Happy New Year: 2018

Eris 136199: Han-earl Park, Catherine Sikora and Nick Didkovsky (Hamburg, 11-01-17). Copyright 2017 Steffen Schindler
© 2017 Steffen Schindler.

2017 started with the release of the album, and performances by, Sirene 1009, and closed with a tour by Eris 136199 (plus my first Kickstarter!). On the way, I got to be sideman to one of my former student’s projects, and play (unbelievably) for the first time in Seoul.

Here’s to 2018!

Arts Council of Ireland

Sirene 1009’s Cork performances and workshop presented with funding from the Arts Council of Ireland, and support from FUAIM Music at UCC, UCC Department of Music, CIT Cork School of Music and the Cork Improvised Music Club.

Culture Ireland logo

Parts of Sirene 1009 was recorded during the London performance presented with funding from Culture Ireland, and support from SLAM Productions.

The Eris 136199 tour was made possible through the support from Jazz North East, Jvtlandt, Jazz Club Loco, OUT FRONT!, Xposed Club, Verband für aktuelle Musik Hamburg, and MS Stubnitz, and the awe-inspiring generosity of the backers of our Kickstarter project:

Cath Roberts, Franziska Schroeder, Owen Green, Han-Ter Park, Richard Hollis, Tom Duff, Jan Langedijk, Thomas Buckner, Liam Nagle, Andrew Raffo Dewar, Randy McKean, Anton Hunter, Marte van der Loop, Ian Boswell, Nancy Meli Walker, David M. Morris, Nicholas Croft, Eva Zelig, Bart Mallio, Jeremy Clarke, Martin Pyne, Josh Sinton, Moon Soon Han, Eun-He Moon, Yoon-Mi Cho, 고항심, Katie O’Looney, Jamie Smith, Phil Burk, Andrea Wolper, Kyoko Kitamura, DIDI, Caroline Pugh, Edozie Edoga, Yu Seon Hee, Danny McCarthy, Richard Barrett, Leejiyoung, Ed Bennett, Young-Shin Park, Ga Hyun Noh, Inkyung Kim, Keith Stonell, Peter O’Doherty, Viv Corringham, Korhan Erel, Tony O’Connor, Vikram Kapur and Maneesha Chawala, and our anonymous backers.

by Sirene 1009 and Eris 136199

Cover of ‘Sirene 1009’ (BAF000) with Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (artwork copyright 2017, Han-earl Park)

Sirene 1009 (BAF000) [details…]

Personnel: Han-earl Park (guitar), Dominic Lash (double bass), Mark Sanders (drums) and Caroline Pugh (voice and tape recorder).

© + ℗ 2017 Han-earl Park.

CD cover of ‘Anomic Aphasia’ (SLAMCD 559) with Han-earl Park, Catherine Sikora, Nick Didkovsky and Josh Sinton (artwork copyright 2015, Han-earl Park)

Anomic Aphasia (SLAMCD 559) [details…]

Performers: Han-earl Park (guitar), Catherine Sikora (tenor and soprano saxophones), Nick Didkovsky (guitar), and Josh Sinton (baritone saxophone and bass clarinet).

© 2015 Han-earl Park.
℗ 2015 SLAM Productions.

Chasing the chaos. (review: Sirene 1009)

‘Sirene 1009’ (BAF000) with Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (artwork copyright 2017, Han-earl Park)
© 2017 Han-earl Park

“Mind-expanding”? envelopes torn into small pieces to be eaten? a “necessary albeit illusory anchor”? and why is “Diamanda Galás constantly on the verge of asphyxiation”? Dave Foxall, writing in a Jazz Noise and Jazz Journal, finds ‘Sirene 1009’ (BAF000), the album by Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh, to be “full creative insanity”:

The Cliodynamics ‘suite’ begins with a recitation in an obscure (likely bespoke) language that rapidly deconstructs against the backdrop of Park’s angular, truncated proto-phrasing, Sanders’ demented clockwork drums, and Lash’s lower register punctuation. Pugh’s voice acts as a kind of guide, offering a frayed and twisted thread through a dynamic and often intimidating soundscape; a necessary albeit illusory anchor. A final wry touch is last two minutes of the closing Psychohistory V, a minimalist coda you have dial the volume right up to even hear—putting the listener in the position of chasing the chaos that moments earlier was so overwhelming.

If this attempt at description sounds rather confused, I’ll try to summarise: years ago, Derek Bailey coined the term ‘non-idiomatic improvisation’, a label that over the years has practically become an idiom in its own right. Sirene 1009 may just be the auditory experience that Bailey’s label has been waiting for. [Read the rest…]

— Dave Foxall (a Jazz Noise)

[About this recording…] [Bandcamp page (order CD/download)…] [All reviews…]

CD: €11 minimum (‘name your price’) plus shipping.*†
Download: €8 minimum (‘name your price’).†

‘Sirene 1009’ (BAF000) with Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (artwork copyright 2017, Han-earl Park)‘Sirene 1009’ (BAF000) with Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (artwork copyright 2017, Han-earl Park)‘Sirene 1009’ (BAF000) with Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (artwork copyright 2017, Han-earl Park)‘Sirene 1009’ (BAF000) with Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (artwork copyright 2017, Han-earl Park)‘Sirene 1009’ (BAF000) with Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (artwork copyright 2017, Han-earl Park)‘Sirene 1009’ (BAF000) with Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (artwork copyright 2017, Han-earl Park)

* Limited edition glass-mastered CD. CD includes additional material (artwork, etc.) not included in the download version of the album.

