, certainly remains in place. The demons within Mac Cormack's head are all in place. 'Nothing Lasts' is not a pleasant title, A defeatist one. The music is accordingly dark. Yet, when I listen how the song is built up from his acoustic guitar and voice, it is clear how much hard work and laboriously layering of the accompaniment on 'Nothing Lasts' has taken. Mac Cormack knew what effect he wanted to reach for and succeeds totally. 'Now' is one of the better albums released this year. Jesse Mac Cormack took his time and has an album he can be proud of as a result.

Emmanuele Errante's piano sounds out, a little erratic after Mac Cormack's stately music. After 30 seconds 'Memoirs' is cast aside for another piano. Gabi Sultana plays a Benjamin van Esser composition. Again behind the piano all sorts of noises are going on, including a dark sounding cello. This piano plays slow notes that could be a part of a Radiohead song, if the context was different. It hovers somewhere between romantic and alternative rock music. In such a way that it is almost possible for me to filter out all the unsettling things going on behind it. Why? is the question I would like to ask.

A last bird's song and this Kairos is over.

Wo.


You can listen to this Kairos here:

https://www.concertzender.nl/programma/kairos_503673/

Playlist 20190502 2300 Kairos 106
00:00  Jacco Wynia. Abandoned City. Album ‘Discomfort’. Mosaic Music.
04:14  Eleni Era. Fly. Album ‘Rise Love’. Louvana records.
07:58  Harrold Roeland. Five landscapes for 24 speakers (fragments). Self-released.
08:43  KJ Rothweiler. Sile (complete plus several fragments). Album ‘Ex’. DRONARIVM RD-54.
10:58  Peter Clijssen. Smoor. Anna & Peter Clijssen. Album ‘Vagantenkost’. Self-released.
28:10  Mariska Baars, Romke Kleefstra & Rutger Zuydervelt (text: Jan Kleefstra). Unkrûd. Piiptsjilling. Album ‘Wurdskrieme’. Expermedia XPCD012.
34:32  KJ Rothweiler. Caro. Album ‘Ex’. DRONARIVM RD-54.
40:27  Eleni Era. Rise Love. Album ‘Rise Love’. Louvana Records.
44:28  Manu Delago. North cluster. Album ‘Parasol Peak’. TPLP1450CDP.
45:36  Trondheim Voices. Pulser (fragment). Trondheim Voices. Album ‘Rooms & Rituals’. Grappa LC49093
47:38   Ric Phethean. Road Not Taken (fragment). Tall Ships. Album ‘Impressions’. FATCAT Records FACTCD 145P.
49:48  Jesse Mac Cormack. Nothing Lastst. Album ‘Now’. Secret City Records.
54:28  Emeanuele Errante. Memoirs (fragment). Album ‘Time Elapsing Handheld’. Karaoke Kalk CD 75.
54:42  Benjamin van Esser. DART for piano and electronics. Gabi Sultana, piano. http://www.benjaminvanesser.be/discography.html
Gedicht: Harrold Roeland

Kairos 105, April 2019 on Concertzender

Once a month or just about, Wo. listenes to .No's monthly radio show on Concertzender. A show called Kairos. A show in which music is played that almost for certain would never have reached his ears, except for those pieces of music where the blog and the show influence each other. Every single time is an adventure Wo. says as "I have no clue upfront how the music will hit me". Sometimes even baffling artists with his musings, who respond to .No over Wo.'s experiences. That is the way of the musical world it seems. Lets see where Wo. found himself with the April 2019 version of Kairos.


Having just been to the gym I am sitting here with a different form of energy than the usual closer to the end of the day. I wonder if this influences my Kairos experience.

