In Bloom: Fifth edition (again)

made in den Haag

“The bird fights its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Who would be born must first destroy a world."
Herman Hesse, Demian

The debut album of Mári Mákó, Oudemian, fuses introspective instrumental and vocal textures with live electronics. It is a sonic journey of finding inner strength through crisis, of overcoming existential angst and rebirth.

The title was invented as a combination of two-words: "Ouroboros" and "Demian." Ouroboros is an ancient symbol of a snake biting its own tail representing the circle of life, and Hesse's novel Demian depicts a young boy struggling to find his new self-knowledge and his place in an immoral world. As it happens, Oudemian also holds an actual meaning in ancient Greek: "none."

The meeting of these concepts drive the narrative and musical evolution of the album, which moves from a place of fragility and mystery and arriving at a place of reflection.

Waves

(2015) - for members of the Ives Ensemble, members of Slagwerk den Haag, Ere Lievonen and two midi-controlled organs. 

Performed in Het Orgelpark (Amsterdam)

performed by Rik Andriessen (flute), Hans Petra (bass clarinet), Josje ter Haar (violin), Job ter Haar (cello), Fedor Teunisse (vibraphone), Vitaly Medvedev (vibraphone), Ere Lievonen (The Van Straten (hand-pumped medieval organ) ), two midi-controlled organs (The Busy Drone (large barrel organ) & The Sauer Organ (romantic era organ))

Is It Working?

(2017) - for mixed ensemble & laptops

performed by Anežka Šejnohová (flute), Alfian Emir Adytia (cello),
Pavel Nauš (trombone), James Alexandropoulos-McEwan (el. guitar), Orestis Willemen, (el. guitar), Stefania Pigozzo(piano), Gabriele Segantini (percussion)

conducted by Tom Goff

audio recording and mixing by Weronika Wrzosek

video of performance can be found here:
https://youtu.be/JciNHRMjZBQ

torrents and streams

(2018) - for mixed ensemble with replica Harry Partch instruments and tape 

performed by Scordatura Ensemble:
Reinier van Helsdingen (chromelodeon), Lucia Mense (recorder), Lucas van Helsdingen(bass clarinet), Alfrun Schmid (viola & voice), Elisabeth Smalt (adapted viola), Chris Rainier (adapted guitar II), Samuel Vriezen (Kithara Vrizen)

polluters

(2017) - for Laptops, Smartphones or any devices that can stream a video with sound from the internet 

This is an adaptation of an audiovisual piece that changes with each performance. The original piece can be performed by anyone and experienced in many different ways. 

In its original form Layers comprises of six videos (each titled Layer 1 till 6 respectively), which I made and uploaded online. Playing layers 1 - 6 synchronously, and ideally on 6 different devices, creates an audio-visual piece of undefined length. You can start any of the videos at any moment, and they can align with each other at any moment. Each time you listen to and view the piece, it sounds and looks slightly different, creating an ever-changing yet static installation-esque work.

To experience the piece in its originally intended form use the following links while adhering to the instructions in the description box for the videos.

Layer 1 - youtu.be/g7-OZk-1Hv4
Layer 2 - youtu.be/benc6XQZF3A
Layer 3 - youtu.be/mY-mhTX_FvM
Layer 4 - youtu.be/IWEq-HqW4eo
Layer 5 - youtu.be/jXEO49WD7EA
Layer 6 - youtu.be/kUZlIk2REY4

Layers (a studio version)

(2018) - for mixed ensemble, smartphones, tape and an audio-reactive lightstructure created by Vito Willems

performed by the Nieuw Ensemble with conductor Ryan Bancroft

featured in An Evening of Today 2018

More Layers

Organo (Aurélie Nyirabikali Lierman, Riccardo Marogna, Ábel Fazekas) perform at In Bloom: Second Edition on 3 October 2019

listen to more of their work at:
organo.bandcamp.com

Organo - Improvisation (excerpt)

Lam Lai & Miri Lee are a duo of composer / electronic musician Lam Lai and  choreographer and real-time performer Miri Lee.
 ---In Bloom: Third Edition
----12 Dec 2019

for more of Lam Lai's work go to https://lamlai.net/
to see Miri Lee's work go to https://www.mirilee.nl

Lam Lai & Miri Lee (excerpt)

Ctrl Freq (Kacper Ziemianin) performs on his LSe (light sequencer) instrument.
In Bloom: Second Edition
3 October 2019

See more of his work here:
https://ctrlfreq.wordpress.com/

Ctrl Freq - LSe improvisation (excerpt)

Toktek (Tom Verbruggen) feat drummer Wouter Jaftoran.
In Bloom: Third Edition
12 December 2019

for more of Toktek's work go here:
https://www.toktek.org/

Toktek & Wouter Jaftoran (another excerpt)

Greek/Scottish composer and electric guitarist, currently based in the Hague (NL). His work draws from his experiences in contemporary classical composition, classical guitar studies, playing in offbeat rock bands, performing free improvisation and open scores, working with electronic music, and developing installation-like performances and works.

Layers (a studio version)

James A.-McEwan