† Both digital and physical purchases give you streaming via the free Bandcamp app, and option to download the recording in multiple formats including lossless.

Culture Ireland logo

London performance presented with funding from Culture Ireland, and support from SLAM Productions.

This album is brilliant. This album is insane. (reviews: Sirene 1009)

‘Sirene 1009’ (BAF000) with Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (artwork copyright 2017, Han-earl Park)
© 2017 Han-earl Park

“Messy”? “scattered”? “manic”? Music that is “aggressive and acerbic and gets in your face and won’t back down”? In his review of ‘Sirene 1009’ (BAF000), Dave Sumner of Bird is the Worm concludes: “This album is brilliant. This album is insane.”

Sirene 1009 is a soundtrack for a seizure. It’s spasmodic and flails about wildly. The music is disconcerting. But it enters these fugue states of focused intensity that border on meditative, and it is the most powerful sensation to experience even the tiniest hint of serenity at the center of so much chaos. It’s unsurprising to discover that the three-part “Cliodynamics” suite was recorded live. Even via the recorded medium, there’s a palpable electricity transmitted by this music, and its voltage isn’t the least bit muffled for not having been there in person….

Mostly, Caroline Pugh‘s vocals are of the wordless variety, and so dramatic are her renderings of human sounds that it’s not inconceivable she created an alternate lexicon specifically for this recording. Park’s guitar style can be the sonic representation of slash-and-go rush hour traffic, and of significance to the success of this session is how he simultaneously captures the immediacy of individual cars in motion and the oddly hypnotic flow of mass traffic viewed from an isolated location. On bass, Dominic Lash slings out notes like stones across the surface of water. There’s a sudden burst of velocity and a magnetic patter of rhythm, and with one action, the bassist adds both melodic and rhythmic textures to a canvas that might not otherwise keep its brushstrokes contained. That said, when Lash breaks into a passage of bass arco and maintains that as his sole interest for a time, the music certainly doesn’t suffer for his abandonment of a rhythmic role. Besides, drummer Mark Sanders does a remarkable job all on his own at providing definition to music that is never clear-cut and direction to musicians capable of moving everywhere all at once. [Read the rest…]

— Dave Sumner (Bird is the Worm)

Elsewhere, Avant Scena describes “evocative and original” music in which “various elements of rock, free jazz, creative jazz are combined in one composition.” [Read the rest…]

[About this recording…] [Bandcamp page (order CD/download)…] [All reviews…]

CD: €11 minimum (‘name your price’) plus shipping.*†
Download: €8 minimum (‘name your price’).†

‘Sirene 1009’ (BAF000) with Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (artwork copyright 2017, Han-earl Park)‘Sirene 1009’ (BAF000) with Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (artwork copyright 2017, Han-earl Park)‘Sirene 1009’ (BAF000) with Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (artwork copyright 2017, Han-earl Park)‘Sirene 1009’ (BAF000) with Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (artwork copyright 2017, Han-earl Park)‘Sirene 1009’ (BAF000) with Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (artwork copyright 2017, Han-earl Park)‘Sirene 1009’ (BAF000) with Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (artwork copyright 2017, Han-earl Park)

* Limited edition glass-mastered CD. CD includes additional material (artwork, etc.) not included in the download version of the album.

† Both digital and physical purchases give you streaming via the free Bandcamp app, and option to download the recording in multiple formats including lossless.

Culture Ireland logo

London performance presented with funding from Culture Ireland, and support from SLAM Productions.

Thanks: Sirene 1009 (Cork, 2017)

Sirene 1009: Caroline Pugh, Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash and Mark Sanders (Cork, 04-07-17). Copyright 2017 John Hough.
© 2017 John Hough.

Belated kudos—I’ve been stuck in a bit of behind-the-scenes scheming (more on that soon…)—to all involved in the recent series of performances (and workshop) in Cork…

Thanks to all the people and the partner organizations in helping us make music: to Paul O’Donnell and Kelly Boyle of FUAIM; to John Godfrey and Christine Dennehy at the UCC Music Department; to Franziska Schroeder and Simon Waters at SARC; and to the Arts Council for their generous support. Special thanks to Hugh McCarthy of CIT Cork School of Music for coming forward with a new venue help us patch a date, to Mike McGrath-Bryan and Ann Rea (at the Firkin Crane) who helped in that process, and to Jonathan Stock who supported the project right from its inception back in May 2016.

For the all their technical support and know-how, big thanks to David Bird (SARC), David Slevin (CSM), and John Hough (UCC). (Thanks also for the photography, John!) Thanks to Dave Whitla and Niall McGuinness for helping source a double bass for Dom. Thanks to Ros Steer, Kevin Terry and Megan Gallen for the essential FOH work. And a big thanks to Alex Fiennes for his sound creativity—always a pleasure!

As always the warmest thanks to everyone who came to listen.

Finally, thanks to all the performers: thanks to Dan Walsh (or CIMC) and Catherine Sikora for their faultless and unfaltering musicality, and to Dom, Mark and Caroline! As I said in an interview published in the Evening Echo the day before our last performance:

Here’s what the group sounds/looks like from where I sit on stage: Dom Lash’s confident and enthusiastic interjections in sound and line; Mark Sander’s unerring inventiveness—leaping any and all obstacles to musicality with gestures small and large; and Caroline Pugh’s pulling in-and-out of musical and linguistic spaces with her spontaneous conlangs.

