No longer uptodate!
After nearly 15 years, this website is being decommissioned. For a while, this old version will still be reachable, but it will no longer show reliable information about events at ausland,
The new version of our website can be found here: https://ausland.berlin
SONIC VIGILETTE: Half an’ Half – Karen Power a. o.
SONIC VIGILETTE: Half an’ Half
Karen Power – field recordings and live electronics
John Godfrey – electric guitar
Danny Mc Carthy – found and constructed instruments
Mick O’ Shea – found and constructed instruments
Irene Murphy – sculpture sounds
Katie O’ Looney – percussion and found objects
Berlin Guests:
Rishin Singh – trombone
Cathy Milliken – oboe
Every year since 2006, Cork has played host to Ireland’s most significant free improvisation event. SONIC VIGIL brings together outstanding improvisers, sound artists and field recordists from Ireland and abroad in a multi-hour celebration of cutting-edge, radical sonic experimentation. 18 remarkable musicians are placed into a randomly-generated timetable, producing instant, unknowable and unexpected interactions: sounds of kaleidoscope beauty, teetering on a tantalising abyss of risk make for an immersive, mesmerising and ever-evolving experience. As we enter our 10 year celebration we are delighted to present Sonic Vigilette @ ausland with six of its members and joined by two extraordinary local Berlin artists. Audience members are free to come and go as they please, and are invited in amongst the musicians, encouraging an exploratory approach to hearing and allowing an exceptional sense of intimacy that breaks down performer/audience divides. Unparalleled anywhere in Ireland or abroad, SONIC VIGIL displays an approach to performance and sound that is unique, extraordinary and inspiring.
Half an’ Half - features half of everything! This unique sextet contains: 3 female and 3 male artists, 3 musicians and 3 visual artists and half man-made and half found sound sources - which is obviously now 4 + 4 with guest musicians Rishin Singh and Cathy Milliken!
The Quiet Club (Danny Mc Carthy + Mick O’ Shea), Karen Power, Irene Murphy, Katie O’ Looney + John Godfrey are teaming up to form a unique improvising sextet, which combines the renowned ‘found and home-made instruments’ of Quiet Club, the shimmering sonic textures of digital guitarist, improvisor and composer John Godfrey (Crash Ensemble, QME), sonic sculptures of Irene Murphy, the quietest full percussive setup you’ve ever heard and the real and imaginary soundscapes of Ireland and abroad, manipulated and transformed live by composer/laptop artist Karen Power. Audiences will be encouraged to meander through a diverse range of sounds as they walk around the performers, investigating the sources of these sounds and how they are combined live to unveil this unique and immersive soundscape.
This sextet emerges from an increasingly vibrant Cork-based scene, in which the growth of audiences can be attributed to innovative, inclusive and accessible programming. This sextet is unique in its equal paring of visual with sonic, which results in new and diverse avenues of exploration at every performance. People are intrigued by the visual aspect of performances, which encourage physical connections between unusual sounds and their sources. For example, Quiet Club use a variety of home-made instruments using found materials, which everyone can access. This hands-on approach to music- making enables realtime associations with everyday objects and a chance for us all to consider ourselves as root creative beings, which this tour aims to highlight further by targeting smaller community based venues with alternative/moveable seating. Our aim is to broaden awareness of an art-form, which embraces openness and creativity in many shapes, and to invite audiences to become part of a collective music-making experience. The performance itself can be any duration and in previous performances has ranged from 40 minutes to 6 hours, where audiences come and go as they please. The entire sonic content is improvised and there is no distinction between sound and visual objects as they enter and contribute to the entire scape.
Each artist has extensive performance skills and this, along with an ethos to share, explore and demystify our creative practices, is what strengthens us as a collective. Every concert simultaneously explores new sonic territory while allowing space for each individual artist’s voice to seamlessly emerge and recede in wave-like structures from the sextets core sound. Improvisation-based music enables unique listener and performer experiences at every concert.
https://vimeo.com/132615889 - Sonic Vigil 9 - includes all members of the sextet and many others.
https://vimeo.com/124796478 - Sonic Vigil 7 - includes all members plus QME
Kindly supported by INM Berlin
Doors: 8.30 pm
Concert start: 9.00 pm