Slow sounds like musicians warming up reach me. They are, roughly at least, playing the same composition it seems, yet there is a hint of something unfinished to me. A copper instrument leads the whole on, beneath it is almost a free for all as long as it is the same key. When a darker instrument joins the orderly disorder, I have the idea it does not belong. Yet does, in the way .No can mix songs. Sytze Pruiksma is replaced by Trio Ramberget. The background is gone, darkness prevails, with serious notes from instruments playing in a low register. Somehow it could be a continuation, 'Blue Throat' and 'Eb dur Torpet'. Music sounding over a dark fjord, like fog horns, warning all around it.

A piano takes over, again darkness with sound coming through it. A bass note and some hiss. The song is called 'Vault', so I can't let go of the impression that this music is coming from the grave. As Reigns plays louder ever so slowly, this music can only presage a zombie army rising. The tricks of a mind while listening to modern classical music. Although this could be incorporated into symphonic rock without any doubt.

The mood doesn't change, again. Yet, a guitar comes in replacing the piano. Harrold Roeland returns, but for the life of me I can't tell where Reigns stops and Roeland begins, except at a certain point the music drops away and is replaced by sounds and atmosphere. I have heard Pink Floyd do something like this on its best albums, before a glorious song like 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond' really bursts loose.

When high sounding voices can be heard in between the sounds, at first ever so hesitantly, I know .No is working his mixing machine. A mash up of Harrold Roeland and Trondheim Voices. Sounds like those used in submarine movies and other undefinable sounds are hanging suspended in the mix behind the high voice. This composition is so fragile, I can imagine it breaking. I do notice being intrigued for the first time by Trondheim Voices. It sounds as if something is about to happen any second. The fjord and the mist comes back to mind, but now without a fog horn or any other warning sound. Navigating a dangerous coast in pitch dark, that is the image 'Rise' presents to me.

Recently I read that Low Hill signed a record contract with a company. After inquiring it turned out to be for one single only. There are no coincidences it seems. This Kairos Low Hill returns to the show after an absence of some months, perhaps even a year. His mysterious music fits this show excellently. His voice, good sounding as ever, is what I can do with right now. Yes, I like 'Falling' as much as I did when I first reviewed the EP. Modest electronic pop music, with a mood that is slightly downcast. Laurens Hulle might be falling for someone, it is not as if he is overjoyed by it. More like it is something that still needs a lot of rational thought.

The mysterious music continues with Högni's 'Parallel', but it could be something is missing on the play list. Now that the fjord image is in my mind, I can't seem to shake it. That has to do with the sounds that simply seem to continue after Low Hill's intermission. Listen to the, what is it I'm hearing?, these little glockenspiel things that can be ticked against each other, digital something? I just do not know. The submarine bleeps are back and some sounds hovering around in the mix. What is real here? What is .No mixing away? I simply can't tell what it is I'm listening to. There is no mistaking, this music is slightly troubling. I notice that the sounds are unsettling. The voice that comes in like a soul crooner, does not help. The sounds just continue and the singing in part is like it comes from behind the grave, once again. "Though I'm fading" the singer sings and I am confirmed in my inner visions accompanying this music. Checking the music on Shazam, I got a picture of Högni showing four eyes in his face. So my feelings are not so strange. Something is just not right it seems. Deeply troubling.

Electronic beats? The mood is really being lifted, were it not that all the sounds defining Högni are still present for a while. I am listening to something I have never heard on Kairos before. Electronic dance music, with a twist of course. The beats do not simply go straight forward in Etapp Kyle's 'Axiom'. The submarine sounds return as do the twinkles, pushing the beats away. I am in the pitch dark fjord again. Rock every where and my vessel on the water with no clue where to sail. Danger potentially every where and nowhere at the same time.

A new sound can be heard through the vestigial fog. "Let thy soul be wakened", I'm told. Someone with an Indian accent is telling me to wake up and to feel. Repeated and repeated. So here I am in the fjord. Have I fallen asleep or is this a male siren calling me to the rocks to go asunder? It's pitch dark, fog thick all around me and I'm told to feel. As if my senses aren't already stretched to the max, listening to every other sound and trying to interpret it as safeness or danger. And then someone calls out to me. No, thank you, but I'll pass for now.

