In Geneva, from November 29 to December 1, the 22nd edition of the Akouphène Festival takes place in the form of an exorcism in several acts at the cellar12, a mecca for experimental music. A multiple program, between concerts and mysterious and esoteric performances.
Experimental music festivals are not numerous in French-speaking Switzerland. If there is the LUFF (Lausanne Underground Film Festival) in October or the Ear We Are festival in Bienne in February, there is above all the Akouphène Festival which is taking place this year in Geneva for its 22nd edition.
Over the course of three evenings at the cellar12, Akouphène offers “an assumed taste for acoustic esotericism and its multiple rituals whose meticulous gestures free the material from its most curious sounds”. The Festival thus indicates on its website that it wants to fill “our ears with joy to remember that listening is a magic above all, which serves as the most direct path possible towards this very particular light, that of the vibrations which know how to return our bodies to their state of instrument to transform us into listeners in the most complete sense.
Bodies which become instruments thanks to vibrations, a beautiful image which sums up the very idea of Akouphène: to offer a kind of journey with multiple colors. “We can approach this experimental or research music in multiple ways. This year, the light we are giving them is to speak of acoustic esotericism. It is ultimately simply a way of highlighting the fact that the concerts or performances offered can seem a little esoteric or mysterious (…) There is something quite wonderful in seeing how artists tackle sonic questions from very different directions. converge towards a sort of celebration of what we can do with sound”, says Antoine Läng, co-programmer of the Festival, in the Musique Matin show on November 27.
Exploring new violin makers
Akouphène is also exploring the territory of new violin makers this year. On the second day of the Festival, the public will be able to discover installations of new invented instruments, but also revisited traditional instruments. A revised tradition and a renewed interest in early music are very present in experimental music. The result is projects that mix old instruments with very contemporary concerns, like the duo Lise Barkas and Yann Leguay who mix bagpipes, electronic music and oscillator (Saturday November 30).
The same day, the public will also be able to discover Jen Morris’ “Pivophone”, discovered for the first time on Espace 2 during the Art Anniversary in 2019. “It’s a fairly simple device which revolves around a spinning pive. It is a fairly evolving project. Since then, Jen Morris has proposed several versions. There, it is in this continuity around the development of this instrument”, underlines Antoine Läng.
Finally, Sunday December 1, the interpretation of the work “Exploratory” (2019) by composer Phil Niblock in a new version by accordionists Jonas Kocher, Hannes Lingens and Ben Richter will produce acoustic phenomena impossible to anticipate or reproduce in other contexts. Very physical and deeply emotional music.
Comments collected by Anne Gillot
Adaptation web: ld
Akouphène Festival, cave12, Geneva, from 29 November to 1 December 2024.
Swiss
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