Α conversation amongst musicians, one evening, right after the first “Sound of Color” session of the year, has just taken place; Danae (prepared piano) reminds Jannis (guitar & effects), Panayiotis (mandolin) and Irini (live visuals) of the beautiful bass pattern that occurred towards the end of the concert and suddenly wonders:
“Who amongst us played it?”
There have been more than a few instances during Jannis Anastasakis’ 2014 introduced “Sound Color” sessions at KET, were we have been left wondering whence different sounds and melodies originated. “Everything stems from the other person”, Théâtre du Soleil actors exclaim. “Everything begins from an interruption”, writes Paul Valéry.
The beauty of improvisation stems from the absence of a premeditated resolution, and possible failure. Improvisation is an entity that laughs. It does not yet know how to play music. It clumsily strikes piano keys, and strums a chord with the same force a kid throws a stone in the air or through a window. Broken pieces left in its passing, glass on the floor, scribbles on the walls. It all begins with an interruption of the natural flow of things which births ideas. Prior to being a conversation amongst
musicians, improvisation is a confrontational exchange between the musician and his own mistakes, failures and obstacles. Improvisation is never entirely beautiful. It is never established, or conformed. It disrupts newborn melodies and rhythmic pattern. It seeks its tempo, similarly to how one would seek their own breath. It lives outside looking for nothing more than temporary hospitality. It runs staggeringly fast, halts unexpectedly, forms ever-expanding circles around us much like the reflections on a lake thusly creating desultory time, beautiful and frightening all at once. At times, it seems to me that this is why we gather at these sessions: to listen to time at the very moment it is created.
Between the last note played and the audience’s applause, there’s always a momentary silence no one dares break, as if the audience and the performers try to reach a mutual decision about whether it is over or not. Similar to how “Little Nemo” awakes in the final frame of Windsor McCay’s comic books (“Oh! I’m back at earth already, I was dreaming again!”), we look at each other or rub our eyes and we land back in a basement in Kypseli.
A lot of artists have joined the “Sound of Color Sessions” since 2014; musicians who specialize in traditional Balkan and Mediterranean music, free jazz performers, contemporary music ensemble members, improvisers from the electronic, experimental and noise scene of Athens, collaborators of Robert Wyatt, John Zorn, ECM Records artists, vocalists influenced by Savina Yannatou or Sidsel Endresen, composers who are mainly inspired by the ‘70s psychedelic scene or by Arve Henriksen’s soundscapes. Despite all this polyphony, the “Sound of Color” Sessions are deeply rooted in Pink Floyd’s musical universe and the sound Miles Davis created in the early 1960’s with “In a Silent Way” and “Bitches Brew” — a creative path that leads way beyond the commercial genre known as “fusion”: “It is part of a transcendental new music which flushes categories away and, while using musical devices from all styles and cultures, is defined mainly by its deep emotion and unaffected originality”,
as Lester Bangs wrote in 1969 for the magazine “Rolling Stone”. Through similar incentives, a vivid and resilient experimental scene is founded in
Athens. A scene that does not fall short of equivalent European scenes, in its quality of music, number of spaces curating such shows, collaborations with visual artists – a fundamental attribute of the “Sound of Color Sessions”, in the form of collaborations with visual and video artists like Natalia Manta, Deniz Angelaki, Erato Tzavara, COM.ODD.OR, Andreas Karaoulanis... –, or the coupling of music and dance improvisation.
The one thing that might be missing is a written record of the experiences mentioned above. As portrayed by Steve Dalachinsky’s example, whose poems accompanied the New York’s free and experimental music scene, this largely uncharted and libertarian music is not so much in need of institutional or academic critique, as it is in need of finding a new way to put it into words, a critique that would simultaneously constitute poetry.
Dimitris Alexakis, KET, Athens, 10/01/2020
Jannis Anastasakis is considered to be in a league of his own as a guitar player in Greece. His unique, in-depth approach of
the guitar as an ambient sound generator, and the extended use of effects and analog synths, results in a very personal sound and delivery, that sets him apart from all other players in his country.
He is a member of several projects and the founder & designer of JAM pedals....more
A split from modular synth wizard Nils Quak and free-form psych duo Flamingo Creatures splits the difference between cosmic and organic. Bandcamp New & Notable Sep 10, 2020
All proceeds from this hefty compilation of psych, surf, prog, and experimental bands will be donated to racial justice mutual aid funds. Bandcamp New & Notable Nov 5, 2020
