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Eva Pöpplein, Janko Hanushevsky, Merzouga, LOFT
Photo: Eva Pöpplein & Janko Hanushevsky © Andreas Vandenhoff

LOFT

Merzouga & Filippa Gojo: Peatland Paradise | live recording

Filippa Gojo - Gesang, Soundtoys Eva Pöpplein - Elektronik, Komposition Janko Hanushevsky - präparierte Bassgitarren, Komposition

(english: see below)

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In ihren Poems from the Moor besingt die Dichterin Emily Brontë (1818-48) die sturmumtoste Schönheit der Yorkshire Moors, in denen sie aufwuchs. In ihren Moor-Gedichten entwirft sie eine wilde Gegenwelt zum strengen Leben im viktorianischen England. Elektronikerin Eva Pöpplein und E-Bassist/Komponist Janko Hanushevsky vertonen diese Moor-Gedichte zu Songs, die sie mit Sängerin Filippa Gojo zu einer lebendigen Performance verdichten. Ihren Liedzyklus orchestrieren sie mit einer elektro-akustischen Komposition aus Moor-Fieldrecordings und bioakustischen Aufnahmen von Wasserkäfern. Energetische Improvisation trifft auf elektro-akustische Komposition. Das Prinzip der Torfbildung übersetzen die drei in ihrem Liederzyklus musikalisch: Vibrierende Akkordlayers und flirrende Cluster aus Stimme, präpariertem E-Bass und Elektronik, Field-Recordings und Lyrik verbinden sich zu einem großen Klang, der die Jahrhunderte miteinander in Beziehung setzt. Mit PEATLAND PARADISE zelebriert das Trio musikalisch die Schönheit, die Einzigartigkeit und die Zerbrechlichkeit des Ökosystems Moor, dessen zentrale Rolle im Kampf gegen die Klimakrise erst langsam eine breite Öffentlichkeit erfährt.

Das Duo Merzouga von Elektronikerin Eva Pöpplein und E-Bassist Janko Hanushevsky arbeitet am Übergang von Klangkunst, elektro-akustischer Musik und Sprache. Uraufführungen in der Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Deutschlandfunk Kammermusiksaal, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, HAU Berlin. Klanginstallationen im Humboldt Forum Berlin, Alte Pinakothek München, Museo Franz Mayer Mexico Stadt und im Museum Schnütgen. Ihre Arbeiten wurden vielfach ausgezeichnet, in allen ARD-Anstalten und in zahlreichen europäischen Ländern ausgestrahlt. Releases auf GRUENREKORDER und Prospero Classics, sowie auf internationalen Compilations, u.a. dem WIRE TAPPER.

www.merzougamusic.com

Filippa Gojos experimentierfreudiger, berührender Gesang und ihre Neugier auf unterschiedlichste vokale Ausdrucksformen sind zentral für ihr künstlerisches Schaffen. Schon während ihrem Jazzgesang-Studium an der Hochschule für Musik und Tanz in Köln spielte Filippa Gojo mit deutschen Jazz-Größen und renommierten Klangkörpern wie der WDR Bigband, sowie ihrem eigenen Quartett. 2014 wurde sie mit dem Förderstipendium der Stadt Köln für Jazz und improvisierte Musik, dem Horst und Gretl Will Stipendium, ausgezeichnet. 2015 erhielt sie mit ihrem Filippa Gojo Quartett sowohl den Bandpreis des NEUEN DEUTSCHEN JAZZPREISES, als auch den SOLISTENPREIS. Von 2016 bis 2023 unterrichtete Filippa Gojo Jazz-/Popgesang an der Musikhochschule Freiburg, seit 2023 ist sie Professorin für Jazzgesang an der Hochschule für Musik Nürnberg.

https://www.filippagojo.de

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Filippa Gojo - vocals, soundtoys Eva Pöpplein - electronics, composition Janko Hanushevsky - prepared bass guitars, composition

