Ryoko Ono & Alexander Frangenheim / M. Takara & Carla Boregas ft. Dudu Kouate

It’s as if these two opposing energies give rise to a new quality. Drummer M. Takara plays airy grooves woven with a dense tapestry of ghost notes, drawing on bossa nova and hard bop. Carla Boregas counters with sparse accents and the pulsating sounds of her analog synthesizers. The versatile percussionist Dudù Kouate adds another layer to the duo’s sound. Kouate, who feels equally at home in the musical traditions of West Africa and the Western avant-garde, has previously collaborated with the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Roscoe Mitchell, Moor Mother, and others.

Ryoko Ono and Alexander Frangenheim bring together two heavyweights of improvised music. The versatile saxophonist and flutist Ono is just as versed in progressive rock, hip hop, noise, and R&B as she is in free improvisation. With exquisite technique, she contrasts her lyrical playing with noisy sounds that suddenly emerge and disappear again in an organic flow of scales. Alexander Frangenheim, a trained double bassist, has perfected his expressive playing over many years. The long list of his collaborators reads like a “who’s who” of the international improvisation scene. Frangenheim draws on a rich palette of timbres and tremendous technical agility as means of expression.

Supported by the Berlin Capital Culture Fund (HKF)