TRIO NICOLAI/RUFFING/TATAROGLOU

Tassos Genpō 玄峰 Tataroglou - shakuhachi
Giancarlo Nicolai - electric ukulele, objects, effects
Eric Ruffing - analogue synthesizer, tape, concept & graphic score

All music by Nicola-Ruffing-Tataroglou.
Live at Polychoros KET in Athen/Greece on February 20, 2024.
Recorded, mixed & mastered by Eric Ruffing. Photo by Eric Ruffing.


三曲 SANKYOKU for shakuhachi, electric ukulele & electronics:
The term Sankyoku refers to a traditional form of Japanese chamber music  for shakuhachi or kokjū, shamisen and koto with and without vocals, since the late 17th century and means something like “music for three”. The bamboo flute Shakuhachi, with its (far eastern) idiomatic gesture, fuses with (western) contemporary-experimental sounds or is contrasted with them. Sound fragments from the honkyoku tradition and improvised shakuhachi sequences meet an improvisational electric ukulele and an electronically abstract sound world, which also contains playbacks of pre-produced shakuhachi sound recordings and concrete sounds. The form, time scale and expressive density of the joint improvisation are structured by a central principle of Japanese traditional music and general arts, the jo-ha-kyū, which is also reflected in the flower and tea ceremony.

Sankyoku (Music for three) - Live in Athen

TRIO NICOLAI/RUFFING/TATAROGLOU

Giancarlo Nicolai - electric ukulele, objects, effects
Eric Ruffing - analogue synthesizer, tape, field recordings
Tassos Tataroglou - microtone duplex trumpet, electronics, concept

All music by NicolaI-Ruffing-Tataroglou.
Live at Roxy Bar in Birsfelden/Switzerland  on November 2, 2024.
Recorded, mixed & mastered by Eric Ruffing.

'LEUCHTFEUER' for improvisers and tape:
Leuchtfeuer is a conceptual piece where non-idiomatic improvisation is structured through external sources. Lighthouses, for centuries symbols of the importance of communication, are asked now to fulfill a similar function in a new context: to enrich communication between the improvisers and help to create new macrostructures in the musical narrative. Flashing patterns from 6 lighthouses from the Mediterranean and Baltic Seas were analyzed and transformed into sound motifs by the trio. Every motif along with field recordings made on ships at the Mediterranean Sea by Eric Ruffing and Tassos Tataroglou are part of the Tape. Lighthouse signals are coded signals, meaning that they can be seen from a great distance by ships and identified as location markers, therefore each lighthouse sends a unique signal, similar to the Morse code that can be interpreted by sailors. Nowadays, 8 different types of signals are used in relation to the amount of light / darkness and the kind of pattern they send. In Leuchtfeuer are used signals from Flashing Lighthouses, which have a periodic signal with a length of 3 to 30 seconds and a predetermined number of flashes at specific times. For instance, the lighthouse at the Old Fortress on the island of Corfu in Greece has a period of 6 seconds with a total of two flashes, one on the 1st and one on the 3rd second of the period. The order of the lighthouse signals and the field recordings used in the piece is decided every time before the performance through a random generator and therefore every concert remains improvised. The irregularities of the lighthouse signals, on the one hand, complicate planning and increase unpredictability, and on the other hand, the periodic arrangement in each signal leads to a discrete macrostructure. Or perhaps it creates a field of tension in which new possibilities keep opening up?

Leuchtfeuer (Birsfelden Trio version)

Fuge in C

Branches

Fuge in fis

Grab a book

Hans Koch - soprano saxophone, clarinet
Sebastian Rotzler - double bass
Eric Ruffing - analogue synthesizer

All music by Koch-Rotzler-Ruffing.
Stereo recorded live at Forum für Improvisierte Musik (FIM) in Basel/Switzerland on January 28, 2020 and editing on October 2025 by Eric Ruffing.

Grab a book

Ortolan Ensemble

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