Play again soon!

By Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh

Cover of ‘Sirene 1009’ (BAF000) with Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (artwork copyright 2017, Han-earl Park)

Sirene 1009 (BAF000) [details…]

Personnel: Han-earl Park (guitar), Dominic Lash (double bass), Mark Sanders (drums) and Caroline Pugh (voice and tape recorder).

© + ℗ 2017 Han-earl Park.

Sirene 1009 at Cork School of Music

Sirene 1009: Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (copyright 2010 Seán Kelly, 2016 Bruce Coates, Andrew Putler, 2016 Jordan Hutchings, and 2016 Han-earl Park)
© 2010 Seán Kelly, © 2016 Bruce Coates, © Andrew Putler; © 2016 Jordan Hutchings; and © 2016 Han-earl Park.

Friday, May 19, 2017, at 8:00pm (doors: 7:45pm): Sirene 1009 (Han-earl Park: guitar; Dominic Lash: double bass; Mark Sanders: drums; and Caroline Pugh: voice and electronics), plus Catherine Sikora (saxophones) and Dan Walsh (drums), perform at Stack Theatre (CIT Cork School of Music, Union Quay, Cork, Ireland).

This is it! Final part of the Arts Council funded series, and the end of a string of performances that included a tour of Wales, England and N. Ireland. I am extremely fortunate to have shared the stage with such crafty and imaginative players; Dom’s never-ruffled, obliquely systematic low-frequency booms, Caroline’s bizarro tricks with and without microphone, and Mark’s delicate and sensitive clouds of garbage cans. For this event, not only do you get two stupendously creative groups of musicians (with a set by Catherine Sikora and Dan Walsh), but with live sound by Alex Fiennes (who recorded our album!), you’ll never have heard noise with such fidelity. See you there!

Tickets: €16 | €10 | €5

Online box office closes at 6:00pm. Tickets will be available from the door from 7:30pm.

See the performance diary for up-to-date info. [CSM page…] [Facebook event…]

Details

Sirene 1009: Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (Cork, 04-07-17). Copyright 2017 John Hough.
© 2017 John Hough.

Colorful, sometimes violent and revelatory listening experience that infuses modern aesthetics with the spirit of the ancient.

— John Morrison (Jazz Right Now)

Kinetic, energetic; an exceptional community of improvisers will be performing on Friday, 19 May 2017 when Sirene 1009 returns to Cork for a concert at the Stack Theatre, CIT Cork School of Music. Bringing yet more spontaneous musical interactions between artists local and international, the final concert in the Art Council funded series features guitarist Han-earl Park (Ireland/California), double bassist Dominic Lash (England), drummers Mark Sanders (England) and Dan Walsh (Ireland), vocalist Caroline Pugh (N. Ireland/Scotland), and saxophonist Catherine Sikora (Ireland/New York).

“The art of improvisation might be akin to the art of living,” says Han-earl Park, instigator of the ensemble Sirene 1009. “It’s not that improvisation is an exceptional activity—we all do it, and we all do it with every breath we take—it’s just that some of us have been focussing a lot of time and energy on it: there are exceptional improvisers.” Park has performed with some of the best improvisers from the Americas, Asia and Europe. He is part of ensembles including the London-based Mathilde 253 with Charles Hayward and Ian Smith, and the Berlin-based Numbers with Richard Barrett.

In an interview with a Jazz Noise, Park says the Sirene 1009 sound comprises, “Dom Lash’s assured, steady-handed control of his technique and sound-making; Mark Sanders’ range, seemingly boundless imagination, ability anticipate anything and everything, and ability to make sense musically regardless of what surrounds him; and Caroline Pugh’s handle and knowledge of genre, and how she seemingly can just jump in regardless of context. I think the various ways we move—our bodies and their relationship with the instruments, say—complement each other.”

The event is also a rare opportunity to catch the trans-Atlantic improviser, saxophonist and composer Catherine Sikora. Sikora, who, along with Han-earl Park, is part of the New York-based Eris 136199, is best known for her frequent collaborations with Eric Mingus, Brian Chase and Ross Hammond. In May, Sikora will be joined by Cork-based drummer Dan Walsh. Of this partnership, Sikora says: “I have a longstanding love of saxophone and drum duos, and am very much looking forward to this meeting with Dan Walsh.”

By turns reflexive and tactical, noisy and melodious, the evening promises to be a unique, creative collision of sensibilities and musicalities. As Sikora says: “When I play I find myself seeking beauty. The music that is most intensely interesting and satisfying to me is beautiful simple melody, something that is a world in and of itself, and that just seems right, as though there were no other way it could be.” Or as Park puts it: “Noise and all that jazz.”

Presented with funding from the Arts Council of Ireland, and support from FUAIM Music at UCC, UCC Department of Music, CIT Cork School of Music and the Cork Improvised Music Club.

About the performers

Improviser, guitarist and constructor Han-earl Park has been crossing borders and performing fuzzily idiomatic, on occasion experimental, always traditional, open improvised musics for twenty years. He has performed in clubs, theaters, art galleries, concert halls, and (ad-hoc) alternative spaces across Europe and the USA.

Park engages a radical, liminal, cyborg virtuosity in which mind, body and artifact collide. He is driven by the social and revolutionary potential of real-time interactive performance in which tradition and practice become creative problematics. As a constructor of musical automata, he is interested in partial, and partially frustrating, context-specific artifacts; artifacts that amplify social relations and corporeal identities and agencies.