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In her Poems from the Moor, poet Emily Brontë (1818–48) sings of the storm-swept beauty of the Yorkshire moors where she grew up. In these moor poems, she conjures a wild counter-world to the strict life of Victorian England. Electronic artist Eva Pöpplein and bassist/composer Janko Hanushevsky set these moor poems to songs, which they condense into a vivid performance together with singer Filippa Gojo. They orchestrate their song cycle with an electro-acoustic composition drawn from field recordings of the moor and bioacoustic recordings of water beetles. Energetic improvisation meets electro-acoustic composition. The three translate the principle of peat formation into music in their song cycle: vibrating chord layers and shimmering clusters of voice, prepared bass guitar and electronics, field recordings and poetry merge into one great sound that connects the centuries. With PEATLAND PARADISE, the trio musically celebrates the beauty, uniqueness and fragility of the moorland ecosystem, whose central role in the fight against the climate crisis is only slowly gaining wider public awareness.

The duo Merzouga, made up of electronic artist Eva Pöpplein and bassist Janko Hanushevsky, works at the intersection of sound art, electro-acoustic music and language. World premieres at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Deutschlandfunk Kammermusiksaal, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, and HAU Berlin. Sound installations at the Humboldt Forum Berlin, Alte Pinakothek Munich, Museo Franz Mayer Mexico City and the Museum Schnütgen. Their work has received numerous awards and has been broadcast on all ARD stations as well as in numerous European countries. Releases on GRUENREKORDER and Prospero Classics, as well as on international compilations, including the WIRE TAPPER.

www.merzougamusic.com

Filippa Gojo's adventurous, touching vocal style and her curiosity about a wide range of vocal expressions are central to her artistic work. Even during her jazz vocal studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln, Filippa Gojo performed with major names of German jazz and renowned ensembles such as the WDR Bigband, as well as with her own quartet. In 2014, she was awarded the City of Cologne's grant for jazz and improvised music, the Horst und Gretl Will Scholarship. In 2015, with her Filippa Gojo Quartett, she received both the Band Award and the Soloist Award of the NEUER DEUTSCHER JAZZPREIS (New German Jazz Prize). From 2016 to 2023, Filippa Gojo taught jazz/pop vocals at the Freiburg Musikhochschule; since 2023, she has been professor of jazz vocals at the Nuremberg University of Music.

https://www.filippagojo.de

Further information

Venue:

LOFT

The LOFT in Cologne's Ehrenfeld district is exactly what its name suggests: a spacious loft on the top floor of a former perfume factory. Since 1989 it has been home to the city's musical avant-garde as well as a scene hub and a jazz laboratory for students.

Over those decades it has grown into a respected stage for improvised music, contemporary music, and jazz, with a reputation reaching well beyond Germany. Most of the Cologne jazz musicians who have made their mark nationally and internationally in the past thirty years took their first career steps here, among them Nils Wogram, Hayden Chisholm, Angelika Niescier, Frank Gratkowski, Robert Landfermann, Pablo Held, and Sebastian Sternal.

The Cologne Triennale, WDR, and Deutschlandfunk stage concerts and recordings at the LOFT, and the venue has been invited to the Moers Festival five times. Its own label, 2ndFloor, releases selected recordings, and more than 1,000 live and studio productions made in the LOFT studio have appeared on other labels. Supported by the association 2ndFloor e. V. and the collective jungesloft, it presents over 200 events a year.

Top-tier instruments – including a Steinway D grand, one of the finest concert pianos in any German jazz club – a professional recording studio with award-winning engineers, and the room's distinctive atmosphere have drawn many prominent guests, from Lee Konitz, Steve Lacy, and Peter Brötzmann to Kurt Rosenwinkel, Marilyn Crispell, and Jim Black. Still, the programming focus remains on supporting Cologne's own musicians.

Since 2009 the LOFT has received the NRW venue programming award every year, an honor that specifically recognizes work with emerging regional artists. In 2016 the British Guardian named it one of the ten best jazz clubs in Europe, and at the German Jazz Prize it was voted "Club/Venue of the Year" in 2021 and again in 2023 — a category decided not by the expert jury but directly by the more than 1,300 members of the German Jazz Union.

more info

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