ZWERM is an electric guitar quartet, with musicians from Belgium and The Netherlands. The starting point is their common interest for new music: composed, improvised, experimental and performative, high and low culture. The awareness of the similarities between these different elements and the challenge of presenting them in a meaningful way is very important.
In the twentieth century the electric guitar has proved to be the instrument of low culture and underground music. Nevertheless, it has found its way to composed music only very recently. The gap between low culture/improvised music and contemporary/composed music is still big. In this context we want ZWERM to be a group that is able to work in both directions. A group which links things, uses/abuses traditions and navigates between the many styles, conceptions and stages which are representative for the music today.
THE MEANS:
1. To build up a repertoire which can be played in different scenes, from rocknoise clubs to contemporary music festivals. This way very diverse programs will be brought to life. The central issue is the need of living, new music where novelty isn’t the main goal but rather the result of working with people, situations and means of our time.
2. A constant search for different stages, different presentation forms and different audiences. Traditional stages and festivals will be approached but other environments are possible: galleries, museums, factories, cafés, clubs, squats...
3. Collaboration with other musicians, composers and artists.
CONCRETE:
At this point, different programs are being worked at:
An American program with works of Larry Polansky, Fred Frith, Nick Didkovsky… suitable for smaller places and clubs.
A new work by Nico Sall, written for ZWERM which connects four towns by means of video projections and guitar solos. A first presentation is scheduled at Croxhapox www.croxhapox.com on March 28th 2008.
Since January 2008 ZWERM has started an intensive collaboration with ChampdAction.
ChampdAction is an Antwerp based contemporary music ensemble that was founded in 1988 by composer Serge Verstockt.
Another collaboration will take place between ZWERM, Blindman Junior sax quartet and Richard Barrett at Happy New Ears Festival Kortrijk (B) in September 2008. The collaboration with the sax quartet will result in a new piece for 4 e-guitars, 4 saxophones & electronics written by the Belgian composer Stefan Prins. This piece will be premiered in the autumn of 2009.
ZWERM will be playing in a ChampdAction production called Power Flower on May 15th in deSingel (Antwerp) and on May 18th in Flagey (Brussels).
hey, bedankt voor de toevoeging. dat klinkt hier goed. volgende week in croxhapox ga ik er wschl niet geraken, maar ik kom zeker naar één van jullie volgende opredens.. hou me op de hoogte! tot later, Kristof
hey Toon en Kobe (jullie wederhelft heb ik nog niet mogen ontmoeten), merci voor de add zoals ze zeggen. ik ben héél benieuwd naar jullie werk en zal er waarschijnlijk wel zijn in croxhapox.succes.cheers
