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Dans Les Arbres
Dans les arbres is an improvising ensemble comprising French clarinettist Xavier Charles and the three Norwegians – pianist Christian Wallumrød, guitarist Ivar Grydeland, and percussionist Ingar Zach.
“This unique improvising quartet (...) continues to fine-tune its artistic concept with a rare sense of accord, and shared responsibilities.” (ECM Records)
The group’s idiosyncratic inhabitants form unusual combinations of airy, wooden, metallic sounds, prepared strings and tampered drum heads. Their world of sounds and the fine sense of communication, lead to collective playing and spontaneous group-composing named to be in a “class of its own”. Their music moves gently but steadily ahead on broad planes of sound. The dynamic textural sceneries evolve as Dans les arbres harnesses its wealth of unorthodox extended techniques.
Since the recording of their first album in 2006, Dans les arbres has performed more than 150 concerts around the globe. The two releases on ECM Records and one on Hubro – the self-titled debut Dans Les Arbres (2008), Canopée (2012) and Phosphorescence (2017) have received praise from reviewers and audiences alike.
During autumn 2019 the group's fourth album Volatil was released on the label SOFA and their fifth album Mausoleum was released on Bandcamp. Dans les arbres was nominated for the prestigious Nordic Music Prize 2015.
Dans les arbres have performed with guest musicians such as Yumiko Tanaka, Otomo Yoshihide, Jim O ́Rourke, the Norwegian duo Vilde & Inga and The Norwegian Wind Ensemble. Together with singers and Oslo Sinfonietta they performed the piece About Nature by Henrik Hellstenius at the Oslo Opera House in 2015.
“There’s no end to the delights of this quite magical disc. The finest composition, like improvisation, ultimately relies on intuition, and these players seem to have an innate grasp of the right combination of sounds and textures. Dans les arbres must be one of the finest ECM Improv releases – indeed, releases from any label – in recent years.” (The Wire)
Limited number of advance tickets $15 via Eventbrite …or $20 at the door
El Khat
Eyal El Wahab seer, kearat, vocals
Galor Yefet keyboards
Lotan Yasih drums
It creaks and rattles, the screws are loose, but it holds together and it moves magnificently. It's the sound of El Khat, an international deconstruction squad from Tel Aviv led by Eyal El Wahab, a son of the Yemeni Jewish diaspora on a mission to recover his roots.
He found his epiphanous mojo in a collection of Yemeni folk and pop records of the 60's, sparking a bout of instrument building from bits of wood, saucepans, wire and rope, and the formation of the band with three friends from Polish, Iraqi and Moroccan backgrounds adding trumpet, guitar, disco-keyboards and hybrid jazz/junk percussion to El Wahab's heartfelt vocals and slippery inventions on his homemade bass.
As undulatingly stimulating as the eponymous plant, El Khat mix trash and tradition in a timely urban reclamation of a disenfranchised culture.
Limited number of advance tickets at Eventbrite $15 …or $20 at the door