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.”
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.”
Project supported by:
