7 February 2019
GIOVANNI BARCELLA (IT/BE) - Giovanni Barcella (drums & percussion)

Giovanni Barcella is a jazz drummer born near Como, Italy. He took lessons at l'Accademia Jazz in Bergamo and in the center CDPM at G. Prina. He plays full of Italian passion and has a big heart for all sincere and contrarian forms of music. He experiments and adores rhythms that go against the grain, both of which naturally steered him towards both present-day and avant-garde projects.
He is also part of the artists' collective Lucinda Ra, a multidisciplinary collective that constructively poses critical social questions, organizes encounters and makes creations and performances in various forms.

20 February 2019
2000 (DE/US/NL/BE) - Jan Klare (saxophones & reeds), Steve Swell (trombone), Elisabeth Coudoux (cello), Wilbert de Joode (double bass),
                            Michael Vatcher (drums), Bart Maris (trumpet)   release tour
BACKBACK (BE/IT) - Filip Wauters (electric/baritone guitar), Marc De Maeseneer (baritone/tenor saxophones) & Giovanni Barcella (drums)   release tour

The band 1000 has gone through many musical developments since it was founded in 2004 by Jan Klare, Bart Maris, Wilbert de Joode and Michael Vatcher. It actually started playing compositions mainly from the classical world by composers like Wagner Bach or Monteverdi, combined with some originals by Klare. Although composition was always a crucial element in their music, the way these four players improvised together was the prominent impressive side of the quartet. ("consistently interesting quartet that keeps evolving and getting better with each release." Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery). Through the years 1000 developed a very intuitive, almost telepathic musical language with an enormous instinct for form and structure. When drummer Vatcher left to New York City in 2017 the band was shaken. An invitation to the Moers festival 2018 and demand of some bookers pushed 1000 back into action ending up as a six piece band including Elisabeth Coudoux on cello and Steve Swell on trombone.

A Belgian based jazz trio. "An unusual line-up" you might think, or "no bass player, isn't that a handicap?" Not so with Backback. Through years of rehearsing, gigging, and recording the trio has forged their own impressive sound and they also seem to have a magic formula that keeps their music fresh, ingenious, yet accessible. Filip Wauters' original compositions are moulded around and bounce off and the band's individual playing styles and explore a whole range of musical styles and influences: jazz, rock, free jazz, funk, the result is uniquely Backback, an established name in the Belgian jazz scene.

7 march 2019: an evening of improvisation from Muzzix Lille      this concert will be not at SMAK - location tba !!!
CHRISTIAN PRUVOST - SEIJIRO MURAYAMA (FR/JP) - Christian Pruvost (trumpet), Seijiro Murayama (percussion)
ABDOU / DANG / ORINS (FR) - Sakina Abdou (saxophone), Barbara Dang (piano), Peter Orins (drums)

Fascinated by the alchemy between musical matter, timbre of the instrument, space and time, trumpeter Christian Pruvost from Lille and the Japanese percussionist Seijiro Murayama deliver improvised music consisting of breathing, whispering, voices meet skins with an emotional power without equivalent.

A trio. A saxophone. A piano. A drums. Notes. Noise. Maybe melodies. Repetitive, surely. Hijacked instruments. Pure tones. Returned timbres. Relief, backgrounds. Maybe some foregrounds too. Minimal. But full. It's vegetable, wet, organic. It's suspended, tense, all delicate. Time stops, and passes.
Playing on minimalist modes and an ultra-reduced sound volume, Sakina Abdou, Barbara Dang and Peter Orins explore the timbres and the extended techniques of their instruments, play on the differences in plans and substances, blur the sound image.

these concerts are part of
Breaking The Improvised Border I: Citadelic (Gent - B, citadelic.be) + Muzzix (Lille - Fr, muzzix.info)
dans le cadre de la convention de coopération culturelle entre la Communauté Flamande et la Région Hauts-de-France
in het kader van de culturele samenwerkingsovereenkomst tussen Vlaanderen en Hauts-de-France

4 april 2019
PAK YAN LAU 'BOOK OF TOY': ' (HK/BE) - Pak Yan Lau (toypianos, electronics and objects)
DE GROOTE - FAES DUO (BE) - Bruno De Groote (electric guitar), Ben Faes (double bass)

Active and fascinating figure of the experimental underground scene of Brussels, the sound artist Pak Yan Lau, exposes a rich, dense and captivating sound universe, documented on her excellent triple solo recording "Books"
At this occasion she will present 'Book of Toy' where the universe of overtones, harmonics and metallic bass sounds of toy pianos (inside and outside) in combination of clockworks and electronics are being exposed.

Belgian instrumental duo De Groote - Faes have a strong live reputation, exploring an ever widening universe of highly personal sounds while using only classical double bass and often raw electric guitar, the atmospheres shift from energetic and wild jazz to delicate intimacy, classic beauty and poetry, echoes of world and ethnic music, into trippy electronic sound manipulation. In the process of creation, the duo lays a heavy focus on composition and arrangement, which leads to a unique and exuberant repertoire, instantly recognisable.

abonnement / subscription for 5 concerts

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