Hear/Her/Ear  a series devoted to Women in Experimental Music

background photo: Rose Lange 

(Photo by: Carol Sandin)

• Next:  Hear/Her/Ear #3 August 27, 2010 7pm  Rose Lange with Ben Lind:  Bone Marrow Hsin-Jung Tsai $5 donation (all proceeds go to musicians) Rose Lange – violin, viola, voice Ben Lind – voice, Hello Kitty guitar, Phoenix Orbs  and Hsin-Jung Tsai  –  piano After years as a classical musician, Rose Lange moved to folk fiddle and folk dance and then to improvised music. She led the Vadrozsa Hungarian band in Seattle, then lived in Hungary, where she learned and sang Roma (Gypsy) popular songs. She has played in gamelans on the East, West, and Gulf coasts. Dancing the Lindy Hop inspired her to do musical improvisation. Rose is a member of Chokecherry Date (formerly Pear Prickley Pear). She performed in a trio with Philip Gayle and Ben Lind in the early 2000s. Ben Lind has been improvising vocal effects since the third grade. His unusual vocal techniques and sounds come out of his interest in linguistics and in nonverbal communication, and studies of Spanish and Mandarin. Edith Piaf is a major inspiration. Ben has been involved with experimental and avant-garde music since 2000 when he played bass and throat with The Defenestration Unit as part of the Hawthorne Improvisation Collective in Houston. During this time he performed with Eugene Chadbourne, Philip Gayle, David Maddox, and others.  Hsin-Jung Tsai, a native of Taipei, Taiwan began her piano studies at the age of five, and composition studies at 18. She attended the Hua-Kang Art School in Taipei, where she majored in piano performance. In 1996 she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Music Theory and Composition from the Taipei National University of the Arts, Taiwan, where she studied with Nan-Chang Chien. Ms. Tsai then came to the United States in the fall of 1997 to study at the Aaron Copland School of Music, Queens College of City University of New York (CUNY), where she received her Master of Music Degree in 1999 while studying with Bruce Saylor. In 2000, she studied at the PhD-DMA program in music composition at the CUNY Graduate Center, where she studyied with Tania Leon and Bernadette Speech.  Previously Hear/Her/Ear #2  Friday, 7.23.10, 7pm Alexandra Marculewicz Adshead (Houston) – voice, electronics Pear Prickley Pear (Houston) – voice and various instruments Khrystah Gorham (Houston) - electronics Alexandra Marculewicz Adshead is a diverse and spontaneous singer. Interested in both structure and improvisation, she walks the line between experimental vocal techniques and traditional styles, pulling sounds from her imagination and processing them through her computer. A Massachusetts native, Alexandra moved to Houston, TX from Brooklyn, NY in late 2006. At that time she concentrated on the body in her performance technique and its connection to voice through movement. She discovered great inspiration in the modern dance community of NYC and in collaboration with them on projects. For most of the 1990s she lived in the Czech Republic, where she fronted two bands, releasing three critically-acclaimed CDs and touring extensively throughout Europe. She now works alone, composing music on her Powerbook when she is not singing to her one-year-old daughter. http://www.myspace.com/radiohvezda  Pear Prickley Pear (formerly Pawpaw Pomelo Blue Raspberry Sour Apple formerly Starfruit Dragonfuit formerly Lemon Lime formerly Strawberry Watermelon Formerly Girl Band) Hear/Her/Ear #1 Monday, July 5, 2010, 7pm Sonia P. Flores (Houston) – upright bass, vocals  & KAMAMA:  Audrey Chen (Baltimore) - cello/voice/ electronics  Luca Marini (New York) – drums/ percussion  Sonia P.  Fores- Upright bass and vocalist, approaches her solo musical performances through jazz, blues and spoken word. Her sound is dark, sweet and vulnerable and never lacks intensity.  