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| Photos by author, unless otherwise indicated. |
By Paul Acquaro
(Controlled) chaos is a feature of the Moers Festival. After spending the Pentecost holiday weekend wandering,
encountering, and enjoying the unpredictability, I have to say: I came to quite like it.
Everywhere one looked, there was something new to see, hear and experience. The festival grounds featured food trucks and hippie clothing as well as children’s stages and pop-up stages. The musical foci were dizzying: from an emphasis on Japanese and African musicians, to a delegation of two distinct sets of musicians from China, as well
as a collaboration with the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival
(hcmf//), a/k/a the UK’s largest international festival of new and
experimental music, as well as a range of performers from Angelica Sanchez to
Wadada Leo Smith. Featured in stand-alone shows or in new configurations, the players came together on the
various stages, ranging from both indoor and outdoor large stages, to
smaller ones in the festival’s market square, like the moveable Japanese
inspired paper walled construct Club Jazz Byobu, the piano-mobile that
crawled between the festival grounds and city, cafes in the city
center, and even a set of scissor and boom construction lifts
that raised performers 50 feet above the festival grounds.
Add to this creative mayhem the festival’s current motto ‘Stille’ (‘still,’ as
in quiet, peaceful, tranquil, silence) and the lively party gets even more surreal. What could that possibly mean amidst the hustle and bustle of the fairgrounds? How does such a theme align with
Caspar Brötzmann’s bass-led aerial assault at 11 p.m. from the raised
platform? Sure, it could be easily linked with the reductionist music of the
Zhao Cong, Zhu Wenbo and Sun Yizhou, but what about the sonic blasts of Lao
Dan or heart-stopping stomps of Marmar? One can simply cast aside a festival theme, often they are easily expendable; however,
there was something to this idea, which at once seemed to be in
opposition to an experimental music festival, but also carried a certain
resonance, but we can come back to this later.
It is often tempting to write about a festival as a series of musical sets,
easily discernible from each other, but when faced with the perplexity of Moers, the experience becomes
something more fluid, something you need to figure out yourself. One must take out the playful looking program and chart a path as best they can and then embrace the adventure. Let’s do exactly this…
Friday, Day 1
offered a chance encounter with the group from Shenzhen, China. Dedicated to
creating and fostering a creative music scene in their city, they run Old Heaven Books, a book shop, record label and cafe, the B10 Live music
space, as well as organize the OCT-LOFT and Tomorrow music festivals. Free-jazz saxophonist Lao Dan was also onboard. Having recently acquired his
new solo recording To Hit a Pressure Point (Relative Pitch Records,
2025), I was looking forward to hearing him play. So, only a few minutes in the
city and it already seemed like a promising start to the weekend.
Actually, it took a little while to get oriented. The festival – in what I
learned was in a slightly new configuration – was set up generally around a
large recreation park with an event hall, an ice rink and a huge water slide and swimming pool (if it had only been a bit warmer…). The aforementioned festival grounds were essentially a market
with a selection of food trucks and clothing vendors and open to all, as
were several of the smaller stages. Inside the main hall were two record
vendors with an ever tempting selection of wares. Off to one side of the fair
grounds, the open air stage, and a 20-minute walk through the adjacent
city park got one into the old city of Moers where another series of events
always seemed to be happening. The choice overload was nearly paralyzing,
but somehow I fought my way to a decision and made my way to the open-air
stage where Spinifex was set to perform.
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| Spinifex Maxximus |
This year is the Netherlands based group’s 20th anniversary. The core
players are main composer and alto saxophonist Tobias Klein
, along with Moers artist-in-residence and trumpeter
Bart Maris
, saxophonist John Dikeman, guitarist
Jasper Stadhouders
, bassist Goncalo Almeida and drummer
Philipp Moser
. For a series of concerts during this China Anniversary year, they have
added violist Jessica Pavone, cellist
Elisabeth Coudoux
and vibraphonist Evi Filippou, resulting in their
manifestation as Spinifex Maxximus.
The show was a perfect musical start to the festival. The big group had a
correspondingly big sound, with a fire breather like Dikeman on baritone sax
and the facile playing of Almeida on electric bass, that would seem to be
unavoidable. They launched with a heavy riff over which a free group improv
ensued. Melodies with complimenting counter harmonies developed, the lines
weaving between the different players, belying a great deal of compositional
work too. In a later tune, Pavone led the group with a quasi-classical
melody, which then sequenced into passage with Stadhouser and Fillipou
exchanging fierce lines that were as much free-jazz as Appalachian folk.
Vacillating between hard landing riffs and spritely arranged horn passages,
the set was a great chance to also hear Maris play, who although he was the artist-in-residence, was more involved with children programs and activities
surrounding the festival than featured in concert.
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| Jonas Gerigk and Ying Yang |
After the set, there seemed to be a long break before the next concert.
After wandering about the festival market place, I stumbled on the
‘Traktor Stage’ where a “Freysinn” set,
one of 12 musician organized concerts of the festival, was happening. This one was with
with bassist Jonas Gerigk and violinist
Ying Yang
, two young music students from Koeln. Shortly afterwards, a pianist was
playing “Ueber’m Platz,” which was one of the
platforms that hoisted the musicians over the festival grounds.
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| Darius Held on the scissor lift. Phpt |
Exciting in concept, however pianist Darius Held’s minimalist
solo performance was rather inaudible and the spectacle of the raised stage
wore off soon enough (something to do with that the musicians having to wear
a safety vest somehow detracted from the experience – I know, safety first). What I didn’t realize is that while I was bumbling about the fairground,
a (reportedly) excellent set was playing out under the guise of the
“moers sessions!” at the larger outdoor stage, while a
collection of British musicians from the Huddersfeld Festival contingent
were quietly taking-over the downtown spaces, a couple of kilometers away.
By the time for what I had erroneously considered the next concert, darkness
had enveloped the festival and in the cozy night-time mood surrounding the
open air stage. Marmar, a sound-world creator who blends
traditional Kazakh folk music with modern experimental sounds, was about to
go on.
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| Marmar. Photo by Dennis Hoeren |
The blast of sound from the stage was not unexpected, but it
certainly did shatter the stillness. From under an eerie green glow on the
stage, the surgical mask covered face of Marmar peeked out from under a
hooded sweatshirt. He held an electric bass in hand and stood before an
electronics bedecked table. A massive, throbbing sound emanating from the
cloaked figure as he tweaked devices on the table. Feedback and deep
guttural whispers shook the dirt and made ripples in the sky. It was a bit
frightening, but it was also magnetic. Off to my side, I noticed Lao Dan and
made a gesture to him in which I tried to express that the music was slowly
unscrewing my face but I was okay with this effect. I’m not sure what he actually understood of this.
Saturday, Day 2
Starting today, I wasn’t going to miss a thing, I wouldn’t waste a beat, and
so after breakfast, I began a trek into the city to see what was happening
on the other side of the festival.
Getting across the city park and old “Schloss Park”, a landscaped garden
full of beautiful mature trees and a flowing stream, took about 15 minutes
or longer if one took a moment to check out the skate-park or the birds
gathered along the stream banks. On the other side, past the medieval castle
that once anchored the city in the 12th century, past the stately 19th
century Renaissance style former town hall, and the Evangelical Church
building dating from the mid 15th century, at the small nick-nack gift shop
‘Villa Woelkchen’ (Little Cloud Villa), Zhao Cong, from the group of
musicians from Beijing , was performing a solo piece on
“objects.”
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| Zhao Cong |
A perfect setting really. Small Christmas tree ornaments and porcelain
curios lined the precisely and densely packed display shelves, while Cong
was in the middle, her table set up with a mixer, a stainless steel cup with
water, an array of little objects and many contact mics. This was her sound
laboratory for the moment, and the small store was soon packed with curious
onlookers. Cong blew up a balloon and when it popped confetti rained down.
She placed an effervescent tablet in the cup and amplified the fizzing. She
used many objects that clicked and clacked, moving gracefully through the
constricted room, activating sounds from everything. How someone did not
knock over a delicate tchotchke may have been the most impressive part of
all.
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| Jan Klare and Charlotte Keefe |
Next, the duo of British trumpeter Charlotte Keefe and
German saxophonist Jan Klare (who was also in charge of the
‘moers sessions’) were scheduled to play at a cafe around the corner. Not
feeling ready for a beer, I settled for a decent milchkaffee (or was it a
cappuccino? my notes are lacking here) and waited. I was quickly learning
that for these small in-town sets, they fill up quickly, so you needed to be
early and patient. This is also where I overheard Keefe and Klare meeting
for the first time, mere minutes before they were set to perform as a duo.
The set was fantastic. There was not even a hint of hesitation between them,
rather, they launched right into it as the sun beamed through the window
behind them. Keefe utilized the full range of possibilities from her horns,
playing clear, lively melodic strands and breathy washes of tone alike.
Supporting, as well as instigating, Klare reacted in kind. Melodic
statements mixed with spluttering tones, distorted notes blended with
hissing sounds. Keefe’s quick switch to the flugelhorn, whose rounder tone
blended even more nicely with the alto sax as Klare launched into a more
syncopated, jaunty lines. Both seemed to be physically moved by the sounds,
bobbing, dipping and swaying to the interplay.
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| Elisabeth Coudoux, Willi Kellers Gonçalo Almeida, and Thilo Schoelpen |
After a walk back through the park to the main festival grounds, it was
almost time for the ‘moers sessions’ at 2 p.m. The first
set was the combination of cellist Elisabeth Coudoux,
bassist Gonçalo Almeida, pianist
Thilo Schoelpen
, and drummer Willi Kellers.Their set turned out to be a
welcome blast of good ol’ free jazz. The group started with the flames on
high and kept turning it up until the heat began escaping not only from the
instruments in hand but in a series of excited screams from Coudoux. Next,
saxophonist Hayden Chisholm, violist
Jessica Pavone
and pianist Darius Heid took an opposite approach.
Minimalist and delicate, the set was a test of tension and restraint, the
birds in the park were louder. Then, after a sudden downpour, the third set
began with saxophonist John Dikeman, electronicist
Achim Zepezauer, pianist Rieko Okuda and
percussionist Jonas Evenstad. It was a free-jazz sandwich,
the piano was ablaze with sharp tonal splats and jabs, the drums setting the
energy level on high. After dialing it back for a moment, a gentle rumble of
the piano led to a saxophone fueled melee of unbridled intensity.
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| bBb bBb: Lao Dan and the duo of Li Daiguo |
I cannot say I recall what happened after this set, I must have wandered
around, bumped into people and said hello, perhaps I ate some pizza … that
is usually correct … and then it was time for bBb bBb
(the duo of Li Daiguo & Lao Dan) on the
outdoor stage. The duo began with a set that seemed to blend tradition and
modern techniques. Li Daigou, an American born, China based,
multi-instrumentalist approaches the lute-like pipa guitaristically. Lao Dan, playing a wooden flute, seemed to bring forth
traditional melodies but, again, in a more contemporary manner. The two
settled into a groove that encouraged some heads bopping in the
audience. After cycling through the flutes, a naked mouth piece, and an alto
clarinet-like instrument with a long, flexible neck, Lao Dan turned to his
saxophone. Li Daigou had also pivoted from the pipa to the piano, creating a
different atmosphere by interjecting beat-boxing. Then, like the
sporadic cloudbursts that had been happening all day, the two let out a
deluge of sound. The minimal piano lines
and the fiery shredding of the saxophone began to peel back the layers of
reality. This was something gobsmackingly new.
After the enthusiastic applause, it was just a few short minutes before
Willi Keller’s The Circle,with drummer
Kellers, saxophonist Hans-Peter Hiby, pianist
Rieko Okuda
and bassist Meinrad Kneer began. The newish quartet seems
to have gelled over the past year or so, performing in the current line up
first at Jazzwerkstatt Peitz 2024 when Keller received the first Brandenburg
Jazz Prize.
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| Willi Keller’s The Circle |
The group began with the vibrating sounds of Hiby and Kneer. Keller and Okuda
entered shortly thereafter, slowly building humming intensity. The piano was
an agitating force, while Keller and Kneer laid a strong foundation. Then,
Hiby began pushing fiercely, waves of intensity followed, the players
retracting, regathering, and attacking again and again. Okuda physically
bounced against the keyboard, before she began striking the piano from the
inside. Hiby played tightly-wound lines, and the entire band pulled in,
rigid, taut, thrumming and humming away. If there was a gauge, the needle
would have been hovering between sizzling orange and boiling red, but they
never quite went over the edge.
Somewhat in parallel, in the main hall, there was a moderated talk happening
called “Kunst, Kritik oder Antisemitismus?” Over the past two years, there
has been much criticism and protest over the war in Israel. The siege of the
Gaza strip following the October 7th, 2022 Hamas attack has resulted in
profound loss of life and profoundly impacted politics, including how
artists have used their sets at festivals. I only heard the tail-end of the
talk but it is impressive that Moers dedicated a series of talks to address
these issues that have been ripping through society.
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| Chronograffiti. Photo by Zalesskaya |
The set that followed was a percussion based piece by
Koshiro Hino
called Chronograffiti. Through an
evolution of drumming, first a set of players from the renowned Taiko group
Kodo playing at an increasing tempo, adorned by flashing lights, to then a
single player on a large drum in the front of the stage area, and finally to
a piece with again multiple drummers. The crowd was enthusiastic,
underscoring that the diversity of the music ensured something
unconventional for everyone.
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| Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters |
The day was feeling already quite full, but there was still much to come.
The next event being the highly anticipated
Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters. The group, which came together in 2023, is a timely update to free-jazz,
freely mixing elements of electronics, hip-hop, rock and free improvisation.
Under a blanket of fog, the groups two electronicists,
Gabriele Mitelli
and Mariam Rezaei, flanked by saxophonist
Mette Rasmussen
and drummer Lukas Koenig, ignited with passionate fury —
they began at full throttle and took it from there. A potent moment arose
when their volume level reduced to an electronic throb, and while Rasmussen
started a long drone, Mitelli spat out sharp licks on his pocket trumpet,
which he seemed to favor for long stretches of the set. Soon, Koenig settled
into a sludgy groove and the band reached the first of several energetic
peaks.
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| Lao Dan |
Stumbling out of the event hall into the cooler evening air on the market
square, it was just in time to see Lao Dan being hoisted
into the air on the scissor lift. Sounds, first of a sampled guitar and
electronic drones, followed by his flute, permeated the skies around the
festival, shaking the entire area. Half way through this unusual set, Lao
Dan began to focus on electronics entirely, using a stick like object to
control the sound. Watching his dramatic expressive gestures with the saber,
he did seem a bit like a Jedi from afar.
After all of that, a nightcap did seem in order. Back in the large hall,
random expectation, a collective of Chinese and German
players* amassed on stage to offer a gentle, minimalist lullaby.
That did the trick, good night! See you tomorrow for more Moers action.
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| random expectation. Photo by Dennis Hoeren |
*random expectation: Sun Yizhou (feedback), Zhu Wenbo (cl,
tapes), Zhao Cong (objects), Tan Shuoxin (electr), Simon Rummel (microtonal
harmonium), Thilo Schoelpen (p, feedback), Matthias Kaiser (prepared and
amplified violin)