Mauna - Bram Stadhouders & Annabel Laura

Bram Stadhouders - guitar / composition
Sebastian Brouwer - tenor voice
David Hoogerheide - electronics
ORDER: www.bramstadhouders.nl

Cantata CD Teaser

Nieuws & Co Dansorgelgitarist Uitzendregistratie

In “Bram Stadhouders & The Big Barrel Organ”, guitarist Stadhouders plays live on the largest transportable traditional danceorgan in the world, The Rhapsody. The musician is the first in the world to create live music on a traditional dance-organ (big barrel organ), as to why you can call him the “first dance-organ guitarist”. Stadhouders plays the enormous organ via his guitar and laptop, triggering it with MIDI, mixing composition and pure improvisation.

The history of the danceorgan goes back to 1850, when the first danceorgans were made. Especially in Belgium and the South of Holland, the organ became immensely popular, as a precursor for the jukebox. In café’s, fairs and dancehalls, the organs were playing the latest hits. Besides the many organ pipes, danceorgans are often equipped with extra instruments such as accordeons, percussion, saxophones. Between 1910 and 1930, thousands of danceorgans were built, you could find one in almost every dancehall. However, as the loudspeaker made its way into the public, these organs were banned to musea or private collectors.

Guitarist Bram Stadhouders thinks that’s a shame, so he went on a research into this mysterious world. After playing on the danceorgan “The Busy Drone” in Orgelpark Amsterdam, he discovered that many barrel-organs work now with MIDI, which means you can play them with any instrument that have MIDI capabilities. As he went on to look for a transportable danceorgan, he found “The Rhapsody”, which was only a milestone away from his birthplace Tilburg, coincidently also the place with the most barrel organs per square meter in the world. The Rhapsody organ is 7 meters long and 5 meters high, has more than 800 organ pipes, 12 percussion instruments, 2 accordeons, and weighs more than 5 tons. “When composing contemporary music for these organs, you hear totally unique sounds, a mix between electronic and acoustic sounds. The danceorgan in really the first synthesizer. The way we choose sounds on any synthesizer is derived from the barrel organ.” says Stadhouders. The guitarist feels that he’s “made for this project”, a concept that he’s been waiting for all his life.

Bram Stadhouders (1987) is a musician who always seeks new challenges and adventures by always creating new exciting projects. After a big adventure working with the world-class classical Netherlands Chamber Choir, followed by a trio project with classical tenor Sebastian Brouwer and laptop musician David Hoogerheide, Stadhouders now plunges on the danceorgan. Other highlights from his career are winning the North Sea Jazz Festival composition assignment, playing on a guitar made of ice in Norway with Terje Isungset, recording a CD with Jim Black and Sidsel Endresen, and much more.

Bram Stadhouders & The Big Barrel Organ is supported by Dutch Funds for the Arts and Prins Bernhard Fonds.

Bram Stadhouders & The Big Barrel Organ CD Teaser

Enderra Sampler

# (from "Tonelist")

This track is a preview of Bram's upcoming album: Orbit.

Orbit Album Teaser

Multi-awarded guitarist / composer / improviser Bram Stadhouders is one of The Netherlands' most forward-looking adventurous musicians, operating in the fields of jazz, improvisation, ambient, electronic music.

He continuously attempts to push the boundaries in search of innovative projects that challenge genres, disciplines and technology, while forming a deeply personal approach in emotional expression.

He has worked with some of the most sought-after musicians in the fields of improvisation and classical music, releasing over 15 albums and performing in over 50 countries worldwide.

Bram Stadhouders General Teaser

Bram Stadhouders (b.1987 in Tilburg, Netherlands), has been called the most interesting guitartalent of The Netherlands. His style is atmospheric, lyrical and experimental, and he uses guitar and technology to create ambiental worlds of emotional focus. With his many projects, he always manages to capture the attention of listeners and press, and at the age of 21 he was elected as "Young VIP" by the Dutch jazz association in 2008. With his own projects he toured extensively all over the Netherlands, Europe and the USA, and he is also regularly invited as a guest-musician in international projects with some of the worlds most established improvisers, like Terje Isungset from Norway (playing ice-guitar), Grzech Piotrowski from Poland. He released five CDs with his own projects, one of them as a trio with widely known Sidsel Endresen and Jim Black. In 2012 he got elected for the international program Take Five Europe, and in the same year he was the youngest composer ever to win the prestigious North Sea Jazz Festival Composition Assignment which he realized together with the Netherlands Chamber Choir. He named the result Henosis, and it's CD is released on Challenge Records. Bram is on an endless quest for unexpected challenges to broaden his musical vision and push his music in new directions.

bramstadhouders

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