Festival Alternativa: 2nd Day

Two key figures in the history of these approaches will perform: Eddie Prévost, one of the founders of free improvisation, with electronic musician Daniel Kordík, and Jérôme Noetinger, legendary initiator of the Metamkine multimedia platform, with electronic musician and Paetzold flute player Angélic Castelló. Contrasting with them will be the dreamlike and dark digital abstraction of Kenji Araki, and the lineup will be completed by two ensembles, the Bratislava Improvisation Orchestra and the specially assembled Ghost Ship Ensemble, led by Grégory Dargent and featuring a selection of Prague-based performers of non-Western traditional music.

Kenji Araki

Originally from Japan, Austria-based musician Kenji Araki works primarily with digital sound, and his debut Leidenzwang fits into the post-club electronic music scene. Straddling pomp and melancholy, the recording successfully balances the maximalism and instability typical of club deconstructions with compositional consistency, resulting in a more listener-friendly experience than the genre standard. This accessibility then paves the way for the contemporary song sound of the album Hope Chess. Hyperpop euphoria with the necessary autotune is just one piece of the puzzle. The dark counterpoint in Araki's music goes beyond industrial/EDM rhythms to the grandiose doomgaze style of Jesu or The Angelic Process. The fluid, chameleon-like music ultimately functions as a continental alternative to British vocalists such as Iceboy Violet or Blackhaine: noise and pop, colossal sound and intimate emotions, delicate lyrics between vigorous rhythms.

Angelica Castelló & Jérôme Noetinger

Angelica Castelló and Jérôme Noetinger are considered leaders in the scene, whose work is worth following in the long term. Castelló, originally from Mexico and now based in Vienna, plays the rare Paetzold flute and electronics. She is an inventive composer for various ensembles, but above all an active participant in the European improvisation scene. Visitors to Alternativa may remember her from the phenomenal performance of the NYX trio, among other projects. Frenchman Noetinger is mainly associated with the group/label/collective Metamkine, which was dedicated to musique concrète and electroacoustic music.

Bratislava Improvisation Orchestra

Following Vienna and Prague, a larger improvisational ensemble with an improvised lineup was formed in Bratislava at the beginning of 2023. The ensemble, which combines acoustic and electronic instruments and is based at the A4 cultural center, consists of a changing group of interesting Slovak personalities, including Andrej Gál, Slávo Krekovič, and Barbora Tomášková. The Bratislava Improvisational Orchestra is dedicated to free and controlled improvisation, and each concert is unique not only in terms of the music itself, but also in terms of the lineup, which includes local musicians as well as guest musicians. The ensemble's production surprisingly often borders on silence, as in a debate where listening is more important than speaking, but it can just as easily give rise to a distinctive big band sound.

Ghost Ship Ensemble

Ghost Ship Ensemble is a special project initiated by the Alternativa festival, bringing together French oud player and multidisciplinary artist Grégory Dargent with selected musicians from the local scene. Dargent, whose own work integrates Tuareg and Turkish folk music with jazz and improvisation, describes the concept of the project as an orchestra playing on a ship sinking in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. He draws on two famous analogies: the orchestra playing on the deck of the sinking Titanic – and Gavin Bryars' groundbreaking contemplative composition The Sinking of the Titanic – and the ship Ezadeen, on whose deck the crew left 359 Syrian refugees to the mercy of the sea in 2015. 

The musical core of the concert will be a fusion of Middle Eastern traditions with the possibilities of contemporary electronics. Dargenta will be accompanied by six Prague musicians who are comfortable moving between free improvisation, modal music, and experimentation. Double bassist Luan Gonçalves and violinist Milan Jakeš are experienced improvisers and fellow members of the Prague Quiet Music Ensemble, pianist Miloš Kunc is an active participant in the Prague jazz and improvisation scene, Silvia Morasten (vocals, kamancheh) and Ljuba Plavska (percussion) teach singing and regularly participate in the activities of the ModalMusic.cz collective, and Mikuláš Mrva (saz, yayli tanbur, electronics) is active both in the field of modal music and at the Ostrava Days festival. The acoustic instruments of the Ghost Ship Ensemble will undergo electronic processing – and may ultimately sound as if they were playing under the sea.