Il compleanno dei settantacinque è stato già celebrato quest'anno a febbraio, ma per il benamato Jon Rose la festa continua: quattro giorni a partire da oggi tutti dedicati a lui - e alla sua famiglia allargata di strumenti reali, fittizi, super-intelligenti e immaginari nota come Rosenberg Museum - fitti fitti di iniziative, proiezioni, conferenze e concerti. In presenza a Berlino, presso l'impareggiabile exploratorium, e anche in live streaming: A String is a String is a String...

A String is a String is a String is a four-evening festival dedicated to the family of string instruments in the context of contemporary improvisation. Conceived to celebrate the 75th birthday of Australian violinist, composer, instrument inventor, author, and sound artist Jon Rose, the festival brings together close artistic collaborators and musicians from Berlin and beyond whose work resonates with his singular artistic vision. For more than five decades, Rose has redefined the possibilities of bowed and string instruments through improvisation, composition, instrument building, performance, and research. Rather than looking back on a remarkable career, the festival explores his ideas as a living artistic practice – through performances, encounters, films, and conversation.

After leaving formal musical training at the age of fifteen, Jon Rose developed an independent artistic practice that has ranged from free improvisation and contemporary composition to sound installations, radio art, environmental projects, and experimental instrument building. A central figure in Australian free improvisation before moving to Berlin in 1986, Rose developed his long-term project The Relative Violin, creating more than thirty new instruments, exploring extended performance formats, interactive electronics, and alternative histories of the violin. His work has consistently challenged conventional ideas of the instrument and opened new perspectives on what string instruments can be and do. Since 2001, Rose has increasingly worked in the Australian outback on large-scale environmental projects such as The Great Fences of Australia and collaborations with Indigenous communities, including The Wild Violins of Warmun and the ongoing Singing Telegraph project. He is the author of four books, founder of the Rosenberg Museum – a unique collection of more than 1000 violin-related artefacts – and recipient of Australia’s Don Banks Music Award for lifetime achievement. In 2025, he and his wife, violinist and composer Hollis Taylor, received the Richard Gill Award for Distinguished Services to Australian Music.

exploratorium berlin
Zossener Straße 24
10961 Berlin (Kreuzberg)

https://exploratorium-berlin.de/a-string-is-a-string-is-a-string-day1
https://exploratorium-berlin.de/a-string-is-a-string-is-a-string-day2
https://exploratorium-berlin.de/a-string-is-a-string-is-a-string-day3
https://exploratorium-berlin.de/a-string-is-a-string-is-a-string-day4

Naturalmente la canzone-manifesto dell'intero album di Fuzz Kitchen è Song of Canterbury, proposta in due riprese, alla cui riuscita danno man forte tra gli altri Richard Sinclair, Brian Hopper e le plausibilissime Kitchenettes. E non di poco rilievo è il testo, pieno zeppo di nomi, cognomi, dediche e riferimenti espliciti - ma anche impliciti, come quello a What's Rattlin' - guidato dalla finta ingenuità del soggetto parlante: "Canterbury... A mystical musical scene, where some on the scene are from elsewhere and some of the guys who are there say that there’s never been a scene, but the feeling in the songs and the music is so strong, I thought there must be a scene. So to verify this image, I made my own pilgrimage..."

https://fuzzkitchen.bandcamp.com/fuzz-kitchen

In concerto ieri a Londra il ribattezzato gruppo di Simon Thorpe Fuzz Kitchen (già Hatfield and The Health) ha offerto due set in grande equilibrio tra accurata rilettura di alcuni classici canterburyani - scegliendo tra l'altro esempi niente affatto semplici né troppo scontati - e materiale originale prodotto in proprio ma in perfetta linea ereditaria:  Fuzz Kitchen (Persistent), Song of Canterbury (Part I), Lounging There Trying, Rundown, The Bryden 2-Step (for Amphibians) Part II, Together and Apart, I Talk To The Wind, Hotel Luna / Your Majesty Is Like A Cream Donut, (Big) John Wayne Socks Psychology On The Jaw, Let's Eat (Real Soon), Binoculars, Underdub, Calmer, Smoke Signal, Song of Canterbury (Part II) e The Warm Seven Phenomenon, con Golf Girl come allegro commiato. Il tutto con passione, perizia tecnica, giusta dose di understatement e ritmi-timbri-suoni nel segno di grande autenticità. Sul palco del Lexington c'erano Thorpe, Nick Allum, Karen Sharp, Mark Ridout e Gabriel Keen, con Dave Wallace loro ospite in un paio di episodi. Bravi!

https://www.fuzzkitchen.com