Ensembles include Mathilde 253 with Charles Hayward and Ian Smith, Eris 136199 with Nick Didkovsky and Catherine Sikora, and Numbers with Richard Barrett. Park is the constructor of the machine improviser io 0.0.1 beta++, and instigator of Metis 9, a playbook of improvisative tactics. He has performed with Wadada Leo Smith, Paul Dunmall, Evan Parker, Lol Coxhill, Mark Sanders, Josh Sinton, Louise Dam Eckardt Jensen, Gino Robair, Tim Perkis, Andrew Drury, Pat Thomas and Franziska Schroeder, and as part of large ensembles led by Wadada Leo Smith, Evan Parker and Pauline Oliveros.

Festival appearances include Freedom of the City (London), Sonorities (Belfast), ISIM (New York), dialogues festival (Edinburgh), CEAIT (Los Angeles) and Sonic Acts (Amsterdam). His recordings have been released by labels including Slam Productions, Creative Sources and DUNS Limited Edition.

Park taught improvisation at University College Cork, and founded and curated Stet Lab, a space for improvised music in Cork.

“Guitarist Han-earl Park is a musical philosopher…. Expect unexpected things from Park, who is a delightful shape-shifter….”

Brian Morton (Point of Departure)

Dominic Lash is a freely improvising double bassist, although his activities also range much more widely and include playing bass guitar and other instruments; both writing and performing composed music; and writing about music and various other subjects.

He has performed with musicians such as Tony Conrad (in duo and quartet formations), Joe Morris (trio and quartet), Evan Parker (duo, quartet and large ensemble) and the late Steve Reid. His main projects include The Dominic Lash Quartet, The Set Ensemble (an experimental music group focused on the work of the Wandelweiser collective) and The Convergence Quartet.

Based in Bristol, Lash has performed in the UK, Austria, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey and USA. For nearly a decade he was based in Oxford and played a central role in the activities of Oxford Improvisers; much of 2011 was spent living in Manhattan. In 2013 and 2014 he is taking part in Take Five, the professional development programme administered by Serious.

Festival appearances include Akbank Jazz Festival (Istanbul), Audiograft (Oxford), Freedom of the City (London), Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Hurta Cordel (Madrid), Konfrontationen (Nickelsdorf), LMC Festival (London), Manchester Jazz Festival and Tampere Jazz Happening.

His work has been broadcast on a number of radio stations, including BBC Radios 1 and 3 and Germany’s SWR2, and released on labels including Another Timbre, b-boim, Bead, Cathnor, Clean Feed, Compost and Height, Emanem, Erstwhile, FMR, Foghorn, Leo and NoBusiness.

Since moving to Bristol he has been involved in organising concerts under the banners of Bang the Bore and Insignificant Variation. A new venture is the monthly series happening every second Wednesday at the Arnolfini entitled Several 2nds. Events include performances, workshops, film screenings and discussions.

“Following in an illustrious lineage from Barry Guy through Simon Fell… breathtaking.”

John Sharpe (All About Jazz)

Mark Sanders has played with many renowned musicians from around the world including Evan Parker, Peter Brotzmann, Derek Bailey, Myra Melford, Paul Rogers, Henry Grimes, Roswell Rudd, Okkyung Lee, Barry Guy, Tim Berne, Otomo Yoshihide, Luc Ex, Ken Vandermark, Sidsel Endresen and Jean Francois Pauvrois, in duo and quartets with Wadada Leo Smith and trios with Charles Gayle with Sirone and William Parker.

New collaborative projects include ‘Riverloam Trio’ with Mikolaj Trzaska and Olie Brice, ‘Asunder’ with Hasse Poulsen and Paul Dunmall, duos with John Butcher and DJ Sniff, ‘Statics’ with Georg Graewe and John Butcher, and trio with Rachel Musson and Liam Noble.

Mark and John Edwards play as a rhythm section with many groups including Trevor Watts Quartet, ‘Foils’ with Frank Paul Schubert and Matthius Muller, Mathew Shipp’s ‘London Quartet,’ also playing with Fred Frith, Wadada Leo Smith and Shabaka Hutchins amongst many others.

Christian Marclay’s ‘Everyday’ project includes Mark with Christian, Steve Beresford, John Butcher and Alan Tomlinson, he also works regularly in the projects of Mikolaj Trzaska, Gail Brand, Paul Dunmall, Peter Jaquemyn, and Simon H. Fell.

Mark has performed in the USA, Canada, Brazil, Japan, Morrocco, South Africa, Mozambique and Turkey, playing at many major festivals including, Nickelsdorf, Ulrichsburg, Glastonbury, Womad, Vancouver, Isle of Wight, Roskilde, Berlin Jazz days, Mulhouse, Luz, Minniapolis, Banlieue Bleues, Son D’hiver and Hurta Cordel.

He has released over 120 CDs.

“A gifted player capable of seamless movement between free-rhythms and propulsive swing.”

John Fordham (The Guardian)

Scottish vocalist and composer Caroline Pugh borrows old-fangled technologies and honours oral histories to create new performances. With a background in both folk and improvisation, her solo works You’ve Probably Heard These Songs Before, Timing By Ear, Measuring By Hand and Platform Audio also draw on performance art and pinhole photography.

