This afternoon I’m improvising in Rotterdam with Jacco Weener on voice, Piu Piu Maya, Christian Rønn and Jos van Beek on electronics. Part of the Readymade series, this time at Wolfart. Starts at 15:00, free entrance!

Great review in Polish from Andrzej Nowak at Spontaneous Music Tribune. My Polish is not so good, use Google translate to read it. They end with “Wyśmienite” which means “delicious”. So wonderful to hear our music made it to Poland and it’s enjoyed there!

This saturday, november 25, El Otro plays at Vrooom #54, at the Pink Pank in Rotterdam. With the great Georgian saz player Asiq Nargile. This will be a very special evening, looking forward.

Tomorrow El Otro is playing at Munganga theater in Amsterdam. Other sets by Gabor Hartyani with Robbert van Hulzen, two spoken word performances and a capoeira event. Crazy combination, can’t wait to see it!

Monday 6 november I’m organizing another concert at Helicopter, which will be a crazy night with Olli Aarni and Nuslux, two Finnish experimental performers. Also acoustical explorations by Haddow, and I’m happy to play a set as well with Maria Mavridou, the great greek dancer who is also part of Help Me To Crash. In between we’ll have movie screenings by the portuguese duo Von Calhau. A packed night full of goodness. Full announcement on Facebook.

Friday october 27 next concert in the Myriads series at Helicopter! Three sets by three musicians who are each pushing the boundaries of their instrument in a different way. Mikko Savela turns his beaten-down guitars into a percussion instrument using electronics, objects and his bare hands; Ilya Ziblat plays live contrabass interacting with computers, and Görkem Arıkan combines various sound sources and treats them depending on mood and space. Full announcement on Facebook.

Tomorrow I’m playing in an instant trio at Studio Loos in Den Haag, improvising with Josue Amador and Liew Niyomkarn. Also playing is GRID, who just have a new tape out on NNA Tapes, with Tim Dahl on the bass who is amazing. Hope to see you!

Two wonderful reviews of the Fading Ground cd with Josué Amador and Dirar Kalash came in. First from Opduvel, in Dutch. It’s a detailed review, last paragraph here:

“Fading Ground contains an enormous amount of musical details, wrapped in a sometimes very noisy jacket. Amador, Ganga and Kalash play free improvisation with a rock attitude and the result is astonishing. It may be a lot to comprehend, but the repeat button is there for a reason. You are advised to listen this album with headphones, as it will bring forward the many finesses and little details amidst the noisy playing. This trio offers an album full of unpolished musicality and that is incredibly beautiful.”

And the other from absurdist review blog Yeah I Know It Sucks:

“(…) wow that’s pretty much amazing what josue amador, arvind ganga, dirar kalash can do with sounds…”

Tomorrow El Otro plays at West Wednesdays in Amsterdam. Interesting program and it’s free, hope to see you!

First review of the Fading Ground cd by Josué Amador, Dirar Kalash and myself by Frans de Waard in Vital Weekly 1096:

None of these names sound very Dutch but I believe they all live and work in The Hague, The Netherlands, and of the three I recognized only Arvind Ganga, who plays electric guitar here and of whom I reviewed music before. We find him in the right channel and playing the same instrument on the left channel is Josue Amador, while Dirar Kalash plays in stereo his violin and electronics. The five pieces on this CD were recorded in November of last year in their hometown. The music this trio plays is from the world of improvised music, which is of course something I expected, knowing Ganga’s own music but what I perhaps didn’t expect was that it sounded all a bit more noisy. The guitars are at times somewhat distorted and raw, and the violin is scraped, bends and plucked with some furious intent and all of this goes in quite some concentrated manner. There are five pieces on this album and quietness is not something that allow a lot, but it is certainly also not entirely away. These pieces are from the noisy of free improvisation, but a piece as ‘Dawn, Elevated’ has certainly also some kind of rock inclination, within improvisation, within noise, but no doubt also free rocking, without any drums of course. I very much enjoyed the groups interaction, the concentration on the repeating detail and the power it unleashes. Fresh power trio!