From Low Hill to Low Roar is a small step in Kairos. Ryan Karazija, as he is behind the name Low Roar, returns to Kairos with the beautiful 'Without You'. If anything this song sooths my souls and eases my senses. I'm caressed and am told things will be alright. Why do I have more faith in Low Roar than in the Indian chant?

Low Roar leaves me behind and suspense takes over once more. House of Cosy Cushions starts to 'Haunt Me Sweetly'. Again music that gives the impression to come from the nether side. This Kairos is dark, darker than I ever remember. Let me not forget to mention that 'Haunt Me Sweetly' is a song that immediately gets to me. The way it is build up is excellent. The atmosphere may be dark, the details, the female voice that joins in, work really well. It ends like a dirge though.

Some spoken words takes over. Like something that could have come from Tom Waits. Tom it is not but something called Hiss-Tacts. Something to do with a harmonica.

Again a song comes in. A song from an album that was on the blog first. From a Susanna from Norway with four other ladies accompanying her. You can read on by searching for 'Garden Of Earthly Delights'. Again a dark song, but one that is so welcome at this stage. The almost hesitant way the music is played, reminds me of U.K. folk band Modern Studies. At certain points it is as if 'Beautiful Life' will break down, will falter but does not at the very last second.

It all ends as we almost began this Kairos, with the dark copper and woodwind of Trio Ramberget. The fog horn has finally returned and leads me towards the harbour in the fjord. Finally I can sail home and lay my head to rest after a night full of suspense. This was a dark Kairos with several highlights and loads of mysteries. Well done, .No. What I almost forget to mention, is how beautiful 'E dur - Fält' is. It gives the impression that the world is unchanging. Going about its business and us humans running around on top of it, with the world not caring. It will outlive us all, one way or another. Now that is a song we will never hear on Kairos.

Wo.

You can listen (along) to this Kairos here:

https://www.concertzender.nl/programma/kairos_498667/


Playlist:
00:00  Sytze Pruiksma. Blue Throat. Album ‘Conference of the Birds’. Self-released.
02:13  Trio Ramberget. Eb dur Torpet. Trio Ramberget (Johanna Ekholm, Gustav Davidsson, Pelle Westlin). Album ‘Musik att somna till’. Self-released.
05:38  Reigns. Vaulted. Album ‘The House on the Causeway’. Monotreme records MONO-37.
07:55  Harrold Roeland. Generative Landscapes – Paris. Self-released.
10:56  Trondheim Voices + Asle Karstad. Rise. Album ‘Rooms & Rituals’. Grappa LC49093.
16:15  Laurens Vanhulle. Falling. Low Hill. Album ‘Hurt’. Self-released.
26:21  Högni Parallel. Album ‘Two Trains’. Erased Tapes Records eratp103
32:00 Etapp Kyle. Axiom (fragment). Album ‘Klockworks 16’. Klockworks /
Modern Matters.
36:14  Yogi Bhajan. Let Thy Soul be Awakened (fragment). Golden Temple Enterprises.
40:05  Ryan Karazija. Without You. Low Roar. Album ‘Once in a long, long while’. Nevado Records 823674059620.
43:46  Richard Bolhuis/House of Cosy Cushions. Haunt Me Sweetly. Album ‘Haunt Me Sweetly’. Outcast Cats CAT 0C01.
47:41  Hiss-Tacts. Drake Motel. Album ‘Shortwave Nights’. Constellation cstl04-2
48:34  Susanna & The Brotherhood of our Lady. Beautiful Life. Album ‘Garden of earthly delights’. Susannasonata/It’s All Happening..
51:04  Trio Ramberget. E dur – Fält (fragment). Trio Ramberget (Johanna Ekholm, Gustav Davidsson, Pelle Westlin). Album ‘Musik att somna till’. Self-released.