Originally from Edinburgh, Caroline has performed across Europe and North America with new improvisation performances including Los Angeles’ Betalevel in 2012, NIME 2011 in Oslo, Just Listening 2011 in Limerick and Experimentica09 in Cardiff. She is also in a band called ABODE and an improvisation collective called E=MCH.

Now based in Belfast, Caroline sings in a folk duo with Meabh Meir and together with Myles McCormack they run traditional song sessions at the Garrick Bar on Mondays from 7.30-10pm.

In 2011, Caroline was awarded an Art Council Northern Ireland grant for her solo work and gained a Distinction for her AHRC-funded Master of Music at Newcastle University. She coaches students at Queen’s University Belfast and has worked in collaboration with visual artists (Connecting through Scape 2008), theatre practitioners (hour8+9 2009), video artists (SAAB 2009), dancers and psychologists (Newcastle and Northumbria Universities 2010). She also got a BA in Scottish Music from the Royal Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, and studied Contemporary Music at the University of Central Lancashire for a wee while too.

“Every once in a while you happen upon a gig or event that’s so fundamentally unlike anything you’ve experienced before that you can’t help but reconsider your own thoughts on what defines music, performance and entertainment.”

Brian Coney (BBC Across The Line)

Catherine Sikora is “a free-blowing player’s player with a spectacular harmonic imagination and an evolved understanding of the tonal palette of the saxophone”. Sikora works in a broad range of settings, from highly complex composed music, to spoken word projects, to free improvisation. Frequent collaborators include Eric Mingus, Enrique Haneine, Brian Chase, Han-earl Park, Stanley Zappa, Christopher Culpo and Ross Hammond, as well as solo performance.

Dan Walsh is a musician working from Cork City, Ireland as drummer in The Great Balloon Race and Not Earth and composer/bandleader in Fixity as well as multi-instrumental duties in Senior Infants and other collaborations. Dan is the promoter/curator of Cork Improvised Music Club, a now weekly event running at Gulpd Cafe since 2013 featuring musicians from various fields of exploration.

By Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh

Cover of ‘Sirene 1009’ (BAF000) with Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (artwork copyright 2017, Han-earl Park)

Sirene 1009 (BAF000) [details…]

Personnel: Han-earl Park (guitar), Dominic Lash (double bass), Mark Sanders (drums) and Caroline Pugh (voice and tape recorder).

© + ℗ 2017 Han-earl Park.

reminder: Sirene 1009 at FUAIM, Cork

Sirene 1009: Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (copyright 2010 Seán Kelly, 2016 Bruce Coates, Andrew Putler, 2016 Jordan Hutchings, and 2016 Han-earl Park)
© 2010 Seán Kelly, © 2016 Bruce Coates, © Andrew Putler; © 2016 Jordan Hutchings; and © 2016 Han-earl Park.

This Friday (April 7, 2017), at 1:10pm: Sirene 1009 (Han-earl Park: guitar; Dominic Lash: double bass; Mark Sanders: drums; and Caroline Pugh: voice and electronics) kicks-off the Arts Council of Ireland funded series with a performance at the Aula Maxima (University College Cork, College Road, Cork, Ireland). Admission is free. [Details…]

Following the concert, also at the Aula Maxima, there will be a group improvisation workshop at 2:30pm. [Details…]

Arts Council of Ireland

Presented with funding from the Arts Council of Ireland, and support from FUAIM Music at UCC and UCC Department of Music.

Thanks: Sirene 1009 (Belfast, London, Monmouth) and Park-Pugh (Derry)

Han-earl Park and Caroline Pugh (Derry, 03-08-17)

Four performances in March. (Another mini-tour, but, hey, for the first time, I’ve actually tied-together an album release and a tour—never happens!) A privilege to have shared the stage with smart, creative performers, and to have been performing to some wonderful community of listeners. So, quick thanks to everyone on/off stage at Monmouth, London, Belfast and Derry….

Big thanks to all the venues, promoters and supporters. Thanks, in particular, to Lyndon Owen, a person of apparently limitless enthusiasm, and the team at Monmouth (what a wonderful community); to Peter O’Doherty at Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin for the incredible work bootstrapping the Derry scene; to Eduard Solaz at IKLECTIK for running such a wonderful space; and to Brian Carson at Moving on Music, and to Simon Waters at SARC for presenting, promoting and hosting.

Thanks for David Bird at SARC for all his work above-and-beyond the call of duty. (Hey! I owe you and Craig a beer.) Kudos, David Lyttle for loaning us your double bass for a couple of days.

As always big, big thanks to everyone who came to listen. I’ll particularly remember the adventurous and genuinely interested listeners in Monmouth and Derry. And a special thanks to Jeremy (he’ll know why 😉 ).

Finally, thanks to all the performers: to James King for the gibberish; to the acoustic frenzy of FAINT (big thanks to Franziska for all her help (starting in February 2016!) getting the Belfast performance together—it’s been a long road, but worthwhile!); and, of course, biggest thanks to Dom, Mark and Caroline for the music (See you in April!)!

Sirene 1009 (Cork, 2017)

Poster © 2017 Han-earl Park. Component images/photos © 2016 Jordan Hutchings, © Andrew Putler, © 2016 Bruce Coates, © 2010 Seán Kelly, and © 2014 Han-earl Park.
Poster © 2017 Han-earl Park. Component images/photos © 2016 Jordan Hutchings, © Andrew Putler, © 2016 Bruce Coates, © 2010 Seán Kelly, and © 2014 Han-earl Park. Click for PDF…

Friday, April 7, and Friday, May 19, 2017: Sirene 1009 (Han-earl Park: guitar; Dominic Lash: double bass; Mark Sanders: drums; and Caroline Pugh: voice and electronics) perform as part of an Arts Council of Ireland funded series.

