This concert with two trios draws attention to the increasingly international improv scene of Amsterdam. In ELKA, the three members alternate their instruments with synthesizer. In FORGES, everything becomes percussion, from piano to everyday objects. In short: everything sounds different then you’re used to, which makes it even more fascinating.

ELKA works as a collective platform where all members bring along their affinities to different musical genres and creative processes. Currently based in Amsterdam, ELKA develops its repertoire alternatively using layered rhythmical frames and abstract textures. The trio merges intricate compositions with improvisation and live electronics going from frenetic outburst of raw energy to tenuous island of carefully crafted timbres. ELKA consists of Alistair Payne on trumpet, Uldis Vitols on double bass and Tancrède D. Kummer on drums.

Drummer and composer Tancrède D. Kummer has conceived FORGES as a ‘percussion trio’, where the music merges rhythmical, multi-layered frames with textured-based pieces and improvisational parameters. Here, written music is apprehended like blocks of raw matter that can be peeled, bent or welded onto another. Each tune is intended as a small toy-box of concepts from which players can pick and choose, thus altering the overall direction of the performance. FORGES is completed by Rémi Ploton on piano and Samuel Mastorakis on vibes and percussion.

ELKA
Alistair Payne trumpet/synthesizer, Uldis Vitols double bass/synthesizer, Tancrède D. Kummer drums/synthesizer

FORGES
Tancrède D. Kummer drums, Rémi Ploton piano, Samuel Mastorakis vibraphones.