Schwarzmann Soirée, where the fading boundaries between disciplines create magic

Dec 4, 2014 | by Chloë Arkenbout | Music

About the author

Born and raised in Amsterdam, lives to dance and dances to live on electronic music, has a small vinyl addiction, appreciates a little sarcasm now and then, thinks musicals are annoying and loves those moments where you lose track of time completely.

I still have goosebumps all over while writing this. Last Sunday, something really special went down in Trouw. Schwarzmann (Henrik Schwarz and Frank Wiedemann – 50% of Âme), performed a six hour laptop jam session with guest appearances of musicians from different musical disciplines. The fact that Trouw only has one month to go also added to the experience. To be honest, the event left me speechless.

RBMA

The soirée was organised by the Red Bull Music Academy, also known as RMBA. This is an event where selected producers, vocalists, DJs, instrumentalists and other all-round musical mavericks from around the world come together in a different city every year (the previous edition was in Tokyo) for two weeks of recording sessions, lectures by musical luminaries, collaborations and performances in the cities best clubs and music halls. When you imagine a place that’s part science lab, part the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and part Kraftwerk’s home studio, you’re only halfway there. RBMA has an online radio station and magazine too.

The musicality dripped of the stage and the audience burst out into applause several times.

Improv

 Thinking of Trouw and hearing Schwarz and Wiedemann’s names you might suspect a trademark sweaty club night, but nothing could be further from the truth. This night was so much more! Schwarz and Wiedemann explained that performing electronic music, even if it’s a live set, has its limitations. This project is all about real improvisation of electronic music, on stage, while covering their own and each others music. If you want some more in-depth info on Schwarzmann and their vision you should check out this Q&A at ADE last year:

Schwarz and Wiedemann didn’t come alone though. There were guest performances by Bugge Wesseltoft (check out the lovely ADE Boiler Room set with Henrik, Bugge and Dan Berglund as well), Etienne Jaumet, Kahil Elzabar, Johannes Brecht, Ben Westbeech and Robert Owens. This meant live vocals, saxophone, djembe, piano and a string quartet. Their electronic music was spiced up and fused with many different styles, from classical music to jazz, and beautiful madness was the result. Classics such as Âme’s remix of Underworld’s Crocodile were performed live, and the most magical moment must have probably been Âme’s classic Osunlade remix Envision. It’s exciting projects like these, where the boundaries between genres and disciplines fade, that make me fall in love with electronic music all over again.

There was this special energy that build on the perfect interaction between the musicians and audience. The artists were really jamming and interacting with each other more than would ever happen during a normal club set, which was intriguing to watch. The musicality dripped of the stage and the audience burst out into applause several times. Haters out there who say that electronic music isn’t real music will be forced to shut up forever after last Sunday. This soirée was what music is all about. I didn’t even go to the toilet once because the music was too good and I was afraid I would miss a magical moment. The only downside to this night was that I wished it would never end!