Genetic Choir en Robert van Heumen op NOVEMBER MUSIC 2019

In het project Loop-Copy-Mutate duelleert het Genetic Choir met alledaagse stadsklanken en betrekt het publiek in het selecteren en muteren van de geluiden. In 2017 transformeerde het zangers ensemble al, in samenwerking met Stelios Manousakis en Robert van Heumen, de geluiden van het Centraal Station van Amsterdam tot geheel onverwachte instant composities.

Voor November Music 2019 ontwikkelt het Genetic Choir een nieuwe invalshoek voor Loop-Copy-Mutate, namelijk sportgeluiden. In basketbalstad ’s-Hertogenbosch gaat het ensemble in zee met basketbalclub Black Eagles. Geen sport waarbij het geluid zo intens is als basketbal. Een ideaal uitgangspunt voor Loop-Copy-Mutate: Ball Games: 8 en 9 november in Babel, Den Bosch.

‘From writings of the Church fathers and other reports, it is unequivocally clear that the rites of worship of the early Christians were marked by a religious ecstasy that manifested itself in unhampered, purely emotional, spontaneous expression. From the earliest time onward there is copious documentary evidence of the extensive part played by improvisation throughout the development of all church music. (taken from Derek Bailey: Improvisation, its nature and practice in music (1992, p29)

What intrigues us about the church as a place - next to the beautiful acoustics - is the thing that it is used for: people coming together for something other/higher than themselves. While most of the singers in our ensemble are not (or no longer) strongly linked to Christian religion, we all understand and value the creation of moments where it is not the individual, nor the group as an entity, but a third thing which emerges as the centre of our attention.

On the basis of these thoughts, we instantly composed and recorded an album in the White Church of Holysloot in 2015, during a two-day session. We chose the most remarkable recordings, gave them titels and put them on CD. You can still order this album via our wordpress blog.