To hear on Sunday 23 and 30 October 2016, 2pm - 9pm:
(2016, Premiere)
by Jaap Blonk (Holland)
Jaap Blonk on 'Fehlberliner U-Wirr':
When Jaap Blonk first saw the street sign “Fehrbelliner Straße”, he misread it as “Fehlberliner Straße”, and has never been able to read it in the right way again.
That is the origin of the title of this sound piece. Blonk scrambled the station lists of the Berlin subway lines, U1 till U9, with a random process. This created in part pure sound poetry, performed by Blonk with a wide range of different vocal sounds.
For the accompaniments he chose a combination of instrumental sounds and other noises, often machine sounds. The compositions are built according to algorithms, based on mathematical number sequences.
For the announcements “U1” through “U9”, as well as for the last part “The whole Berlin subway net taken together”, computer voices were used.
Audio Field Reports nos. 1-54:
Interviews since January 2014 with the artists, concept, questions, design by Knut Remond. Limited editions audio cassettes, each 8 copies numbered. Available at 'ohrenhoch, der Geräuschladen' (and heard on headphone in the ohrenhoch archive).
Audio Field Report no. 55 / Soundaktivismus 34: Interview with Jaap Blonk by Knut Remond.
LABORATORY OF HEARING
Convey your thoughts relating to hearing and your experiences in the presentations of 'ohrenhoch Sundays' with the theme 'sound activism'!
With this action the Laboratory of Hearing starts on the occasion of "Dead or Ice Cream".
A sheet of paper is ready for you to write down your thoughts, questions or answers. Your statements remain in the Soundgallery and thus will be readable for all visitors and sound activists.
'ohrenhoch' is a place that tries to intensify its activities on both sides, with the artists on the one hand and the visitors on the other hand, who of course are active, too, and who can contribute to finally spur on together a social, Enlightenment discourse.
ohrenhoch, der Geräuschladen | Sept. 2016
Jaap Blonk (born 1953 in Woerden, Holland) is a self-taught composer, performer and poet.
He went to university for mathematics and musicology but did not finish those studies.
In the late 1970s he took up saxophone and started to compose music.
A few years later he discovered his potential as a vocal performer, at first in reciting poetry and later on in improvisations and his own compositions. For almost two decades the voice was his main means for the discovery and development of new sounds.
From around the year 2000 on Blonk started work with electronics, at first using samples of his own voice, then extending the field to include pure sound synthesis as well.
He took a year off of performing in 2006. As a result, his renewed interest in mathematics made him start a research of the possibilities of algorithmic composition for the creation of music, visual animation and poetry.
As a vocalist, Jaap Blonk is unique for his powerful stage presence and almost childlike freedom in improvisation, combined with a keen grasp of structure. He has performed around the world, on all continents. With the use of live electronics the scope and range of his concerts has acquired a considerable extension.
Besides working as a soloist, he collaborated with many musicians and ensembles in the field of contemporary and improvised music, like Maja Ratkje, Mats Gustafsson, Joan La Barbara, The Ex, the Netherlands Wind Ensemble and the Ebony Band. He premiered several compositions by the German composer Carola Bauckholt, including a piece for voice and orchestra. A solo voice piece was commissioned by the Donaueschinger Musiktage 2002. On several occasions he collaborated with visual computer artist Golan Levin.
Blonk's work for radio and television includes several commissioned radio plays.
He also makes larger-scale drawings of his scores, which are being exhibited.
He has his own record label, Kontrans, featuring a total of 22 available releases so far. Other Blonk recordings appeared on Staalplaat, Basta, VICTO, Ecstatic Peace, My Dance The Skull, Monotype, Plant Migration Records, Elegua Records and Scumbag Relations.
His book/CD 'Traces of Speech' was published in 2012 by Hybriden-Verlag, Berlin. A comprehensive collection of his sound poetry came out as a book with 2 CDs in August, 2013, entitled "KLINKT".