LITERATURE & SPOKEN WORD

LITERATURE & SPOKEN WORD

Project with guests:

Events:

June 12th 2024 – Wuppertal, LOCH

June 13th 2024 – Herford, Marienkirche Stiftberg

June 16th 2024 – Köln, Stadtgarten 18h

The SONIQ collective is once again breaking new creative ground with its project “Literature & Spoken Word”. In collaboration with the Luxembourg actress, singer and performer Sascha Ley and the Wuppertal sound poet, lyricist and vocal performer Mitch Heinrich, SONIQ will develop a program that presents literary texts beyond the format of a reading from a new perspective. The focus will be on the examination of political and social content and its linguistic and musical interpretation.

Salman Rushdie, who has fought fearlessly and unbendingly for freedom of expression for decades, provides the central theme and source of inspiration for the SONIQ project with his latest book “Victory City”. In this book, Indian mythology and history are interwoven in a fantasy world. At the same time, very real references are made to the burning issues of our time: Power and abuse of power, the rise and fall of a global nation, women in a patriarchal world.

Inspired by “Victory City”, Sascha Ley and Mitch Heinrich will develop texts and language fragments that will be spoken, sung, rapped, whispered, shouted and processed in a playful way. Both voice performers enter into a dialog with Christina Fuchs, Ramesh Shotham and Jarry Singla. Their harmonizations, rhythms and improvisational contributions shape the text performance into a linguistic-musical synthesis of the arts.

All Photos by Karl-Heinz Krausskopf

Artist comment:

I’m still beaming with happiness and looking forward to more

“Working with these wonderful artists was a journey into creative space and freedom within a highly inspiring concept. Ideas, reflections, writing words and music, storytelling, humor and poetry were able to flow at an incredibly easy pace. What luck to meet on such a beautiful and intense level of artistic creation and human encounter. And to be able to take the audience with you. I’m still beaming with happiness and looking forward to more.”

Sascha Ley

Every performance was new

“…this project was made into a gift for me. I also found the point “work in progress” relevant, and the three different venues always implied a première. In this sense, every performance was “new”, “fresh” and sometimes surprising at the moment. “

Mitch Heinrich

Press review:

A special kind of literature and spoken word concert

The Soniq Kollektiv, Christina Fuchs, Ramesh Shotham and Jarry Singla, hosted performer and singer Sascha Ley and vocal artist Mitch Heinrich at Jaki (Stadtgarten Köln) for a special kind of literature and spoken word concert.
The starting point for the concert was Salman Rushdie’s new novel “Victory City”. Salman Rushdie has interwoven Indian mythology and history in his books, starting with his debut novel “Midnight Children”. With his special brand of magical realism, he always takes a critical look at existing political and social conditions. Despite the threat posed by the fatwa issued by Iranian religious leader Ayatolla Khomeini, he has always fought courageously for the freedom of the word. Rushdie’s recent work, “Victory City”, combines the story of Vijayanagara, also known as Hampi, with the mythology of the goddess Pampaa Devi. In a fantastical setting, he uses colourful storytelling to deal with real issues such as the abuse of power, the rise and fall of a great power and the role of patriarchy.

Inspired by Rushdie’s colourful narrative art, the Soniq Collective conceived a concert evening that had something of a modern radio play, spoken word performance, music and poetry and vocal art meeting instrumental art, just as Rushdie uses history and mythology as a foil and deals with them freely, Luxembourg’s Sascha Ley and Mitch Heinrich from Wuppertal dealt with the text in an extremely imaginative way. Sascha Ley recounted personal experiences from India, passages from the text and excerpts from mythology in marvellous (English) language.

From time to time she also sang, sometimes sounding like an Indian singer and at other times like an English singer/songwriter. Mitch Heinrich accompanied this with vocal artistry, either non-verbal singing and noises or word twists such as the witty corruption of bird names, all this with sometimes breathtaking speed and wild gestures and facial expressions. Also remarkable was a call and response by Mitch with Ramesh Shotham, in which Ramesh recited the South Indian drum language and Mitch skated in response, all in the right rhythm.

All the text fragments, vocalisations and sounds were masterfully integrated into the music of the Soniq collective. Even without understanding a word of the lyrics, the combination of words and music functioned as great sound art, a true synthesis of words and music. The instrumental qualities of the Soniq collective were once again very clear. Christina Fuchs played the saxophone and clarinet wonderfully, Ramesh Shotham showed himself as always to be a master of percussion and Jarry Singla is not only a sensitive pianist but also operated a harmonium.

Soniq has played many great concerts in the past with very different themes and guests, from Norwegian folklore, Indian dance and free expression dance to Moroccan Gnawa singers. But the Literature and Spoken Word programme was certainly one of the best.