Friday, April 7, 2017

Performance by Sirene 1009 at Aula Maxima (University College Cork, College Road, Cork, Ireland). Presented by FUAIM Music at UCC.
1:10pm.

Admission free.

[Performance diary entry…] [Facebook event…]

Friday, April 7, 2017:

Group improvisation workshop by Mark Sanders, Dominic Lash, Han-earl Park and Caroline Pugh at Aula Maxima (University College Cork, College Road, Cork, Ireland). Presented with support from UCC Department of Music.
2:30pm (setup: 2:10pm).

Workshop fee: €20 (discounts available for CIT/UCC music students).

[Details/register…]
[Performance diary…] [UCC page…] [Facebook…]

Friday, May 19, 2017

Performance by Sirene 1009, plus Catherine Sikora (saxophones) and Dan Walsh (drums), at Stack Theatre (CIT Cork School of Music, Union Quay, Cork, Ireland). Presented with support from CIT Cork School of Music and the Cork Improvised Music Club.
8:00pm (doors: 7:45pm).

Tickets: €16 | €10 | €5

Online box office closes at 6:00pm. Tickets will be available from the door from 7:30pm.

[Details…]
[Performance diary…] [CSM page…] [Facebook…]

See the performance diary for up-to-date info.

Details

Sirene 1009: Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (copyright 2010 Seán Kelly, 2016 Bruce Coates, Andrew Putler, 2016 Jordan Hutchings, and 2016 Han-earl Park)
© 2010 Seán Kelly, © 2016 Bruce Coates, © Andrew Putler; © 2016 Jordan Hutchings; and © 2016 Han-earl Park.

Sirene 1009, “a fierce, adventurous band that goes… into the unknown, fearlessly in search of the new” (David Menestres, Free Jazz), makes their Cork debut as part of the Arts Council of Ireland funded series, starting with a free concert at 1:10pm on Friday, 7 April 2017 at the Aula Maxima, UCC, continuing at 8:00pm on 19 May, Stack Theatre, CIT Cork School of Music. Sirene 1009 is the cyborg virtuosity of Han-earl Park, the indomitable low-end growl of Dominic Lash, the unstoppable hits and clangs of Mark Sanders, and the controlled vocal mayhem of Caroline Pugh.

Brian Morton in Point of Departure described Cork-based guitarist Han-earl Park as “a musical philosopher,” while Stanley Zappa in The New York City Jazz Record noted that his sound was the “totality of the guitar’s sonorities.” Park has performed with some of the best improvisers from the Americas, Asia and Europe. He is part of ensembles including the London-based Mathilde 253 with Charles Hayward and Ian Smith, the New York-based Eris 136199 with Nick Didkovsky and Catherine Sikora, and the Berlin-based Numbers with Richard Barrett.

The molten, musical core of the ensemble comprises the virtuosic bassist, composer and sound artist Dominic Lash, and Mark Sanders, arguably the most sought-after avant-jazz and free improvisation drummer of his generation. Belfast-based avant-folk singer and electronic artist Caroline Pugh joined the group in 2015, bringing an additional layer of levity and exuberance to the already playful interactions of the trio.

Also on 7 April, following the performance, the ensemble will also host a group improvisation workshop at 2:30pm. More information: www.busterandfriends.com/workshop

With the release of the ensemble’s eponymous first album (“a colorful, sometimes violent and revelatory listening experience that infuses modern aesthetics with the spirit of the ancient.” John Morrison, Jazz Right Now), and following the ensemble’s Culture Ireland funded tour of England in 2015, and their performance at the Sonic Arts Research Centre as part of Brilliant Corners, Belfast, Sirene 1009 is ready to bring their mix of musical histories in a performance that will leap between noise, melody, dissonance, harmony and rhythm.

Presented with funding from the Arts Council of Ireland, and support from FUAIM Music at UCC, UCC Music Department, CIT Cork School of Music and the Cork Improvised Music Club.

About the performers

Improviser, guitarist and constructor Han-earl Park has been crossing borders and performing fuzzily idiomatic, on occasion experimental, always traditional, open improvised musics for twenty years. He has performed in clubs, theaters, art galleries, concert halls, and (ad-hoc) alternative spaces across Europe and the USA.

Park engages a radical, liminal, cyborg virtuosity in which mind, body and artifact collide. He is driven by the social and revolutionary potential of real-time interactive performance in which tradition and practice become creative problematics. As a constructor of musical automata, he is interested in partial, and partially frustrating, context-specific artifacts; artifacts that amplify social relations and corporeal identities and agencies.

Ensembles include Mathilde 253 with Charles Hayward and Ian Smith, Eris 136199 with Nick Didkovsky and Catherine Sikora, and Numbers with Richard Barrett. Park is the constructor of the machine improviser io 0.0.1 beta++, and instigator of Metis 9, a playbook of improvisative tactics. He has performed with Wadada Leo Smith, Paul Dunmall, Evan Parker, Lol Coxhill, Mark Sanders, Josh Sinton, Louise Dam Eckardt Jensen, Gino Robair, Tim Perkis, Andrew Drury, Pat Thomas and Franziska Schroeder, and as part of large ensembles led by Wadada Leo Smith, Evan Parker and Pauline Oliveros.

