Electric Umbrella #16
Improvisation is not just another musical genre. It is a radical approach toward musical structure and human communication. And it’s full of surprises! For this edition of the Electric Umbrella we welcome four international but local musicians of the younger generation. They will present their solo work, as well as merge into one sonic body playing all together for the first time in a tutti that will conclude the evening.
What is common to them all is their use of electronics, with which they expand their palette of sounds that they play as classically-trained musicians on their acoustic instruments: bass clarinet, harp, drums and saxophone & clarinet. This concert evening is curated by Tisa World, a performer (vocalist), organizer (of situations, sessions, events and concerts), composer and improviser, thinker, radio host & writer.
Who is playing? Lily Azur, Infernal Mosquitoes, Dries Verheesen, Bernat Sanjuan.
Lily Azur
She explores the in between, with harp as her main door into music. In between styles — from experimental and free improv, passing by jazz, folk, or classical music textures, with regular stops in electronics realms — in between musical approaches, letting collaborations as well as solo improvisation guide her sound explorations. Minimalist and delicate introvert yet claiming the dissonances and frictions that her instrument offers her, she intuitively weaves the threads of her different worlds, exploring the tapestry of connections between people, ideas, between herself and the otherness, between the artist and the audience, different makers, mediums, places and contexts.
Lily Azur is particularly interested in collaborative work (Still I Rise Collective, Tututu Orchestra, and more) which in turn informs her solo performances.
@lily.azur.music
INFERNAL MOSQUITOES
This is the solo incarnation of Riccardo Marogna, performing on tenor saxophone, clarinets and electronics. Challenging the boundaries between acoustic and digitally generated sounds, he looks for that zone where electronic manipulations and acoustic sounds merge seamlessly in the continuum of the sonic gesture. Infernal Mosquitoes’ debut album, ‘Antigua’, was released in 2022 by SUPERPANG. Riccardo Marogna works with electronics, wind instruments, programming, improvisation, fixed media.
Marogna is co-founder and curator of the Raw Dates concert series in iii-The Hague, as well as co-founder and director of Oktopus Connection Ensemble, a group devoted to graphic-notation-based collective improvisation. His music has been published by CleanFeed, Superpang, A New Wave of Jazz, El Gallo Rojo Records, Setola di Maiale Label, AUT Records.
riccardomarogna.com
Dries Verheesen
Verheesen grew up in a musical household and already started experimenting with different instruments at the age of 4 years old. Soon he made the commitment to his drum kit and started focusing on that instrument primarily. Coming from a funk, rock and soul background, Dries developed his musical skills in a variety of genres. At the age of 12 he discovered the beauty in jazz music, which encouraged him to aim for a studies at the Conservatorium of Rotterdam, where he graduated in 2023. Right now Dries is a working musician, booking, programming and lots more inside and outside of Rotterdam. Next to playing as a sideman, Dries his band ‘’The Risotto Phenomenon’’ will have an album out in May 2024 and a solo record is in the pipeline. Dries will use his drums as well as electronics to see what can be created in orchestration and storytelling with only four limbs and a great deal of dynamics!
@3sverheesen
Bernat Sanjuan
An interdisciplinary-trained clarinetist based in Rotterdam, with a dedicated focus on exploring extended techniques and new sounds within the bass clarinet, clarinet and other non-conventional instruments. His latest research engages with the connection between instrumental sound, the human body, the instrument and the movement. The core of this project is to explore the dynamic interplay that all these elements have within the phenomenon of instrumental sound production. His body of work is evolving around a sonic exploration and research within clarinets and other instruments like resonators and tubs. Originally from Valencia, he studied at the University of Arts Codarts obtaining a Bachelor of Music (Clarinet). Between 2020 and 2023 Bernat was a member of the NJO as principal clarinet and bass clarinet.
www.youtube.com