Uwe Bräutigam

nrwjazz.net 04.07.2024

Music that floats, grooves and then again strikes – a fantastic sound journey

“India, a continent full of contrasts, colors, people and a rich mythology, can captivate and fascinate people, but also overwhelm them. The music collective Soniq invited actress, singer and performer Sascha Ley and sound poet Mitch Heinrich as guests to the Marienkirche for a fascinating musical journey based on motifs from Salman Rushdie’s fantastic mythological novel “Victory City”.
The multi-layered tale tells the story of the orphan girl “Pampa Kampana”, who is chosen by a goddess as a human shell and mouthpiece. She creates Bisnaga-Victory City, the wonder of the world, from a few seeds. Her ambition is to give women an equal role in a patriarchal world. But the years pass, rulers come and go, battles are won and lost. As her life is interwoven with the city, its tragic fall also means her end.

Before the actual story begins, “Soniq”, consisting of Christina Fuchs (saxophone [and clarinets]), Jarry Singla (piano and harmonium) and percussionist Ramesh Shotham, and the two guests improvise the impressions of a first visit to India. The music ranges from quiet, meditative to cacophonic passages full of street noise and beggars’ cries. Indian rhythms, onomatopoeic chanting. A sustained saxophone between free jazz improvisations and classical Indian drum rhythms give a foretaste of what is to follow.

Soniq brings the jungle to life with its bird calls, surers through labor, birth and death. Power and abuse of power. The rise and self-inflicted fall of an empire and the change from a matriarchal to a patriarchal world provide the material for the sound images – they are always surprising, fascinating, familiar and strange at the same time, sometimes even painful.
The music floats and grooves, makes a utopia sound and then strikes wounds again. At the finale when Heinrich raps, roars and snorts the present into the church with scraps of language, it is clear that the story of the decline of “Victory City” is closer to the present than many would like.”

Ralf Bittner

Neue Westfälische 18.6.2024

Supported by:

STRING THEORY

STRING THEORY

Project with guests:

Bassem Hawar / Zuzana Leharovà (substitute for Carolin Pook)

Events:

28.10.2023 – Wuppertal, LOCH

29.10.2023 – Köln, Stadtgarten

The upcoming SONIQ project STRING THEORY focuses on outstanding string instrumentalists whose horizons go far beyond traditional ways of thinking and playing.

The project was conceptually inspired by the scientific theories of string theory. Like a magic sphere of physics, these theories look into the innermost nature of matter. In these theories, the most elementary building blocks of the universe are referred to as “strings,” essentially the “threads of reality” that construct the cosmos.

The string theories aim to explain the fundamental nature of existence. They postulate the theory that the world is more than just three-dimensional. In the models, ten or more dimensions are envisioned.

Inspired by the idea of multidimensionality, the STRING THEORY project proposes the hypothesis that through the encounter of extremely different and unconventional “global string players” with the strong personalities of the SONIQ artists, new musical dimensions will be opened up.

 

SONIQ invites the German violinist, composer, improviser, conductor and percussionist Carolin Pook and the Iraqi djoze innovator Bassem Hawar.

The versatile and impulsive artist Carolin Pook founded her own orchestra (“Pookestra”) during a ten-year stay in New York, where she explored new paths between composition and arrangement on one hand, and free or conducted improvisation (“conduction”) on the other hand. The press describes Carolin’s composition style as “postmodern sound architecture of sometimes magical intensity.” She is equally sought-after in contemporary classical music and jazz, and since 2021, she has been serving as the concertmaster of the EOS Chamber Orchestra Cologne.

Bassem Hawar, who has been living in Germany since 2000, builds his own instruments and has revolutionized the Iraqi knee violin, the djoze, enabling him to play all forms of Arabic and European music on it, not limited to traditional Arabic music. Bassem performs in numerous groups of various musical genres, ranging from classical Maqam to European medieval music, flamenco, contemporary music, and experimental jazz. In 2018, he founded the Nouruz Ensemble, where contemporary oriental art music is further developed.

The creative impulses of Carolin Pook and Bassem Hawar are integrated into STRING THEORY as elemental “building blocks,” the “threads of reality,” with which the SONIQ Trio creates a unique, multidimensional musical reality for the eleventh time. Jarry Singla, Ramesh Shotham, and Christina Fuchs see themselves as “intercultural conductors” on the one hand. On the other hand, they also shape the emerging sonic cosmos significantly through their compositional and improvisational contributions, drawing from a rich, cross-cultural, and genre-transcending repertoire.

