On September 9, as part of the annual White Night contemporary culture forum, the Skaņu Mežs festival will host its traditional experimental music evening. The free entry event will take place at concert hall Ave Sol (Citadeles street 7); it will start at 20:00.
The following artists will participate in the event:
Alejandra Cárdenas Pacheco (also known as Ale Hop) is a Peruvian-born artist, researcher, and experimental musician based in Berlin. Her body of work includes live shows, record releases, sound and video artworks, research on sound and technology, and original music for film, dance and theater projects.
She began her career in the 2000s in Lima’s experimental and underground scene. In 2012, following several years of participating in different pop and electronic bands, she finally started her solo project after performing alone for the first time in Boiler Room, during her residence at the Red Bull Music Academy New York. In her live performances, she merges the physical qualities of sound with raw emotional performative states. She crafts layers of sounds by blending a complex repertoire of guitar techniques processed with synthesis devices, to create a music of great intensity.
In 2022, Ale Hop was a participating artist of the SHAPE+ platform for innovative music, co-funded by the EU.
Jackson-Pratt is the recording outlet for NYC-based artist Seany Nuelle. Saturation based music, with a heavy focus on detail, texture, and precision editing. Live performances showcase a deep knowledge and love of signal processing, and dynamic exploration of the stereo field. Recently, work has taken a unique focus on painting and the relationship and language shared between audio and the visual. He also operates the tape label Receiving Vault releasing like minded work from others in the abstract electronics realm. Seany is closely associated with the experimental music storefront and gallery space Dead Gods, a space providing an access point for avant garde music in NYC since 2017.
Robert Schwarz works at the intersection between computer music, visual arts and architecture. His compositions propose profound and dissociative listening by deliberately obscuring the difference between sound synthesis and field recording. His work has been presented in various institutions such as CTM Berlin, MAK Center for Art and Architecture in Los Angeles, Kunsthalle Wien, Ars Electronica Linz and Tokyo Arts and Space. Releases of recordings on the labels ETAT, ALTER, Gruenrekorder and AVA. He is the co-founder and curator of the Viennese festival for adventurous music “PARKEN”, as well as co-creator of the series “Los Bar”, “Strookoffer”, “Laxbar” and “Relax”.
Schwarz is a participating artist of the SHAPE+ platform for innovative music, co-funded by the EU.
Born in 1978, Christine Abdelnour lives in France but is of Lebanese origin. After discovering improvised music in 1997 she began a process of self-taught study and sound experimentation using the alto saxophone.
She has developed a unique personal language, producing sounds that are close to those of electroacoustic music but on a purely acoustic instrument. She approaches sound as a malleable material, rich in concrete textures which combine breath, silence and countless acoustic distortions. She has developed extended techniques and complex patterns of sound production, exploring the microtonal aspects of the saxophone and its high-pitched tones. She employs subtle tonguing techniques, unpitched breaths, spittle-flecked growls, biting, slicing notes and breathy echoing sounds from the bell of her horn. Far from any narrative effects, her music addresses the relation between listening and concepts of perception, time and space.
A versatile multi-instrumentalist, arranger, and composer, Nancy Mounir leaves an indelible mark on every project she touches. She’s a key member of Egypt’s alternative music scene, collaborating with artists like Massar Egbari and Dina El Wedidi. She’s the violinist for Massive Scar Era, one of Egypt’s most renowned metal bands, which she co-founded in 2005. She contributes original music to theater productions, films, and international art installations. And lately she has stepped further into the limelight with her solo debut album, Nozhet El Nofous — a transcendent exploration of musical freedom through the lens of century-old archival recordings. For this show, she will collaborate with local musicians, including a french horn player (Māris Evelons), a bassoon player (Raimonds Gulbis) and a string quartet, led by violinist Konstantins Paturskis (Alīna Vižine – violin, Marta Rācene – viola, Magdalēna Ceple -cello).
Alise Rancāne is a Latvian composer, sound artist, and electronic music performer, collaborates with diverse chamber music ensembles and participates in interdisciplinary art projects, creating electronic music pieces. The musician conducts experiments that explore the interaction of sound and space through the use of motion and light sensors. She is interested in the live coding movement and creates music by improvising with digitally created algorithms. In the realm of music, she explores the foundational physical properties of sound and the principles that shape the predictability of musical form. Her electronic music scores reflect influences from academic, experimental electronic, and various other electronic music genres.
Among her sources of inspiration are artists such as Aphex Twin, Autechre, Alvin Lucier, and Mr. Bungle.
Sarma Gabrēna a.k.a. Sarma is a “sound witch”. Currently creating with performance artists, writers, other musicians, and is a part of one of a kind band Grab. This event will be the second time playing together with duduk and bagpipe player Nils Jumītis. Jumītis also creates sound installations and characterizes his work as inward oriented.
Strongly believes that it’s all about the energy, honesty and true nature of humans. Plays with different genres of music, learns a new instrument if the idea calls for a new sound and collaborates with people who seem to share that idea. Creates space for us to just be in, breathe and let our inner critics go quiet for a moment. Note for the listener – it’s totally ok, if you close your eyes and drift away. This is a perfect time for not thinking.
White Night is a modern urban culture forum – one night a year locals and tourists are invited to enjoy a vigil creativity aimed to change their perception of environment and cultural life. This is a chance to purposefully experience something extraordinary and be involved in various activities offered by artists. White Night tradition was started in 2002 in Paris and it spread like a positive epidemic to Brussels, Rome and Madrid, with Riga as one of the early adopters too. Later on, Amsterdam, Bucharest, Porto and Valetta joined the White Night movement in Europe, while Toronto, Tokyo, Montreal and other cities joined it globally.
The event’s supporters are Riga City Council and the Trust for Mutual Understanding.