Festival appearances include Freedom of the City (London), Sonorities (Belfast), ISIM (New York), dialogues festival (Edinburgh), CEAIT (Los Angeles) and Sonic Acts (Amsterdam). His recordings have been released by labels including Slam Productions, Creative Sources and DUNS Limited Edition.

Park taught improvisation at University College Cork, and founded and curated Stet Lab, a space for improvised music in Cork.

“Guitarist Han-earl Park is a musical philosopher…. Expect unexpected things from Park, who is a delightful shape-shifter….”

Brian Morton (Point of Departure)

Dominic Lash is a freely improvising double bassist, although his activities also range much more widely and include playing bass guitar and other instruments; both writing and performing composed music; and writing about music and various other subjects.

He has performed with musicians such as Tony Conrad (in duo and quartet formations), Joe Morris (trio and quartet), Evan Parker (duo, quartet and large ensemble) and the late Steve Reid. His main projects include The Dominic Lash Quartet, The Set Ensemble (an experimental music group focused on the work of the Wandelweiser collective) and The Convergence Quartet.

Based in Bristol, Lash has performed in the UK, Austria, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey and USA. For nearly a decade he was based in Oxford and played a central role in the activities of Oxford Improvisers; much of 2011 was spent living in Manhattan. In 2013 and 2014 he is taking part in Take Five, the professional development programme administered by Serious.

Festival appearances include Akbank Jazz Festival (Istanbul), Audiograft (Oxford), Freedom of the City (London), Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Hurta Cordel (Madrid), Konfrontationen (Nickelsdorf), LMC Festival (London), Manchester Jazz Festival and Tampere Jazz Happening.

His work has been broadcast on a number of radio stations, including BBC Radios 1 and 3 and Germany’s SWR2, and released on labels including Another Timbre, b-boim, Bead, Cathnor, Clean Feed, Compost and Height, Emanem, Erstwhile, FMR, Foghorn, Leo and NoBusiness.

Since moving to Bristol he has been involved in organising concerts under the banners of Bang the Bore and Insignificant Variation. A new venture is the monthly series happening every second Wednesday at the Arnolfini entitled Several 2nds. Events include performances, workshops, film screenings and discussions.

“Following in an illustrious lineage from Barry Guy through Simon Fell… breathtaking.”

John Sharpe (All About Jazz)

Mark Sanders has played with many renowned musicians from around the world including Evan Parker, Peter Brotzmann, Derek Bailey, Myra Melford, Paul Rogers, Henry Grimes, Roswell Rudd, Okkyung Lee, Barry Guy, Tim Berne, Otomo Yoshihide, Luc Ex, Ken Vandermark, Sidsel Endresen and Jean Francois Pauvrois, in duo and quartets with Wadada Leo Smith and trios with Charles Gayle with Sirone and William Parker.

New collaborative projects include ‘Riverloam Trio’ with Mikolaj Trzaska and Olie Brice, ‘Asunder’ with Hasse Poulsen and Paul Dunmall, duos with John Butcher and DJ Sniff, ‘Statics’ with Georg Graewe and John Butcher, and trio with Rachel Musson and Liam Noble.

Mark and John Edwards play as a rhythm section with many groups including Trevor Watts Quartet, ‘Foils’ with Frank Paul Schubert and Matthius Muller, Mathew Shipp’s ‘London Quartet,’ also playing with Fred Frith, Wadada Leo Smith and Shabaka Hutchins amongst many others.

Christian Marclay’s ‘Everyday’ project includes Mark with Christian, Steve Beresford, John Butcher and Alan Tomlinson, he also works regularly in the projects of Mikolaj Trzaska, Gail Brand, Paul Dunmall, Peter Jaquemyn, and Simon H. Fell.

Mark has performed in the USA, Canada, Brazil, Japan, Morrocco, South Africa, Mozambique and Turkey, playing at many major festivals including, Nickelsdorf, Ulrichsburg, Glastonbury, Womad, Vancouver, Isle of Wight, Roskilde, Berlin Jazz days, Mulhouse, Luz, Minniapolis, Banlieue Bleues, Son D’hiver and Hurta Cordel.

He has released over 120 CDs.

“A gifted player capable of seamless movement between free-rhythms and propulsive swing.”

John Fordham (The Guardian)

Scottish vocalist and composer Caroline Pugh borrows old-fangled technologies and honours oral histories to create new performances. With a background in both folk and improvisation, her solo works You’ve Probably Heard These Songs Before, Timing By Ear, Measuring By Hand and Platform Audio also draw on performance art and pinhole photography.

Originally from Edinburgh, Caroline has performed across Europe and North America with new improvisation performances including Los Angeles’ Betalevel in 2012, NIME 2011 in Oslo, Just Listening 2011 in Limerick and Experimentica09 in Cardiff. She is also in a band called ABODE and an improvisation collective called E=MCH.

Now based in Belfast, Caroline sings in a folk duo with Meabh Meir and together with Myles McCormack they run traditional song sessions at the Garrick Bar on Mondays from 7.30-10pm.

In 2011, Caroline was awarded an Art Council Northern Ireland grant for her solo work and gained a Distinction for her AHRC-funded Master of Music at Newcastle University. She coaches students at Queen’s University Belfast and has worked in collaboration with visual artists (Connecting through Scape 2008), theatre practitioners (hour8+9 2009), video artists (SAAB 2009), dancers and psychologists (Newcastle and Northumbria Universities 2010). She also got a BA in Scottish Music from the Royal Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, and studied Contemporary Music at the University of Central Lancashire for a wee while too.

