Souls of Ancient Fish: Incantations

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Souls of Ancient Fish: Incantations

1 performance between Nov. 18, 2013 and Nov. 18, 2013
Poetry/Music/Soundscape/Performance
Ruben Mowszowski, Dizu Plaatjies & Maxim Starcke
60mins
“Fusing poetry, world music, electro-acoustic soundscapes and jazz, Souls of Ancient Fish offers a mystical journey that’s hypnotic, haunting and sublime. A collaboration between the poet Ruben Mowszowski, traditional music artist and cultural historian Dizu Plaatjies and soprano saxophonist and electronic musician Maxim Starcke, it forms a lush current, a confluence of leaping vocabularies that celebrate the fluid and rich possibilities of words and sounds. Tempered by love and loss and infused with the musicality of the oral tradition and ritual, the group’s incantations are a poetic and spiritual atlas of new imaginative territories.” Mail & Guardian DIZU PLAATJIES is internationally celebrated as a performer and teacher of African music. Widely known for his exuberant performances and charisma, Dizu is the founder and former leader of the marimba, percussion and dance group Amampondo. Under his leadership the group which started off performing on the streets of Cape Town, came to international attention when they played at Nelson Mandela’s 70th Birthday Concert in the UK. At the request of Mandela, they represented African music at the Atlanta Olympic Games and continued to perform internationally. Dizu’s presert ensemble Ibuyambo will perform this year at the International Festival Nuits d’Afrique in Montreal, the WOMAD festival in UK (see Dizu on stage here) and the Rainforest Music Festival in Malaysia. In Souls of Ancient Fish, Dizu, who is the son of a traditional healer, presents a deeply spiritual side of himself, performing music as invocation, In between tours, Dizu is a teacher and cultural historian at the University of Cape Town College of Music. For more information on Dizu click here.

RUBEN MOWSZOWSKI
 is a founding member of the performance ensemble Souls of Ancient Fish. The ensemble grew out of a collaboration with Dizu Plaatjies and took present form when Maxim Starcke joined as the third member. Ruben’s short stories and prose poems, from which his incantations are drawn, have been published in Vrye Weekblad, in literary magazines Revue Noire (France) , New Contrast and Staffrider, in collection in his book Souls of Ancient Fish, and in the collaborative text/photo book Karoo Moons. His essays at the intersection of western science and indigenous cosmology have been regular features in the Mail & Guardian, The Sunday Independent and Geographical (UK) and have also appeared in Leadership, Pforward, Resurgence (UK), Cape Style, Men’s Health and Architectural Digest. Ruben was a prize-winning finalist in the Vita Short Story Awards, a finalist for the Nadine Gordimer Short Story Award, regionally shortlisted for the SACPAC National Drama Award, prize-winning finalist of the South African Science and Technology Journalism Award, winner of the South African Science and Technology Journalism Award, shortlisted for the City Press Non-fiction Book Award and shortlisted for the EU Literary Award. For more information on Ruben click here.

MAXIM STARCKE is a composer and multi-instrumentalist working in the field of electro-acoustic, contemporary classical, soundscape composition and other contemporary styles. He performs on classical & electric guitar, soprano & alto saxophone, electric bass, laptop and various electronic effects devices – these in different combinations depending on the project or ensemble. Recent career highlights include the world premiere of his works 'Overberg Suite' and 'esCape' performed by the Cape Town Goema Orchestra in December 2012 and November 2013 respectively, guest appearances on classical guitar with the traditional jazz SAMA-nominated Lisa Bauer Quartet (featured on her album Finding A New Way and having recently performed at the 2011 Cape Town International Jazz Festival), extensive work and recording with Starkravingsane, jazz/rock outfit Cascade Film Quartet, improvisation and loop-based electro-acoustic soundscape duo Howell & Starcke, a collaboration with percussionist Ronan Skillen and live digital artist Ed Babb (collectively known as Starcke/Skillen/Babb) and the release of a debut live album in 2013, together with Skillen, entitled FORGERY. Starcke received a Masters in Composition (cum laude) in 2012 from the South African College of Music at the University of Cape Town.

Audience Responses

Interesting but very odd. Not to my taste.