KAMAMA is Luca Marini (drums/percussion) and Audrey Chen (cello/voice/electronics) KAMAMA in Cherokee means both elephant and butterfly. There is no overlap in meaning other than the supposed resemblance of the long trunk and flapping ears to the proboscis and wings of that insect. This duo loosely embodies elements of this kind of disparate pairing. Chen and Marini combine the raw energies resultant from and continuously growing out of their respective histories and experiences. Since their first encounter early this year in 2010, they have been forming a new language which steadily deepens, evolves, converges and exposes their inherent similarities and striking differences. It is ecstatic music. It is contrary music. and at times, they depart completely from one another as two distinct creatures, but then are drawn back into the fold of an undeniable tenderness and comprehension.  --- for sound go to: www.myspace.com/audreychen  Audrey Chen is a Chinese-American musician who was born into a family of material scientists, doctors and engineers, outside of Chicago in 1976. Parting ways with the family convention, she turned to the cello at age 8 and voice at 11. After years of classical and conservatory training in both instruments, with a resulting specialization in early and new music, she parted ways again in 2003 to begin new negotiations with sound in order to discover a more individually honest aesthetic.  Now, using the cello, voice and analog electronics, Chen’s work delves deeply into her own version of narrative and non-linear storytelling. A large component of her music is improvised and her approach to this is extremely personal and visceral. Her playing explores the combination and layering of a homemade analog synthesizer, preparations and traditional and extended techniques in both the voice and cello. She works to join these elements into a singular ecstatic personal language.  Recently, her primary focus has been her solo project but she is also involved in many various collaborations. Among musicians, she has worked with Phil Minton, Tetuzi Akiyama, Toshimaru Nakamura, Ko Ishikawa, Elliott Sharp, Aki Onda, Phill Niblock, Frederic Blondy, Jerome Noetinger, C. Spencer Yeh, Alessandro Bosetti, Mats Gustafsson, Mazen Kerbaj, Michael Zerang, Tatsuya Nakatani, Le Quan Ninh, Joe Mcphee, Susan Alcorn, Michele Doneda, Paolo Angeli, Gianni Gebbia, plus many more. Some current projects include: duos with Phil Minton, Luca Marini (kamama), Frederic Blondy, Robert van Heumen (abattoir), Katt Hernandez (Isabel), Nate Wooley (heave and shudder), and Id M Theft Able. Trio with Nate Wooley and C. Spencer Yeh. Plus three new quartet projects with Jeff Carey/Morten J. Olsen/Raed Yassin, Miya Masaoka/Hans Grusel/Kenta Nagai and also with Frederic Blondy/Michael Johnsen/Jerome Noetinger.  Chen has performed in Europe, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan, Taiwan, Canada and the USA. She is currently based in Baltimore, MD USA but primarily maintains an active touring schedule throughout Europe. www.myspace.com/audreychen  Luca Marini(1982) is a German/Italian drummer who mostly grew up in France and is now based in New York (USA). After studying jazz and improvised music at various conservatories and music colleges in Europe and North America he developed his own language and approach to percussion while living in Berlin (D). He performed and toured in Europe and North America playing improvised music, jazz, rock and electronic music with bands and artists like the GRIPI collective, SONIDO13, INEZEBA, Spyros Manesis trio, Nicolas Masson, Roberto Pianca, Tom Blancarte, Dario Fariello, Matan Gov Ari, Louise D.E. Jensen, Johannes Lauer, Raoul van der Weide, Wanja Slavin, Filippo Giuffré, Gael Navard, Natalio Sued etc… Current bands include the duo HERBERT ECKARDT with Danish saxophonist Louise D.E. Jensen, the duo BLIN with Dutch guitarist Jasper Stadhouders, KAMAMA with Chinese-American cellist and vocalist Audrey Chen, CAVEX from Brooklyn, The LITTLE from Germany and TATUNE from France. Other collaborations include works with Matt Meade, Kenny Warren, Tom Blancarte, Xavier Lopez, Vilijam Nybacka, John Stanesco, JMSU, Frans van der Hoeven etc … www.myspace.com/lucamarini background image: Rose Lange (photo by: Carol Sandin) home about programs contact news location:  2316 elgin (at dowling), 77004 [map] next in the series: Friday, October 1, 2010 6:30 - 7:30pm opening reception for site-specific performance installation by Michelle Yom 7:30pm performances by Michelle Yom Melanie Jemison Ayanna Jolivet Mccloud