“If guarantees are expressly refused, at least we have an option for the future. The Berlin-based composer and percussion improviser Max Andrzejewski opens the ideal space for this in a joint project with the vocalist, composer and flutist Zola Mennenöh, who divides her time between Berlin and Copenhagen. In her filigree, delicate and sonically sensuous poetics, Mennenöh has created a text collage of Beckett fragments, her own verse and interviews, inspired, among others, by thoughts of the Swedish artist Lisa Nyberg. Andrzejewski wrote the music, setting this collage for five instrumentalists and voice. Borderline experiences and borderline songs, oscillating between contemporary classical, improvisation and composition, in a state of continuous crises, fear and insecurity. The future may remain vague, but at least good music still seems guaranteed.”
I urge you to listen to the recording of the piece “Ohne Garantie. Music for a future, without guarantees” by Max Andrzejewski and Zola Mennenöh. The music takes us on a quest for survival. Practicing for a state of readiness comes at an uncomfortable cost, with hurdles of numbness and doubt. It demands all senses be put into play. Zola’s text offers us a brave journey, not an heroic one.
I am truly moved by this response to my work “Pedagogies of the Unknown – studying for a future, without guarantees“. I could never imagine that my efforts would play a part in such hopeful art. Huge thanks to Zola Mennenöh, Max Andrzejewski, and the musicians:
Zola Mennenöh, Stimme
Lisa Meignin, Flöte
Jone Bolibar Núñez, Klarinette
Laura Hovestadt, Viola
Ruben Jeyasundaram, Violoncello
Max Andrzejewski, Schlagwerk
The concert is online for 30 days (start around 7 minutes in).