Jason Kahn / Christian Wolfarth

Christian Wolfarth // percussion

Jason Kahn // voix, guitar

Christian Wolfarth et Jason Kahn travaillent ensemble depuis plus de dix ans au sein de

différents projets. Bien que purement acoustiques, leur duo actuel sonne incroyablement électronique (le reste en anglais parce que j’ai plus le temps de traduire, sorry) :

Wolfarth's percussion vibrates and rattles like countless oscillators and Kahn's voice rustles

and sometimes sounds distorted like a chopped circuit. What first appears as an extreme

kind of reduction soon reveals itself as the maximum in timbre and dynamics - an immersive

and experiential music that simultaneously creates and destroys spaces.

The duo is not just about sound but a direct approach to listening, immersive yet also raw

and direct, the music unfolding in realtime, structure and flow changing with each breath and

stroke of a cymbal.

Soundcloud:

https://soundcloud.com/jasonkahn/sets/jason-kahn-christian-wolfarth

Musician Links:

http://jasonkahn.net

https://christianwolfarth.ch

Jason Kahn

Born 1960 in New York, Jason Kahn is a musician, artist and writer. He re-located to Europe

in 1990 and is currently based in Zürich.

As an electronic musician, guitarist, vocalist and percussionist Kahn collaborates with many

international musicians in the context of free improvised music. He has also composed

numerous electro acoustic pieces and graphical scores written for specific groups and

musicians. His work can be heard on over two hundred solo, collaborative and compilation

releases.

Kahn has shown his installations in museums, galleries, art spaces and public sites

internationally. These works focus on the idea of space: the conceptual and physical juncture

points, its production and dissolution, and our relation to it as a political, social and

environmental medium.

Kahn's written work has appeared in books, magazines and as liner notes to many audio

publications. He has published three books (In Place, (2015); Space Text Sound, (2017);

Voice and Sky, (2018) documenting his own work.

Kahn's other activities include sound pieces for radio, film, dance and theater. He has also

designed numerous CD, LP and cassette covers.

Kahn has given concerts and exhibited throughout the United States, Europe, Argentina,

Australia, Egypt, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iraq,

Israel, Japan, Korea, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Russia, Turkey,

Singapore, South Africa and Taiwan.

In 2011 Kahn started the Editions imprint to publish his own recordings and writings.

http://jasonkahn.net

Christian Wolfarth

Born 1960 in Zürich/Switzerland.

1982-1986 studies with Bob Cunningham and Billy Brooks at the Swiss Jazz School in Bern.

1992-1996 studies with Pierre Favre at the Conservatorium in Luzern.

1995 studies in Composition with Siegfried Kutterer in Basel.

Workshops with George Lewis, Alexander von Schlippenbach,Jojo Mayer, Han Bennink and

others.

Since the middle of the 80th's he's involved in many projects between Jazz, improvised and

written New Music.

Since 1991 he played many solo concerts in all over Europe and Russia.

Regular works with dancers above all with Nina F. Schneider and her dance company.

(1994-2002)

He works for theatre, film and video.

http://christianwolfarth.ch

Press

Wolfarth and Kahn share a broad interest in phenomenal sound, an unending curiosity in its

original meaning. Wolfarth is used to producing much more than just percussive sounds from

his percussion.. Kahn understands his voice in the very real sense as an organ of human

expression, with which it is also intoned, but also just whispers, rattles, clears throat and

cries. Thanks to these congruent intentions of the two free instrumentalists, their joint

explorations bring to light impressive and emotionally strong contrasts. For just in front of the

rather technical coolness of Wolfarth's wide, often threatening sounds, the power of

expressing the voice emerges naked and undisguised. Behind the fragility of the voice, the

more physical sounding, throbbing and vibrating percussion is reassuring and almost more

familiar than the vocal organ that we hear on a daily basis.

>Christof Thurnherr, Jazz n’ More