ARCHIVE 2023—2012
VOL. V 2017
Photos: Sylvia Steinhäuser
A L‘ARME VOL V
2–5 AUGUST 2017
BERGHAIN
RADIALSYSTEM V
FRANK BRETSCHNEIDER
CASPAR BRÖTZMANN & THURSTON MOORE
ELEPHANT 9
MIEKO SUZUKI
NEW ROOTS TRIO
SEVEN STOREY MOUNTAIN V
JOE MCPHEE & PAAL NILSSEN-LOVE
C.BRÖTZMANN / PUPILLO / BABEL
DELL / BRECHT / LILLINGER / WESTERGAARD
CORSANO / LEE / ABDELNOUR / MAYAS
THURSTON MOORE GROUP
KAJA DRAKSLER OCTET
XENOFOX & JOKE LANZ
THOMAS LEHN & MARCUS SCHMICKLER
BYETONE
GRISCHA LICHTENBERGER
THE EX
A L‘ARME – a call to arms! Together with musical trailblazers who have led the movement from the very beginning and the most exciting new faces on the international experimental music scene, Berlin’s unique avant-garde jazz festival is celebrating its fifth birthday and inviting the public to come together and spend four summer nights (2 to 5 August) discovering the latest forms of experimental music.
Internationally renowned talents will share the stage with the up-and-coming stars of the scene: through their varied facets and suggestive allure, a superb and sonically powerful mélange of real-time musical interactions, avant-garde compositions, and modern rock will set the tone for the festival’s fifth anniversary. At A L‘ARME!, the restrictions of genre labels are always superseded by energy, fantasy and feeling. From the festival’s impressive opening night at Berghain to the Saturday night at RADIALSYSTEM V which stretches well into the morning, more than 60 artists will premiere new work and collaborate musically with one another for the first time ever, concentrating and multiplying the quality, power and radical nature of the festival.
At A L‘ARME!, all-stars and world-class soloists such as the American rock legend Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth), the Berlin-based industrial guitarist Caspar Brötzmann, co-founder of raster-media Frank Bretschneider, the young Slovenian pianist Kaja Draksler, or the virtuosic American drummer Chris Corsano will be performing in smaller groups as well as in large-format premieres. The fifth edition of the festival also promises a number of world premieres of new albums and first performances of compositions, while the Berlin jazz and improv scene will remain an omnipresent focus throughout all four days of the festival. Alongside the internationally renowned Thurston Moore Group, who will be launching their brand-new album Rock n Roll Consciousness in Berlin, the Dutch post-punk band The Ex and the Norwegian Hammond organ power trio Elephant 9 will be performing new music that has never before been heard in Berlin.
The orchestra premiere of the celebrated New York-based avant-garde trumpeter and composer Nate Wooley, who has assembled an ensemble of some of the best musicians from America and Berlin for the first time ever for his ambitious series “Seven Storey Mountain”, will be a major highlight of the festival. The specially orchestrated, quadrophonic sound design in the main hall of Radialsystem V will allow for innovative electro-acoustic concert arrangements, which will inspire European electronic music pioneers like Marcus Schmickler, the Korean noise-cellist Okkyung Lee, as well as the raster-media founders and aesthetic trailblazers Frank Bretschneider, Olaf Bender aka Byetone, and Grischa Lichtenberger to present their work in new and exciting ways.
For the first time this year, the A L‘ARME! festival will also be closing out the festival with a special after-show party of experimental electronic music and audio-visual performances hosted by the world-famous raster-media label (05.08. from 11.30 p.m. at Radialsystem V).
