Christmas is approaching fast. A reason to venture into musical highs and lows. At the NO, however, we’re not focusing on the birth of a baby, but rather on the deaths of three pop icons who all passed away ten years ago: Prince, George Michael and David Bowie. Three exceptional artists, three evenings, three tributes – led by musicians LEGION SEVEN, Sarah Taylor Ellis, Mara Snip and Niko Meinhold. Christmas music for everyone who loves the holiday hustle and bustle … or hates it.
Storyteller LEGION SEVEN kicks things off with a tribute to Prince. Two electric basses, one synthesizer – and an attempt to make the bass weep. Prince may be famous for his rhythm section, but he was also a dramatist: longing, lament, tremendous emotional swings. Seven strips things back, zooms in: a vocal line, a guitar lick – at what point does the song stop being recognisable? Until the story and the drama take centre stage.
WITH s.t3v, Indigo Plateaux (electronic bass) Liz Kosack (synthesizer), LEGION SEVEN
Team
Legion Seven
Legion Seven (*1993 in Brampton, CAN) is a storyteller. Their work is a vehicle in refractive departure from the biblical cult rigidity into which they were born. The wreckage of this rigidity, strewn with dream-mythology, science-fiction, chaos-logic and exuberant lies, lays the path on which Seven gains momentum and puts momentum on display. Winner of the 2018 Basler Medienkunstpreis and 2019 Basel Kulturförderpreis.
s.t3v | E-Bass
s.t3v follows the mischief of rhythmic energy with a devotion to groove over genre, crafting sets that blend funk with progressive, deep breaks with bass, and atmospheric with experimental textures. They journey the dance floor through ancestral sounds and afro-futuristic dreams. From the United States’ southern regions of the black diaspora, s.t3v is a composer, selector and designer based in Berlin.
Indigo Plateaux | E-Bass
Indigo Plateaux is a Berlin-based producer, DJ, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist whose work moves between techno, house, ghettotech, funk, and experimental music. Rooted in Black and queer musical traditions, his work combines a strong sense of rhythm and groove with an irreverent, highly personal approach to performance and production.
Liz Kosack | Synthesizer
Liz Kosack is a synthesizer keyboardist and mask maker based in Berlin, originally from Maine, USA. She has performed with countless collaborators in experimental, jazz, and improvised music scenes in Europe, New York, and worldwide. With masks and visual works, she creates and supersedes issues of identity. As a synthesist, her singular work pursues organic expression, pushing the sympathetic capabilities of electronic instruments.
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