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Jan Bang: Narrative From The Subtropics
by Henning Bolte
For Norwegian electronic musician Jan Bang, the studio is no longer a perfectly isolated space to assemble and produce fictitious beautiful sounds--a boundary he has long since transcended. He not only brought studio equipment and techniques to the performing stage but he also started using them as tools in live improvisation. Together with fellow musician and companion Erik Honoré he established the Punkt-praxis of immediate live remix of musical performances by another (group of) musician(s). His approach has increased the ...
Continue ReadingJan Bang: Narrative from the Subtropics
by John Kelman
There are times when it seems everything that has come before suddenly coalesces, reaches critical mass and engenders near-exponentially increased success and opportunity. For Jan Bang and Erik Honoré, their Punkt live remix festival has evolved, since its early inception in Kristiansand, Norway, into a musical aesthetic brought to other festivals like Mannheim's Enjoy Jazz and Estonia's Jazzkaar. In nine years it's become a multinational event of world renown, its ever-expanding “Punkt Family" including a network of musicians that has-- ...
Continue ReadingJan Bang / Erik Honore / Gaute Storaas / Arve Henriksen: Knut Hamsun's Victoria
by John Kelman
Given the cinematic nature of albums like ...and poppies from Kandahar (SamadhiSound, 2011), Uncommon Deities (SamadhiSound, 2012) and Cartography (ECM, 2008), it should come as no surprise to find trumpeter/vocalist Arve Henriksen and electronic sound sculptors/Punkt Festival Artistic Directors Jan Bang and Erik Honoré collaborating on a film soundtrack, in this case Norwegian director, playwright and novelist Torun Lian's screen adaptation of fellow Norwegian and Nobel Prize laureate Knut Hamsun's 1898 novel, Victoria. Just released in March, 2013, the film ...
Continue ReadingArve Henriksen: Solidification
by Henning Bolte
Arve Henriksen is one of today's most innovative, creative and busiest musicians in improvised music and jazz. He has his very own signature--first as a highly characteristic trumpeter/singer, but on other instruments and vocals, too. Those who only know him from his Cartography (ECM, 2008) or through his numerous sideman appearances, do not really know him--at least, not well enough.Solidification is a wonderful remedy, a worthwhile dig. This limited edition, seven-LP box set contains the music from his ...
Continue ReadingJan Bang / Erik Honore: Uncommon Deities
by John Kelman
Jan Bang / Erik Honoré Uncommon Deities SamadhiSound 2012 As the 2012 Punkt Festival debuts its eighth annual edition at its home base of Kristiansand, Norway--but this time, in the brand new, state of the art Kilden Performing Arts Centre--it has gradually evolved into something more than just a festival. The brainchild of co-artistic directors Jan Bang and Erik Honoré has even managed to transcend its founding premise of live remixes--taking performances in the main ...
Continue ReadingJan Bang: ….and poppies from Kandahar
by Nenad Georgievski
Imagination knows no boundaries and, as Einstein has said, more important than knowledge is the imagination that embraces the whole world and all there will be to know and understand. Clearly, a man whose imagination knows no boundaries and embraces opportunities, live sampler Jan Bang's debut is an album of pioneering intensity and diverse expression. A notable producer and collaborator, Bang's ....and poppies from Kandahar is his sprawling introduction to the world at large. The title--as well ...
Continue ReadingJan Bang: Head, Shoulders, Hips, Knees and Toes
by John Kelman
When it comes to organically integrating modern technology into music, few countries are innovating to the degree of Norway, and at the epicenter of that country's forward-thinking approach to melding improvisation with jazz and Norwegian traditionalism--not to mention contemporary classicism, pop, ambient and more; truly any and all musical markers--is producer/remixer/sampler Jan Bang, who has just released his first album as a leader, ....and poppies from Kandahar (SamadhiSound, 2010). Bang, from his home base in ...
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