ASFOURIEH
Outdoor concert in berlin (2020) – Photo by Cristina Marx
Outdoor concert in berlin (2020) – Photo by Cristina Marx
Revisitations (filmed version) at Maerz Musik Festival, 2021 – photo by Philippe Rebosz
Revisitations (filmed version) at Maerz Musik Festival, 2021 – photo by Philippe Rebosz
Revisitations (filmed version) at Maerz Musik Festival, 2021 (screenshot)
Revisitations (LIVE VERSION SETUP)
House concert in berlin (2019) – Photo by Cristina Marx
House concert in berlin (2019) – Photo by Cristina Marx
Kerbaj and Wassermann – photo by Philippe Rebosz
Bio
Asfourieh is the duo of Ute Wassermann (voice, bird whistles and objects) and Mazen Kerbaj (trumpet and objects). Asfourieh is an Arabic word that could be translated as a forest full of birds, or as a birdhouse, depending on the context. In the Lebanese dialect, it is commonly used to designate a psychiatric hospital (albeit in a pejorative way, closer to “lunatic asylum” or “nuthouse”).
Asfourieh’s music is as close to the sonic expressions of an insane flock of birds as it is to the turbulent poliphonies of an imaginary madhouse. The sheer energy, the playfulness, the connections (and disconnections) created in real time by the two musicians come together in a very natural way, both it in their conceptual pieces and in their wildly improvised sets.
Asfourieh is not only an improvising band; the duo creates also conceptual projects and compositions, such as Telepathic Music or Revisitations, and outdoor and indoor site-specific performances.
TELEPATHIC MUSIC
Recorded Version / Live Version
A couple of days after the beginning of the Covid-19 lockdown in March 2020, Ute Wassermann and Mazen Kerbaj started thinking of ways to activate Asfourieh from a distance. After dismissing the video conference option, they decided to work on new recordings; but how to achieve the spontaneity and the surprise of improvisation without being together? The idea of playing telepathically slowly imposed itself: each musician records a one-minute piece every day while thinking of the other; these pieces are later put together, in the order they were recorded, with no further alterations, cuts or overdubs.
The experience proved to be so enriching that Wassermann and Kerbaj decided not only to release the resulting Telepathic Duos on an eponymous album, but also to propose it as a live performance: each musician plays in a soundproof glass-box placed on stage, and only the audience hears in real time the final mix of the duo.
revisitations
Live Version / Filmed Version
“Blurring composition and improvisation, and using our voices, instruments, objects and electronics, our piece revisits other composers and musicians’ worlds, as well as our own duo practice.”
A table between the two performers serves as a huge game board with numerous extensions of the voice and trumpet, such as whistles, tubes, small electronics and other everyday objects. Kerbaj and Wassermann’s Revisitations unfolds in a temporal structure that allows precise timing and total freedom. This leads to unpredictable shifts, surprising coincidences and absolute simultaneities in a constant tension between minimalism and chaos, control and loss of control, improvisation and composition.
During live performance, the playing field is filmed vertically from above and "mirrored" onto a screen precisely behind the two performers. Sound and visual actions are in permanent connection during the whole performance.
Revisitations (film version) has been composed and performed as part of Halim El Dabh Invocations. This joint project by MaerzMusik and SAVVY Contemporary presents concerts, lectures and films reflecting the work of Egyptian-American musician, composer, electronic music pioneer, musicologist and teacher Halim El-Dabh (1921–2017).