Sjaella & Fallwander »Each of us like you«

SEATED CONCERT – A classical vocal ensemble from Leipzig meets a Munich-based chamber pop duo – a new concert program for six female voices and electronics at the intersection of avant-garde, pop, and neo-baroque.

“Each of us like you,” wrote the American author Hilda Doolittle in her 1917 poem “Adonis,” thereby distilling a central message: Each of us carries a part of you within us.

A good 100 years later, this line now serves as the starting point for a musical exploration: For the first time, the chamber pop duo Fallwander is joining forces with the classical vocal ensemble Sjaella in a concert program of the same name. While Sjaella has performed in recent years in productions such as the ballet “Giselle” at the Leipzig Opera and the chamber opera “Primero Sueño,” which premiered in New York, Fallwander has presented its intimate, ethereal chamber-pop sound on numerous national and international concert stages in recent years. Most recently, the duo released its highly acclaimed dance-theater production “Loewenherz.”

At the heart of the jointly developed program are two compositions: first, the title piece composed by Fallwander, which explores the fragile nature of our coexistence amid social dynamics. Michel van der Aa, on the other hand, turns his gaze inward in “From Dust” and examines how we define ourselves as individuals amid the tensions of these social processes.

Six female voices shape the soundscape, which is framed by electronic elements. Sonically, the collaboration defies conventional categorizations of serious and popular music: elements of avant-garde and neo-baroque can be heard alongside pop and ambient influences. In this way, “Each of us like you” continues the long-standing tradition of collaboration between Munich and Leipzig within the framework of the Jazz Days—and at the same time proves to be a dynamic dialogue that carries within it the hope for a new beginning, both internally and externally.

Line-up:
Sjaella
Viola Blache (soprano)
Marie Fenske (soprano)
Franziska Eberhardt (soprano)
Marie Charlotte Seidel (mezzo-soprano)
Luisa Klose (alto)
Felicitas Erben (alto)
Helen Erben (alto)

Fallwander
Theresa Zaremba (comp, synth, electr)
Teresa Allgaier (comp, synth, electr)

Sjaella & Fallwander's "Each of us like you" is supported by Musikfonds e.V.
 
 

So says the drum

SEATED CONCERT—A Brazilian duo based in Cologne: Percussion as a medium of communication and collective memory—a live performance that combines ritual, improvisation, and technological experimentation, opening up new forms of transmedia sound art.

In Brazil, the home country of Bella Comsom and Bruna Cabral, the drum represents far more than just rhythm. It is regarded as an ancient technology and a coded language: a medium of communication and collective memory that also reflects experiences of resistance and community.

The two Cologne-based artists now take up this complex tradition in their new program. It may seem surprising at first that Comsom and Cabral, of all people, are bringing this idea to life: after all, both have participated in numerous transdisciplinary, experimentally oriented projects in the past. The central theme of Bella Comsom’s artistic practice revolves around the concept of “Catching without Capturing”: colonial gestures are to be countered by music-making based on reciprocity. She works with reactive light installations and electronic manipulations, transforming sounds and noises into immersive soundscapes while also incorporating natural motifs such as distorted bird calls. Bruna Cabral, on the other hand, masterfully wields her drumsticks. Synthetic sounds blend with Brazilian rhythms and performative elements—a sonic language that can also be experienced impressively on Cabral’s solo debut album, “Mana.”

“That’s what the drum says”—a prophetic statement. But what does it actually say? Perhaps not a message that can be translated into words, but a language all its own: one made up of rhythm, memory, and resonance.

Line-up:
Bella Comsom (handmade electr + lights, cl, whistles)
Bruna Cabral (dr, perc)

»So says the drum« is funded by Musikfonds e.V. and the Kunststiftung NRW.