“Every once in a while you happen upon a gig or event that’s so fundamentally unlike anything you’ve experienced before that you can’t help but reconsider your own thoughts on what defines music, performance and entertainment.”

Brian Coney (BBC Across The Line)

By Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh

Cover of ‘Sirene 1009’ (BAF000) with Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (artwork copyright 2017, Han-earl Park)

Sirene 1009 (BAF000) [details…]

Personnel: Han-earl Park (guitar), Dominic Lash (double bass), Mark Sanders (drums) and Caroline Pugh (voice and tape recorder).

© + ℗ 2017 Han-earl Park.

updates

05-04-17: add link to CSM page.
05-10-17: add link to 19 May specific post.

tonight: Han-earl Park and Caroline Pugh at Glassworks, Derry

Caroline Pugh (photo copyright 2016 Jordan Hutchings)
© 2016 Jordan Hutchings

Tonight (Wednesday, March 8, 2017), at 9:00pm: Han-earl Park (guitar) and Caroline Pugh (voice and electronics) perform at The Glassworks (33 Great James Street, Derry BT48 7DF, N. Ireland). Admission: £5, students free. [Get tickets…]

By Han-earl Park and Caroline Pugh

Cover of ‘Sirene 1009’ (BAF000) with Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (artwork copyright 2017, Han-earl Park)

Sirene 1009 (BAF000) [details…]

Personnel: Han-earl Park (guitar), Dominic Lash (double bass), Mark Sanders (drums) and Caroline Pugh (voice and tape recorder).

© + ℗ 2017 Han-earl Park.

Han-earl Park and Caroline Pugh are also performing…

As part of Sirene 1009 (with Dominic Lash and Mark Sanders), April 7 and May 19, 2017: Cork, Ireland. [Details…]

reminder: Sirene 1009 at Brilliant Corners, Belfast

Sirene 1009 (Belfast)
Photos © 2016 Bruce Coates; icons © 2016 Han-earl Park; overlaid text © Brilliant Corners.

This Tuesday (March 7, 2017), at 8:00pm: Sirene 1009 (Han-earl Park: guitar; Dominic Lash: double bass; Mark Sanders: drums; and Caroline Pugh: voice and electronics) perform as part of Brilliant Corners, a festival of jazz presented by Moving on Music, at the Sonic Arts Research Centre (Cloreen Park, Belfast BT9 5HN, N. Ireland). Tickets: £10 [get tickets…].

By Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh

Cover of ‘Sirene 1009’ (BAF000) with Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (artwork copyright 2017, Han-earl Park)

Sirene 1009 (BAF000) [details…]

Personnel: Han-earl Park (guitar), Dominic Lash (double bass), Mark Sanders (drums) and Caroline Pugh (voice and tape recorder).

© + ℗ 2017 Han-earl Park.

Next performances…

Han-earl Park and Caroline Pugh are performing March 8, 2017: Derry, N. Ireland; and Sirene 1009 is also performing April 7 and May 19, 2017: Cork, Ireland. [Details…]

tonight: Sirene 1009 at IKLECTIK, London

Sirene 1009 (London). Copyright 2016 Han-earl Park
© 2016 Han-earl Park

Tonight (Thursday, March 2, 2017), at 8:30pm (doors: 8:00pm): Sirene 1009 (Han-earl Park: guitar; Dominic Lash: double bass; Mark Sanders: drums; and Caroline Pugh: voice and electronics) perform at IKLECTIK (‘Old Paradise Yard,’ 20 Carlisle Lane, London SE1 7LG, England). Admission: £8 (£6).

By Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh

Cover of ‘Sirene 1009’ (BAF000) with Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (artwork copyright 2017, Han-earl Park)

Sirene 1009 (BAF000) [details…]

Personnel: Han-earl Park (guitar), Dominic Lash (double bass), Mark Sanders (drums) and Caroline Pugh (voice and tape recorder).

© + ℗ 2017 Han-earl Park.

Sirene 1009 is also performing…

March 7, 2017: Belfast, N. Ireland; and April 7 and May 19, 2017: Cork, Ireland. [Details…]

reminder: Sirene 1009 at Queens Head, Monmouth

Sirene 1009 (Monmouth). Copyright 2016 Han-earl Park
© 2016 Han-earl Park

This Wednesday (March 1, 2017), at 9:00pm: Sirene 1009 (Han-earl Park: guitar; Dominic Lash: double bass; Mark Sanders: drums; and Caroline Pugh: voice and electronics) perform at Queens Head Inn (1 St James Street, Monmouth NP25 3DL, Wales). Admission is free.

Presented with support from Music in Monmouth and Plancktone Club.

By Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh

Cover of ‘Sirene 1009’ (BAF000) with Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (artwork copyright 2017, Han-earl Park)

Sirene 1009 (BAF000) [details…]

Personnel: Han-earl Park (guitar), Dominic Lash (double bass), Mark Sanders (drums) and Caroline Pugh (voice and tape recorder).

© + ℗ 2017 Han-earl Park.

Sirene 1009 is also performing…

March 2, 2017: London, England; March 7, 2017: Belfast, N. Ireland; and April 7 and May 19, 2017: Cork, Ireland. [Details…]