In this concert at HAU 1, a production legend and composer in his own right resurrects  one of the cornerstones of his creative output, and a young Polish artist's appreciation for vintage synthesizers informs new work.

The Ramones, Blondie, Richard Hell, and Suicide all owe their unique sound design, perceived as completely new and strange at the times of their release, to Craig Leon's studio wizardry. Even further afield, however, are the sounds Leon designed for his own now-legendary solo synth album, Nommos, released on John Fahey's Takoma label in 1980, and Visiting (Enigma, 1982). Both were re-released in the summer of 2014 as Volume 1 of the Interplanetary Folk Music series by NY-based RVNG International. Nommos is a concept album inspired by the creation myth of the Dogon tribe of Mali. Through cosmic sound washes and metallic polyrhythms that fall in and out of phase, Leon transports listeners to the birth of an entirely different universe descended from amphibious, hermaphroditic alien visitors, which the Dogon named Nommos. Says Leon: “it's not an overt attempt at African music, but it does use very basic African rhythms as a root. I tried to get the earliest things we had on the planet, not in terms of sounds, but in terms of the simple modal chords and melody lines." (interview with The Wire).

For CTM 2015, Craig Leon presents the German premiere of Nommos in collaboration with Cassell Webb and a four piece string ensemble:

Ekkehard Windrich – Violin
Emily Yabe – Violin
Nikolaus Schlierf – Viola
Cosima Gerhardt – Violoncello

With the help of a curatorial collaboration with Unsound Festival in Krakow, the Polish artist Piotr Kurek, who straddles the worlds of free jazz, musique concète, psychedelia, and drone, will also perform. Kurek’s most recent solo release, Edena, (2012), on Wrocław label Sangoplasmo, is a melodic tour through a haunted harpsichord, the Nord Electro synthesizer. The pitch-bent voices on the tracks leave a retro, psychedelic impression that’s familiar while remaining light and organic.

In collaboration with Unsound Festival, supported by the Polish Institute Berlin.