Impossible describe better the september session of the Kiezsalon than with the words of Laraaji: “In the beginning was sound, words are our interpretation of that universal phenomena.”
http://https://youtu.be/87E2ZRy21V8
New York-based LARAAJI began playing music on the streets in the 1970s, improvising trance-inducing jams on a modified autoharp processed through various electronic effects. Upon seeing him playing one night in Washington Square Park, Brian Eno invited him to record an album for his seminal Ambient series. Laraaij went onto release a prolific series of albums for a wide variety of labels, many of which he recorded himself at home and sold as cassettes during his street performances.
Dmitry Evgrafov is a young, Moscow-based pianist / composer / multi-instrumentalist, who prior to signing to FatCat’s 130701 imprint in early 2015, had released three albums in the previous three years. Having studied Sound Design in Moscow, Dmitry’s music blends intimate piano parts with delicately evocative string arrangements and brings to mind the work of contemporary artists such as David Wenngren or Nils Frahm (with whom Dmitry has performed live), whilst retaining roots in minimalism owing a debt to the likes of Arvo Part or La Monte Young and classical stalwarts like Ludovico Einaudi and Michael Nyman.
Dmitry says: “Since there is never enough time or budget to record live piano or strings for the commercial applications I was working on, I had to find substitutes, and eventually I came across some beautiful orchestral instruments I had wanted to use in my music since I started. I switched to an advanced set of virtual instruments, which make up about 90% of the sounds on the album. How well these worked was a surprise to me since I’ve always been a stickler for real piano, strings or drums and hated cheap, plastic-sounding VST. At the same time, I still find genuine tape delay effects and vintage synths from the 1980s absolutely irreplaceable, so there is a cool mix of digital and analogue sounds on the album.”
http://https://youtu.be/o2kL63CUNjI
From April until October 2016 the Kiezsalon will once again offer a forum for innovative musical activity beyond genre boundaries and provide a meeting point for friends as well as loners, conversation and party, lovers and those who are just curious. As an interface between pop music and avantgarde the series presents compact performances by artists from diverse genres, origin and popularity – initiated by Digital in Berlin and taking place at one of the last authentic locations in Prenzlauer Berg, the 120 year old Schneider Brewery.
The Kiezsalon Prenzlauer Berg is presented by Digital in Berlin, Musikbrauerei and taz. die tageszeitung. Kindly supported by Lux Eleven and funded by the Musicboard Berlin.
Laraaji & Dmitry Evgrafov
Wednesday, 14th September 2016 | Door 20:00 | Start 21:00 CET
Musikbrauerei | Greifswalder Strasse 23a | 10407 Berlin/Prenzlauer Berg
Photo by Roland Owsnitzki.
dwij.org | dmitry-evgrafov.bandcamp.com | kiezsalon.de | Event @ Facebook
