|
|
|
"Live Concert with Ligeti/Björkenheim"
Lukas Ligeti, Raoul Björkenheim
 Press Kit
/ Image
Event Date: Friday, June 11, 2004
Location: Slought Foundation
Free Exchange Series
| Organized by
Mark Christman
|
|
|
Please join us on Friday, June 11, 2004 from 8-10pm at Slought Foundation for a live concert with Lukas Ligeti (drums) and Raoul Björkenheim (guitar).
Lukas Ligeti (drums), son of 20th century composer György Ligeti, studied composition with Erich Urbanner, jazz drumming with Fritz Ozmec at Vienna University, and computer music at Stanford University. In the early days of his composition studies, he began working on a motion-based technique for playing polymetric patterns on the drums, along with a tabulature notation, and his compositions employ unusual concepts of polytempo interplay, with musicians sometimes being conducted by a computer relaying metronomic and other information to the players.
Ethno-musicological recordings and analyses, especially of African music, and experimental mathematics were important early inspirations at the end of
the 1980s, and around the same time, his interest in jazz led him to the music of the 'downtown' New York avant-garde. His development and attitude as a composer has more in common with the so-called American 'mavericks' (including composers like Charles Ives,
Henry Cowell, Harry Partch, John Zorn and others) than with any European contemporary tradition.
While he was still a student, Ligeti's works were being played by the London Sinfonietta and the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra; in the past eight years, he has been commissioned by the Kronos Quartet, Ensemble Modern,
Vienna Festival, American Composers Forum and many others, and his music has
been played by the Orchestre National de Lyon, San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, Kathleen Supové, the Amadinda Percussion Group and others at
festivals worldwide.
Arriving in San Francisco in 1994, he became increasingly active as an
improviser, forging an ongoing musical relationship with guitarist Henry Kaiser and other California musicians, documented, among others, on 'Heavy Meta' with the Goodman-Kaiser-Ligeti trio (Ecstatic Yod e#76) and on Henry
Kaiser and Wadada Leo Smith¹s 'Yo Miles!' (Shanachie 5046). After moving to New York, he worked with Elliott Sharp, Ned Rothenberg, Daniel Carter, and others; he has also played with Gianni Gebbia, Benoît Delbecq, John Tchicai,
Michael Manring and Chis Cutler, with electronic musicians Rupert Huber and Pyrolator Kurt Dahlke and with many others. Still, his main focus as a performer throughout the late 1990s was probably on solo concerts using electronic percussion. Since 2003, he co-curates 'Freezone New York', a
weekly series for improvised music, with guitarist Ty Cumbie.
Ligeti is also known as a pioneer in the area of experimental cultural
exchange. Commissioned by the Goethe Institute, he traveled to Côte d¹Ivoire in 1994 and founded the group Beta Foly with musicians from West Africa to explore the combination of African traditions and instruments with
improvisation and electronics: this work can be heard on the 1997 recording 'Lukas Ligeti & Beta Foly' (Intuition 3216). He has also performed with Batonka musicians in Zimbabwe; played in Mozambique and South Africa;
collaborated with Nubian musicians at the Cairo opera; created a piece for Caribbean musicians in Miami; and, since 2000, worked on various projects with the singer Maï Lingani from Burkina Faso. Recordings featuring Ligeti as a composer or improviser can also be found on Staubgold, Starkland, Naïve, Lotus Records, ORF Zeit-Ton, Ocho and a number of other labels.
Raoul Björkenheim's (guitar) early musical associations included Arbuusi, a trio also featuring bassist Toppo Isopuro and drummer Tom Nekljudow, which was active from 1976 until the 1980s, as well as Roommushklahn with
saxophonist Jone Takamäki, pianist Jarmo Savolainen, bassist Antti Hytti and Nekljudow. He was a member of Edward Vesala¹s Sound and Fury ensemble, which
lasted for much of the 1980s and resulted in classic recordings for Vesala's own Leo Records (Bad Luck, Good Luck, Leo 015, and Kullervo, Leo 017) as
well as ECM Records (Lumi, ECM 1339). Björkenheim also participated in various spin-off projects arising from Sound and Fury, including Rinne Radio, led by saxophonist Tapani Rinne, as well as Krakatau, an experimental
trio initially established with trombonist Jari Hongisto and Vesala. From 1986 through 1996, Krakatau went through different incarnations that each added to Björkenheim's reputation as one of Europe¹s leading guitarists
within the realm of experimental improvisation. After two albums produced for the Hieronymus label in Finland (Ritual, KR1, and Alive, KRCD2), Krakatau made two well-received recordings for ECM Records (Volition, ECM
1466, and Matinale, ECM 1529), which featured the internationally best known version of Krakatau, including saxophonist Jone Takamäki, bassist Ulf Krokfors and either Alf Forsman or Ippe Kätkä on drums. Björkenheim has also collaborated extensively with other experimental musicians including
guitarists Nicky Skopelitis and Henry Kaiser, trumpeter Toshinori Kondo, keyboardist Paul Schütze, bassist Bill Laswell, drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson and many others. After moving to New York in 2001, Björkenheim
worked for nearly a year with the Ethiopian singer Gigi. Currently,
Björkenheim co-leads the Scorch Trio with bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten and drummer Paal Nilssen-Love (Scorch Trio, Rune Grammofon RCD2025).
To Cite this Page using MLA Style:
Lukas Ligeti, et al. "Live Concert with Ligeti/Björkenheim." Slought Foundation Online Content.
[11 June 2004;
Accessed 6 October 2008]. <http://slought.org/content/11213/>.
Browse Online Content at Slought Foundation...
401 projects with 275 hours of recorded audio are accessible online from this website. The following is a random selection:
This program was made possible in part through the generous sponsorship of ars nova workshop
|
|