Artist comment:

Incredibly Inspiring

“This was a really nice and special meeting for me, both personally and musically, in a great atmosphere…incredibly inspiring. It was a wonderful week and I really enjoyed being on stage with you. This encounter will stay with me for a long time.”

Zuzana Leharovà

Supported by:

NUCLEUS

NUCLEUS - a Soniq Project

NUCLEUS

Project with guests:

Christian Ramond (bass) & Florian Stadler (accordion)

From a galactic point of view, a nucleus is a core of a galaxy. In a metaphorical sense, it is the musicians’ collective SONIQ, in whose orbit some stars have been orbiting since 2016, such as the trio Eastern Flowers and the duo Flux.
While their orbits cross here and there, occasionally it happens that the three of them actually merge to form a quite extraordinary constellation of stars. A unique event that can only be seen across the night sky of some special venues.

SONIQ Nucleus – Ramesh Shotham-perc, Christian Ramond-bass, Christina Fuchs- reeds, Florian Stadler-acc, Jarry Singla- pno, harm.

“Soniq is for me the wonderful mixture of wonderful musicality and warm humanity in dealing with each other. The result? Warmth, great soundscapes, lively rhythms, iridescent music with incredible depth, gratitude.”

Florian Stadler

Akkordeon @ Soniq_Nucleus

Press says:

„Deliberate and soulful, vigorous and full of ideas.“

Bernadette Brutscheid, Westdeutsche Zeitung 2.11.2022 (-> full article)

ARCHIPELAGO

ARCHIPELAGO

Project with guests:

Dates

27.10.2022 – Dortmund, Domicil

28.10.2022 – Köln / Stadtgarten

 

The collaboration with the Soniq collective was horizon-expanding on several levels. The artistic exploration of the diversity of sounds from the Archipel network required great openness and sensitivity from all of us. In all phases of the collaboration with Soniq, one could sense this cautiousness and respect in dealing with the material entrusted to us. At the same time, the creative process was characterized by a joy of playing and a desire to experiment. Combining the musicians’ different creative approaches and artistic approaches in one project and finally bringing it to the stage was an inspiring experience for us.

Janko Hanushevsky & Eva Pöpplein

Bass/Elektronik @ Soniq_Archipelago

In the course of the past few years, during the Corona pandemic, the world suddenly became very small. Travelling was no longer possible and the world slipped through a fibre glass cable and behind a screen. You could listen to concerts live from all over the world in the digital space. One felt connected to colleagues everywhere who, like oneself, were stuck in their living rooms – each a bit like Robinson Crusoe on his island. The picture of the archipelago symbolizes the experienced paradox of being separate and being connected in an appropriate way.

Soniq Archipelago Live-Trailer Stadtgarten Cologne Oct 28, 2022 (9:00 min)

To be able to deal as creative as possible along with these new realities of life and work and the uncertainties which have arisen also in regard to the future, SONIQ has thought about how, in spite of limited performance and production conditions, the projects, which have been carried out in annual rotation since 2016, could be continued.
The objective is to continue a lively exchange with as many international musicians as possible and yet not to ignore the (presumably continuing) limited travel opportunities. The result of these considerations is the project ARCHIPELAGO, as presented here.

The combination of gathering digitally with a global selection of musicians on one hand and a very local cooperation with artists from different genres on the other (Duo Merzouga: sound art / Uli Sigg: video art) will allow the collective to continue developing its artistic work between (musical) worlds, a process that has been going on for more than four years now. This will also guarantee – regardless of contact and travel restrictions – the broadest possible visibility of the project, since music will be audible both in the digital space and in concerts on site.

 

Soniq Archipelago Video Teaser (1:34 min)

Protagonists of the Cologne collective are connected and linked to hundreds of musicians around the world. The worldwide archipelago of SONIQ friends will be invited to make short audio recordings and send them to Cologne. These artists are invited to send in fragments that reflect their current, very personal emotional state in a time between isolation and networking.

SONIQ, Merzouga & Sigg will create an artistically condensed resonance to the digitally transmitted sounds of the world and reflect them back into the digital space.

However, the protagonists are not satisfied with a digital presence only: the individual members of the collective will develop elaborate compositions for a live performance on the basis of the musical material created from the fragments. The sound composition becomes the nucleus of an experimental artistic process. This lab-like process is part of the experience and will finally result in a sensual, playful, grooving full-length concert at its best SONIQ style. SONIQ will invite the sound-art duo Merzouga – as well as the media artist Uli Sigg as an equivalent performer on-stage.

