GARDENA FEST

DE PLAYER presents: GARDENA FEST

complete line up:
– GHÉDALIA TAZARTÈS (fr)
– VARKENSHOND (be)
– PHIL HESSION (ir)
– TARA TRANSITORY (sg)
– JUNZO SUZUKI (jp)
– HELEN FLANAGAN (uk)
– WEN CHIN FU (TW)
– MARIE GUILLERAY (FR)
– RENEE VAN TRIER (nl)
– IAN MARTIN (nl)

Fri 12 Jun 2015 | 20:00 – 01:30 hrs @ DE PLAYER, Rotterdam | Admission: € 10,-

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For the true idler, the gardens and edens are the kind of places we all should be hanging around, in fantasy and real life, rather than toiling for an imagined better future. With this in mind we invite you to check in at DE PLAYER and its garden. Savor the good things, hear and see captivating performative actions, good food & drinks. Fans of sonic asymmetry will salute the return of the cult figure Ghédalia Tazartès, others will nod along with the tribal jams of Varkenshond... and, and, AND!

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■ GHÉDALIA TAZARTÈS (fr)
Mister Tazartès has been at the top of our wish list for a long time and we are delighted to have him perform, finally! He is an uncompromising cult character whose public appearances were a rarity before 2000. Ghédalia was born in Paris in 1947 and his roots trace back to North African Sephardic tradition. His music is a blend of ethnic vocalizing and imaginative electronic collage. In 1974, he bought a mic, a tape recorder and a band echo. This is when he began to develop what he called Impromuz, his own musical language. Tazartès' strength lies in his dynamic, rhythmic and harmonic restraint. The element of surprise does not rely on the shock of opposites. Rather, his compositions flow naturally, always apportioning tasty ingredients, but in an organic, gradualist fashion. His activity now spans four decades, yet his music is hors temps. From emotional psalms to shamanic hymns, Tazartès vocal eclecticism makes his art unclassifiable.

■ VARKENSHOND (be)
Rumour has it that these 'pig dogs' found each other around 2006 during a lecture about cosmic radiation. Shortly thereafter they retreated to a Russian convent to form their artistic vision. Varkenshond could be described as a Belgian pan-ethnic ritual improvisation ensemble that plays grotesque tribal jams; the sort of neo-jam band that transcends any form of cynicism.
https://varkenshond.bandcamp.com/

■ PHIL HESSION (ir)
Phil Hession is an Irish visual artist / vocalist working in performance and video. Hession was born in Omagh in 1978 and is currently based in Rotterdam. His practice explores the oral traditions of song and storytelling, and is conducted predominantly through social and cultural exchanges. These exchanges involve the non-conventional documentation and archiving of song and story, and include teaching traditional Irish song, and performing songs within public spaces.
http://philhession.com/

■ TARA TRANSITORY (sg)
aka One Man Nation; a transgender electronica musician from Singapore with a background in media and sound art. She is trans, nomadic and is currently investigating transgender history in Southeast Asia as well as the intersections of gender, noise and ritual through performances and the collective experience of creating ephemeral cathartic happenings with trans*queer communities around the globe. A mind / body in constant flux.
http://www.onemannation.com/

■ JUNZO SUZUKI (jp)
Guitarist/vocalist SuzukiJunzo's craft is stripped down 21st century drone/space blues psychedelia. Crystalline guitar passages are soaked in reverb and sometimes distorted melancholy, for good measure. Junzo is known for his work with Overhang Party, Miminokoto, and 20 Guilders with Tabata Mitsuru of Zeni Geva. Recommended for fans of Les Rallizes Dénudés... and the better psych stuff in general.
http://suzukijunzo.org/

■ HELEN FLANAGAN (uk) / WEN CHIN FU (tw) / MARIE GUILLERAY (fr)
Helen Flanagan is an artist who makes use of the potential continuity between moving image, musical score and narration to imbue mundane reality with theatrical ebbs and flows. She is interested in emotional manipulation and the power of sound to inflect mood, utilizing it to subvert and confound audiences’ perceptions. The ongoing use of people as subjects in her work is employed to explore a myriad of emotions and suggests the fragmented, mysterious and often absurd nature of the human condition. At De Player she will be premiering a new film, alongside a collaborative performance with Wen Chin Fu and Marie Guilleray.
http://www.helenflanaganphotography.co.uk/
http://wenchinfu.com/
http://marieguilleray.com/

■ RENEE VAN TRIER (nl)
Van Trier can not be tied to the rigid conventions of music. She deceive its listeners, to bully and seduce. Musically her work is more reminiscent of the rougher work of the Neue Deutsche Welle. Think of feverish performativism, Dadaist improvisation and indefinable sounds.
http://www.reneevantrier.nl/

■ DJ IAN MARTIN (nl)
Ian Martin is generally known as stalwart of the Dutch electro scene related to Bunker, Panzerkreuz Records, etc. For Gardena he'll be excavating the weirder vinyl artifacts from his collection, next to rhythmic material that mimics polypharmaceutical intoxication.
http://ianmartin.nl/