Being very much a homebody, I usually hesitate both once and twice before setting out into the urban jungles of Monstropolis. But once in a while, a trek makes sense and is wholly worthwhile. Yesterday evening was one such occasion, when Andrew McKenzie a.k.a. The Hafler Trio created a soulful zone at Pannan, very likely Stockholm's coolest art place. In this former (and really old) huge laundry room walled with concrete, tiles and general roughness, The Hafler Trio played three one hour pieces for approx 30-40 people (a very good attendance indeed for this kind of thing, also given it was a Friday night, nice weather and also slightly outside of the comfort zone of central Stockholm).
What usually began as a dark wave of sounds and frequencies, soon developed into a variety of sonic layers communicating with each other. Given the fact that it was absolutely impossible to expect what the next sound or wave would be, one fared best by just surrendering to this compact wall of sounds. The experience quickly became very psychoactive, especially as it was played in a special surround mix and the audience was placed inside the very vibrant circle of sounds, so to speak. No lights but for a few candles. An almost sacred, meditative atmosphere established itself. Most everyone drifted into their own introspective zones and they all seemed to enjoy it a lot. I know I did.
Almost to the day 22 years ago, I arranged the first ever Hafler Trio performance in Stockholm, at a place called HG5. That was more of a multifaceted performance, with Andrew actually stripping naked and doing a lot of, I suspect, magical things. A nice and constructive friendship emerged, which led to my publishing his wonderful book Plucking Feathers From A Bald Frog (Psychick Release PCP, 1991) and several other projects.
In terms of joint efforts of the future, the next project will be participation in the symposium Here To Go in Trondheim, in October 2012. Both me and Andrew will be talking about the grey area between art and the esoteric, alongside Gary Lachman, Kendell Geers, Jesper Pedersen and Karen Nikgol. More information about that will follow as we get closer to the date.
I would also like to mention Andrew's more elaborate workshop/performance concept, which integrates those present in a transformative piece of psychological sound art. If you are interested in being involved or arranging this kind of thing, do please let me know and I will pass it on.
Pictured above are some happy post-concert people: (l-r) Roberto Peyre, Andrew McKenzie, Carl Abrahamsson, Joyce Ip, Jean Louis Huhta, Nanna Dalunde. Photo by Cheska Mena. Many thanks to all involved!
 |
No comments:
Post a Comment