Artist comment:

Bridge Between Local Sounds And Global Networks – Particularly Impressive

“I experienced the collaboration with SONIQ and Merzouga as a fascinating journey through the world’s soundscapes, a process that illustrates the diversity and connectedness of global music cultures. I found the concept of SONIQ Archipelago, which builds a bridge between local sounds and global networks, particularly impressive. By integrating audio recordings from all over the world and processing them artistically, a unique, electro-acoustic work of art was created that reflects not only the isolated island location, but also digital networking and the creative response to it.”

Uli Sigg

Supported by:

ORIENTAL STRINGS

Photos by Andreas Schlottmann

Type “Oriental Strings” into Google and you’ll be deluged with links to the popular app “Oriental Strings for iPad, iPhone and similar devices!”. It is a virtual sound module app for “oriental” keyboard players and other musicians who simply want to integrate the sound of the East into their music.

But the Collective SONIQ’s third project Oriental Strings was not an App and it was anything but virtual. It was real. It was acoustic. And it was handmade music! Two fine virtuosos, one from Iran, Kioomars Musayyebi, and the other from India, Hindol Deb, playing string instruments such as the Santoor and the Sitar, collaborated with SONIQ: Christina Fuchs (saxophone and clarinets), Jarry Singla (piano and harmonium) and Ramesh Shotham (percussion).

One of the challenges these artists faced during the project was finding ways to bridge the musical worlds spanning the tempered tuning of the piano, which is designed for Western harmonic music and the quarter tones of the santoor coupled with the microtones of the sitar, both instruments designed for playing modal music. Saxophones and clarinets are capable of traversing both genres of music. The percussion laid a rhythmic foundation.

With this edition, SONIQ continued on its visionary path, and brought together elements from disparate cultures to create a contemporary, authentic music. The artists participating were on a musical treasure hunt, they opened soundscapes, took risks, and widened their horizons.

Artist comment:

Sheer Diversity, Surprising Variety And High Degree Of Improvisation

“Personally, I am very fond of the uniqueness and at the same time the variety of the music and the musicians.
What I appreciate about the “Oriental Strings Project” is the sheer diversity, the ever-surprising variety and the high degree of improvisation.
As an artist, I consider myself a traveller in time, space, cultures and emotions combined with the gift of conveying this to the audience in musical performance. For me, travelling and the inspiring work with the friends of the “Oriental Strings Project” are, on the one hand, happy trips home and, on the other, an inspiring longing for foreign, unknown places, for the boundless.”

Kioomars Musayyebi

Fun, Intense And Rewarding

“Being invited by SONIQ in 2019 as one of the featured musicians was a pleasure. It was fun, intense and rewarding. I particularly enjoyed trying out new ideas in the practice sessions and also getting to know the fantastic musicians.”

Hindol Deb

Project supported by:

NEW FOLK SONGS 2020/21

Folk songs are authentic testimonials of language, culture and tradition. They are so called because they are sung by countless human beings across the world. The simplicity and honesty of this music and the way in which tales are told, is moving. In earlier times folk songs were spread orally: somebody would sing a song and an another would learn it. They were not associated with a particular musician or singer.

The majority of folk songs that we know are around 150 to 250 years old. Many of these songs originated during social upheavals, some through revolutions. When the question is asked, as to who created the lyrics and the melodies of folk songs, there is often no definitive answer. Cultural and regional articulation could be diverse.

Because folk music was passed on by ear and through imitation, it was in a constant process of variation and creation. Variation, new creation, playing by ear, imitation, change, creativity are core elements not only of folk music, but also of jazz and improvised music. So, it is logical that the musicians of the SONIQ Collective, all of them rooted in the cosmopolitan jazz of the 21st century, wish to take up, revive and reinvent folk music traditions in their current project.

At a time when Europe is growing together on the one hand, and nation-state thinking proliferates on the other, it is important to SONIQ that inner-European cultures communicate intensively, exchange ideas in a multilayered manner, speak with one another, sing with one another. To learn another language, or learn songs in another language, means showing empathy and being open to other traditions.

As the most direct means of musical and verbal forms of communication, Soniq and their guests chose the oral tradition for New Folk Songs: selected Norwegian and German folk songs will be learned, memorized, developed further, improvisationally changed and rearranged during rehearsals.

The emotional and content-related messages of the other culture conveyed by the songs are communicated instantly, because the cognitive “obstacles”, usually associated with reading music, are no longer present.

Rehearsals and concerts are planned in Germany during December 2021. In the spring of 2022, more concerts will follow as part of a tour through Norway, probably at the following venues: Victoria, National Jazzscene, Oslo / Cosmopolite, Oslo / Nattjazz Festival, Bergen / Dokkhuset Scene, Trondheim.

sponsored by: