FRIDAY 01. SEPTEMBER
"WORDS & WORLDS"
SPECTRO DUO (NORWAY/POLAND/IRAN)
VANESSA ISOBEL BLACK (NORWAY/UK/AUSTRALIA)
“Words and Worlds"
An evening focused on deep democracy and the uplifting of marginalized voices with an added focus on the current women-led revolution in Iran.
Curated by Vanessa Isobel Black
The evening opens with the world premiere of "Inevitable Disintegration", a composition by Oslo-based Spectro Duo (composers Kosecka/Mofakham) for amplified voice, alto saxophone, and stereo tape, inspired by reflections on social injustice in a global context. Through this musical exploration, the composers aim to provide a powerful call to action, entreating listeners to recognize the urgency of the problem and work towards a more just and equitable society.
Following this are two acoustic vocal works. The first is a redesigned version of Cardew's text score “Paragraph 7” from “The Great Learning” (1971) entitled - “Reboot - Still Learning: Cardew, Confucius & Confusion” (2023 mutation by Vanessa Isobel Black) which addresses the political confusion surrounding the work and its initial authors. Originally scored for a body of trained and untrained voices, the work requires, at its core, a capacity to listen to those around you while at the same time retaining your own voice. The performance is open for audience members to easily participate, supported by a core group of VoxLAB members. Opening up a musical space for anyone to participate is just one example of the power of music and voice as a tool for change, bringing together people from different experiences and unnecessary social divides.
The second vocal work and text score, the world premiere of “Vital Mutations” by Vanessa Isobel Black, is based on the work of iconoclastic Iranian poet and filmmaker, Forugh Farrokhzad (1935-1967). Despite several bans of her work over the years, Forugh is revered to this day for voicing her rage at the limitations on women. She gave a voice to the suppressed female experience, writing about sex, sensuality, love, and despair, and called for liberation and freedom, giving the women of Iran a glimpse into a world where they could have so much more. Continuing on from the experience of listening to themselves and each other in the Cardew “Reboot”, this work develops into a more active vocal expression of emotions and trauma, how they can be contained in and expelled from the body, and how they might be used for change.
The concert series is an opportunity to amplify the voices of women and other marginalized groups. The current revolution in Iran not only needs continued support in the pursuit of freedom but as a woman-led revolution also has the power to speak to the world about how to fight injustice together.
Door opens:18:30
Concert starts:19:00
Program
Spectro Duo (IR/PL/NO):
World Premiere: “Inevitable Disintegration” for amplified voice, alto saxophone and stereo tape
Composers & performers: Martyna Kosecka, Idin Samimi Mofakham
Vanessa Isobel Black (AU/GB/NO):
Cornelius Cardew (GB) (mutation)
“The Great Learning, Paragraph 7” (1971) - "Reboot - Still Learning: Cardew, Confucius & Confusion” for any number of untrained voices
Voices: Martyna Kosecka (PL/NO), Idin Samimi Mofakham (IR/NO), Vanessa Visobel Black (AU/GB/NO), Ann-Helen Schjølberg (NO), Live Marianne Noven (NO), Viola Othilie Tømte (NO), Josh Spear (UK/NO)
with open audience participation
Vanessa Isobel Black (AU/GB/NO):
World Premiere: “Vital Mutations” text score for voice
Voices: Martyna Kosecka (PL/NO), Idin Samimi Mofakham (IR/NO), Vanessa Visobel Black (AU/GB/NO), Ann-Helen Schjølberg (NO), Live Marianne Noven (NO), Viola Othilie Tømte (NO), Josh Spear (UK/NO)
Meet The Artist
Vanessa Isobel Black is an Australian/British composer, singer, violinist and visual artist based in Oslo since 2017. She is classically trained in violin and voice with a Bachelor in Composition (Sydney Conservatorium, 2004), and a Masters in Music (WSU, 2006). Through her compositions and improvisations she is exploring the effects of reverb and how it creates space. Working at the intersections of feminism, trauma, nature and folklore, her work is influenced by personal experience or shared stories, merging sound, art, movement and text to write new narratives.
Martyna Kosecka is a Polish composer, conductor, performer, and researcher in new music, based in Norway since 2019. She studied composition and orchestral conducting in the Music Academies in Kraków and Katowice, in Poland. Through her music, she experiments with alternative tunings, microtonality, and electroacoustic processing of sounds. Kosecka, with engagement and curiosity, plays with the perception of time and focuses on extracting timbral qualities of each individual sound through a microperspective approach.
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Spectro Duo began its work in 2013 and consists of two composers and performers, Martyna Kosecka (voice, keys, sound objects, electronics, video) and Idin Samimi Mofakham (alto saxophone, electric guitar, sound objects, electronics). Their musical focus is on drones, noise, beating phenomena, glitches, field recording transformation, microtonality, and non-European modalities.
The music of Iranian composer/performer Idin Samimi Mofakham (b. 1982) is deeply rooted in the traditional and regional music of his home country. Since 2015, he has been developing his own musical language based on non-Western tuning systems, just intonation and psychoacoustics. In 2023 he received his PhD from the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo with a research thesis on medieval tuning systems from Iran and their creative use in contemporary composition.
Since 2013, Idin has been the co-founder and artistic manager of Spectro Centre for New Music. Between 2015 and 2019, he was a board member and senior curator of the Tehran Contemporary Music Festival, the only international festival focusing on contemporary and experimental music in Iran. He plays in the experimental band Spectro Duo, which he founded with his wife, composer Martyna Kosecka. Their musical focus is on drone, noise, beat phenomena, glitch, field recording transformation, microtonality and oriental modalities. Idin’s music has been performed or recorded by ensembles such as Klangforum Wien, S.E.M Ensemble, Hermes Ensemble, Omnibus Ensemble, Moto Perpetuo, AuditivVokal Dresden, Momenta Quartet, IAMA Trio, Ostravská Banda, Stockholm Saxophone Quartet, Xelmya Trio, Oslo Sinfonietta, Abbyss Quartet and, in Iran, most notably by Nivak Ensemble and Nilper Orchestra.