This session is based on a sample set created from recordings of ponds. These sounds were recorded with a very special microphone, designed to capture all those mysterious sounds found in swamps, pools and smaller lakes. This device is capable of picking up all the scratching, hissing and cracking underwater noises, produced by plants, insects and everything else down there, revealing the secrets that go on right in your back yard.
credits
Bernhard Wöstheinrich – Keyboards, Samplers, Synthesizers and Sequencers
Editing & mixing: Bernhard Wöstheinrich Mastering: Markus Reuter
All drawings (cover and video): Christine Kriegerowski kriegerowski.org
Video by Bernhard Wöstheinrich, additional pond footage by David Rothenberg
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On a nice day in May 2022 David Rothenberg and Bernhard Wöstheinrich were heading by bike to the Brandt, Brauer, Frick Studio in Neukölln, Berlin. There they met with Ali Sayah, a bass- and tar player with Iranian roots. The studio provided a homey setting for their sessions, and so, guided by David’s distinctive playing on his bass clarinet, they embarked on a laid-back journey into world music that brought together bass guitar, Persian tar – a long-necked, waisted lute instrument – piano and electronics. As the musicians gently embrace each other in their playing, a very unique sound and mood emerges, subtle, haunting, and utterly human.
ALI SAYAH is a visual artist and musician from Tehran based in Berlin. He studied art at the science and culture University of Tehran. He played in several indie Iranian rock bands, as well as in a traditional Iranian music ensemble. He currently is bassist in “Von Flocken” a German Electro Pop-Rock band. He finished his master’s degree at the Weissensee Kunsthochschule Berlin in 2021 and has had several exhibitions in Berlin and Palermo. His work is related to the relationship between traditional Iranian culture and contemporary developments in culture.
In his music Ali tries to blend Iranian music with other influences, in order to present his own culture with a new color and expression.
Musician and philosopher DAVID ROTHENBERG wrote Why Birds Sing, Bug Music, Survival of the Beautiful and many other books, published in at least eleven languages. He has more than forty recordings out, including One Dark Night I Left My Silent House which came out on ECM, and most recently In the Wake of Memories and Faultlines. He has performed or recorded with Pauline Oliveros, Peter Gabriel, Ray Phiri, Suzanne Vega, Scanner, Elliott Sharp, Umru, Iva Bittová, and the Karnataka College of Percussion. Nightingales in Berlin is his latest book and film. Rothenberg is Distinguished Professor at the New Jersey Institute of Technology.
Bernhard Wöstheinrich: Piano, Keyboards, Virtual synthesizers, Live-sequencing David Rothenberg: Clarinet, Bass clarinet, and iPad Ali Sayah: Bass (on ‘Warped Blessings’) and Tar (on ‘Homayoun’ and ‘Sourmount’)
Recorded by Jan Brauer
Mixed by Bernhard Wöstheinrich
Mastered by Markus Reuter
Artwork by Markus Reuter
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Music for the opening of the exhibition titled “Weil es wirklich wichtig ist” (“Because it really matters”) by Manfred Makowski, which took place at the house of the county council Gütersloh, October 27, 2022.
The main subject of this exhibition were historical methods of printing. Manfred has made it his duty to preserve these techniques and to work creatively with them. Hence this present music session includes sounds and noises from various letterpress machines and other ambient sounds from printing plants and the like.
credits
Bernhard Wöstheinrich – Keyboards, Samplers, Synthesizers and Sequencers
Editing & mixing: Bernhard Wöstheinrich Mastering: Markus Reuter Cover drawing: Christine Kriegerowski
Thank you to Kerstin & Wolfgang Hein, Sarah & Manfred Makowski.
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“Undesirable Creatures” is the new collaborative effort of graphic artist Matt Howarth and Bernhard Wöstheinrich; it is the graphic short story of a magician stranded in a post-war Moscow, accompanied by a music soundtrack that embraces, enhances and underscores the eerie mood of the chapters much like a movie score.
The music features a cutting-edge live composition technique: a mix of generative systems and improvisations that Bernhard has developed for his recordings. For this project, special attention was paid to the creation of “magical timbres and odd rhythms.” Visually, the individual panels of the comic strip are transformed into layered animations, much in the way television documentaries alter old photos into something more tangible and with a distinctive depth. The animation pays homage to the classic comic style, yet is modernized with an expanded depth of perspective.
“Undesirable Creatures” will come in different formats; the music soundtrack, comic strip, and movie will be available to download from the Bandcamp page.
Recording of a studio session at Andreas von Garnier’s Synthasis Studio in Wilhelmshagen, Berlin, September 17, 2021.
The Wilhelmshagen sessions, taking place on a non-regular basis at Andreas’s studio, are usually a good opportunity to experiment, play around, try out various new settings and combinations and eventually go completely bonkers.
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Bernhard Wöstheinrich 