Simon Steen-Andersen
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Gå, trip, trav
Simon Steen-Andersen: »Walk the Walk«
© Alexander Banck-Petersen
Det er et ydmygt emne, Simon Steen-Andersen har valgt til sin performance Walk the Walk: emnet er at gå. Følgerigtigt går de fire performere fra schweiziske Ensemble This Ensemble That rundt på scenen både i almindelige og lysende sko, på stedet, på løbebånd, og bare helt normalt. Walk the Walk er en tour de force gennem forskellige vinkler på emnet, og forskellige vinkler at lave teater på. Performerne er del af en nøje timet score, hvor hvert et skridt og til tider enhver stavelse skal leveres pointeret for at gå op i en højere enhed med scenografi, lydplayback og de øvrige medspillere. Instrumenter spiller de ikke på, de spiller på og med rekvisitterne; sko eller mikrofoner for eksempel. Kun helt til sidst får perkussionist Brian Archinal lov til at røre drumsettet, indtil også det bliver taget fra ham når det bliver hevet op i luften. Trommerne spiller videre, dog, ved hjælp af en slags trommeslagsmaskine. Scenografien tager over.
Tysk teater ser ud til at have inspireret komponisten, der arbejder med kneb som meta-samtaler om værket i værket (som den tyske instruktør René Pollesch), musikalsk nonsense (i stil med noget Christoph Marthaler kunne have fundet på), eller en scenografi der bliver til et selvspillende instrument (som Heiner Goebbels tidligere har gjort). Bedst fungerer værket, når sammenhængen mellem emnet og det sceniske og musikalske bliver tydligt, som når performerne går i takt med et lydsample, der bliver kortere og kortere, og det udsnit af scenen, vi som publikum ser, bliver mindre og mindre. Mindre godt fungerer det, hvor musikerne agerer som skuespillere, eller skal lipsynche til lydklip, hvilket de desværre gør rigtig meget.
Walk the Walk er en multimediel undersøgelse af et tilsyneladende banalt tema. Men præcis hvorfor vi skal se et stykke om at gå bliver ikke helt klart. Snarere virker emnet som en undskyldning for de forskellige permuteringer af mediale konstellationer, komponisten vil lege med. Live-tale, optaget tale, samples, scenografi, rekvisitter, lys – alt dette er instrumenterne, Steen-Andersen bygger sin komposition af. Imponerende er det, og han finder på originale kombinationer. Æstetisk efterlader det et blandet indtryk. Et eller andet sted mellem sofistikeret koncept, en hjemmelavet virkende scenografi, drenget humor og lecture performance. Steen-Andersen spiller højt risiko når han vælger selv at stå for alt fra musik til scenografi, lys og instruktion. I nogle få øjeblikke bliver publikum belønnet med noget enestående. Men hvorfor ikke have tillid til et dygtigt hold skuespillere, en scenograf, lysdesigner, dramaturg eller en instruktør? Den præcision, værket forlanger, bliver ikke helt forløst.
PowerPoint Against the Dark
Laurie Anderson with Sexmob: »Republic of Love«
© Ebru Yildiz
With her characteristic curiosity, Laurie Anderson opened Sunday’s concert in DR’s concert hall with a political statement and the remark, »Thank you for your attention to this matter.« The theme of the evening was a heavy political climate, to which Anderson – like a professor emerita of the avant-garde – offered a musical framing narrative of music, slideshow, and quotes from thinkers and artists who, each in their own way, nuance an increasingly dark world. A framework in which every piece of music had a clear purpose: to evaporate any residue of convention.
Slide by slide, the audience was guided through curious glimpses of the totalitarian and the conventional. The long list of words deleted from government documents by the Trump administration, for instance, served as an introduction to »Language Is a Virus«, inspired by writer William Burroughs, who also appeared on the screen behind Anderson and the band Sexmob. So did Lou Reed, Anderson’s late husband. Dressed in a glittering jacket that, like a kind of magical Kraftwerk, triggered sounds of drums, foghorns, and cash registers, Anderson shared the couple’s three life lessons while playfully dancing and narrating.
I don’t think I’ve ever attended a concert where the entire production team – both on and off stage – was credited with rolling end titles. Yet it felt like a completely natural conclusion to Anderson’s slightly dry and remarkably hopeful PowerPoint concert. A performance that, as a delightfully deconstructive reminder, united the experimental and the concrete in a hands-on first aid kit against tyranny and oppression.
© Peter Gannushkin
»Music for me is a world full of sound that you can explore, juggle with, systematize, be inspired by and form a starting point for meetings between people across cultures and generations.«
Håkon Berre (b. 1980) has made his mark as a central figure on the Danish improvised music scene. His practice is characterized by an expanded approach to percussion, where both traditional instruments and everyday objects – such as doorbells, tin plates, chains and kitchen utensils – are included in a nuanced and often unpredictable sonic expression. He has performed at clubs and festivals internationally and collaborated with a wide range of notable musicians, including Peter Brötzmann, Phil Minton, Axel Dörner, John Tchicai, Jamie Branch and Otomo Yoshihide. Berre contributes to an extensive discography with more than 40 releases, many of which on the artist-run label Barefoot Records, which he co-founded. He has also composed and arranged music for theatre and exhibitions, and worked on interactive sound installations shown in museums in Denmark and Germany. He is active in a number of ensembles and collaborations, including Ytterlandet, TEETH, VÍÍK and Mirror Matter, as well as in various duo and quartet constellations.
© Niklas Ottander
»Music is a deep, but not serious, spiritual practice, in which creator, collaborator, and consumer alike are their own personal pope.«
James Black (b. 1990) is a composer, performer, and artistic director of Klang Festival – Copenhagen Experimental Music. Originally from Bristol, England, they moved to Copenhagen in 2013. Black's works have attracted a large amount of attention both nationally and internationally for their signature combination of artistic courage and vulnerability, described by the Danish Arts Council as »a universe of real madness where everything goes«. Their work is a deep and personal exploration of topics such as religion, loss, and queer identity, that is unafraid to be stupid or serious in any direction.
© Christian Klintholm
»Music is just something for me.«
Christian Juncker is a Danish musician and songwriter who has released a number of Danish-language albums. He debuted in 1995 with the band Bloom. Together with his friend Jakob Groth Bastiansen, he formed the duo Juncker in 2002. He is also behind the Christmas carol »Luk julefreden ind« from 2024.
© Guy Wasserman
»Music, for me, reveals the emptiness of boundaries and definitions – in consciousness, in space, and in music itself.«
Idan Elmalem is an oud player and composer working across world and popular music, now presenting his debut instrumental EP and live performance project. Following years of collaboration within the Israeli music scene, he turns toward a more personal and intimate musical voice, blending traditional oud with a contemporary sensibility. Influenced by his studies with master Nissim Dakwar, Elmalem’s music explores the space between tradition and innovation. His debut EP, Time, features three live-recorded pieces that move between past, present, and future, combining classical Arabic and Persian elements with jazz, minimalism, and cinematic sound. Based in Tel Aviv, Elmalem draws on his Moroccan-Danish heritage in his work. He is a graduate of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Ethnomusicology at the University of Haifa, alongside his work as a player and composer.