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Mark van Tongeren
A gong resounds on the groundfloor of a spa. Through the mezzanine situated at the spa’s glass façade, its sound waves travel to the basement, where a voice answers the gong. A multi-level dialogue begins, in more than one sense of the word. Instruments and voices, audience and performers mingle in a unique sound-space-event that tests the limits of music, mind & body.
Festival Transverbal is dedicated to the memory and legacy of the German multi-medial artist Michael Vetter, who passed away, aged 70, on December 7, 2013. It bridges an ongoing search for sound’s soothing inner secrets with its more expressive post-modern/avant-garde forms.
Expect voices, singing bowls, sheng (mouth organ), a gong, performers moving through the space, an immersive 60-minute sonic surrounding. Talk to or play with the musicians afterwards!
Through this Festival we keep alive the spirit and works of Michael Vetter, who inspired many musicians, artists, and other individuals along his extremely versatile and moving career in Europe and Asia. Michael Vetter had an incredible output of art works (starting at age 5); compositions, LPs/CDs; tours and performances; and educational methods for (experimental) flute, voice and instruments, among many other things. His musical career spanned the period from his late school years (early 1960s) until the months before his death (september 2013), when he worked on pieces by Karlheinz Stockhausen that many musicians have played and performed piecemeal, while none really gave them a try in their entirety. Thus, shortly after his death, Natascha Nikeprelevic, Vetter’s foremost successor, and Stockhausen Verlag worked on the publication of Expo, one of Stockhausen’s scores with pluses and minuses (+ -) as guiding points. Vetter recorded it with Nikeprelevic and FX Randomiz 8 weeks before he passed away. (The CD appeared in May of this year, listen here).
Michael Vetter’s visit to Taiwan, together with Natascha Nikprelevic, left a great impression on those who had the chance to see/hear them or work with them, during their residency at the Taipei National University of Arts, where Chung Minder from the Theatre Department invited them.
Michael Vetter always straddled the paths outside clear-cut styles, usually combining elements from here and there, and most of all relying on his own experimental genius to create fresh insights and sounds at every moment. His long-time affiliation with zen in Japan and outspoken zen themes in the 1980s aliened him from some of his former avant-garde colleagues, who shied away from (or were not interested in) anything to do with Eastern “spirituality”. However, looking back on his life in its entirety, it is clear that Vetter was dedicated to creative imagination and disciplined, daily musical and artistic rituals, above anything else. For Vetter, the world itself was constantly exploding with creation, unfolding, coming-into-existence, into a myriad forms, colours, sounds. He observed this world with intelligence, humor, commitment and compassion. His love and dedication to the arts and existence (‘Dasein’) as a whole was the starting point for his creative response to them. Or rather, it seemed he was able to let creative forces take their course through him, as a critical, subtle moderator.
Michael Vetter making Indian ink drawings, Academia Caparaia, Italy, 2009
It is in this spirit of capturing the uniqueness of every meeting (between performers, with a certain space and with a certain audience, at a given time) that we want to inaugurate a Festival which we hope to repeat in following years.
We prepared this Transverbal Festival in collaboration with Canjune Spa and Nicole’s Creative agency. It will be held on Sunday, November 16 at Canjune Spa. There are two identical concerts, you can join us either in the afternoon (3 PM) or in the evening (7 PM). The participants are Hans de Back, Lu Chi-Chung and Lee Wei-Lin, Li Li-Chin and Mark van Tongeren, and probably a few more musical assistants.
For more information and tickets, please follow this link to accupass.
Limited number of tickets!
Please also note that there will be a limited number of seats in the space, and limited storage space for your bags. Do not bring your own food/drinks.
We believe this concert will be less suitable for young children.
I received news from Aldar Tamdyn, the good-hearted and pun-loving member of the Tuvan group Chirgilchin, who is now also the director of the Tuvan Cultural Center. There will be a combined festival of throat singing (khöömei, in Tuvan) to be held in Tuva AND in China. It is possible for participants (khoomeigie as Aldar calls them) to make the journey from Tuva to China with the Tuvan musicians, which promises to be an outstanding opportunity to immerse yourself deeply in throat singing and meet a lot of musicians from both sides of the Russian-Mongolian border.
Aldar wrote:
“Greetings Khoomeigie!
The Tuvan Cultural Center would like to personally invite you to the 2014 “Music of the Great Steppe Festival”. The festival will take place in Kyzyl, Tuva, Russia June 26-28, 2014. Participants are being invited from all over the world. We welcome your participation at our festival in the birthplace of Khoomei culture.”
Foreign throat singers and guttural artists who want to join the competition should get in touch with the organisers as soon as possible. If you have never been to Tuva and dream about once doing it, then perhaps this may be a good opportunity. Send an email to tuvancenter@gmail.com to register.
There is a chance to study in small groups with the excellent musicians
of Chirgilchin:
“We are also offering special master classes for those who choose to arrive in Tuva early. These classes will be taught by contemporary masters of the craft:
Mongun-ool Ondar, the recent recipient of “Notable Artist Of The Russian Federation” as well as many times Grand Prix winner of the International Khoomei Symposium and member of the world famous group, Chirgilchin.
Igor Koshkendey, recipient of the coveted “Throat Singer of the People of the Republic of Tuva”, a member of the Tuvan National Orchestra as well as a member of Chirgilchin.
Other teachers will include other members of the Tuvan National Orchestra, Ensemble Tuva, Alash, and Tyva Kyzy.
This is an incredible opportunity for the Khoomeigie enthusiast.
These Master classes will take place from June 19th thru the 28th.
During this meeting, we will be forming duets and trios with the students. Then we will drive to China to participate in the Throat Singing Festival for ensembles in Manchuria. “
This festival, the first festival of traditional Asian overtone singing to be held in China, takes place in the city of Manzhouli from July 5 to 9, 2014.
Manzhouli (map) is just across the Siberian border, and slightly east of the Republic of Mongolia. I guess it’s about a two-day car-journey from Tuva’s capital Kyzyl. Since it is a multinational event, permits to cross the border at Manzhouli should be included in the package or easy to obtain on the spot with the invitation of the festival.
The Tuvan Cultural Centre website offers a bit more information:
“The competition will be attended by the unique folklore groups from different parts of Russia, China and the Republic of Tuva. Organizers invite throat singers from other countries to participate in soloist competition.
To participate in the contest a competitor must complete an application and return it no later than May 1, 2014 by e -mail: tuvancenter@gmail.com”
Please also check the Tuvan Cultural Center’s website, http://tuvaculture.com. I suggest to those who are interested to write to the above email address a.s.a.p., to find out more details about participation fees, program, accommodation, visa, et cetera.
Catch a video of Chirgilchin playing for goats here on Youtube. “Chirgilchin normally plays music for people about goats. This performance is a song for goats about people.”
Thresholds of the Audible 