KLANK - HI/STORY

KLANK is a music/performance ensemble based in Bremen, Germany. Founded by improvisers Reinhart Hammerschmidt and Hainer Wörmann, sound-performer Tim Schomacker and composer / instrumentalist Christoph Ogiermann in 2008, KLANK's sonic universe combines various musical experiences, influences and approaches.

KLANK soon found common ground in both, the complex and dense logic of the interaction in playing improvised music and in researching the musical potential of various materials from everyday life. Be it kitchen utensils, office equipment, children's toys or tools from whatever workplace - KLANK is able and willing to declare almost everything a musical instrument to expand the range of its sonic creations.

KLANK immediately realized that it's music doesn't just sound - but that it "looks like", also. So the quartet started to focus on performative and site-specific concepts, establishing a unique brand of Klang-Aktionen (music-based performances) involving the use of body, voice, video and various theatrical elements.

KLANK-WORK can be divided into four subgroups:

A The achievement and realization of pieces and performances for improvising quartet, ranging from sound-centred improvisations to funny performance pieces to compositions touching on established formats of classical or contemporary music. An example for the latter is the ongoing development of a Cardboard Quartet.

B The composition and realization of workshops with and pieces for larger ensembles of musicians and non-musicians of different age and experience. As part of a continuous collaboration with a primary school in Bremen KLANK in 2009 developed GROSSES LERNEN for pupils, brass ensemble and various other (non-)musicians, a 90-minute piece based on ideas from The Great Learning by british composer Cornelius Cardew. In 2010 KLANK presented the open air-spectacle StadtKLANK for and with 450 musicians from 20 semi-professional ensembles in the old town of the city of Waiblingen near Stuttgart. This pieces was commissioned by Musik der Jahrhunderte's zukunftsmusik-Festival.

C Site- and occasion-specific performances in collaboration with churches, museums etcetera. These pieces deal not only with the specific sonic qualities (and contexts) of the spaces KLANK performs in but also with unique musical approaches to the situations, art or materials presented at the respective places.

D Collaborations with other musicians or artists working in other fields like poets, painters, sound and video artists. Among others KLANK has performed with saxophonists Yoann Durant (Paris) and Lars Scherzberg (Hamburg) as well as british sound artist Ben Gwilliam. In winter 2011 KLANK will start The French Connection, a series of concerts and school-workshops in Germany and France with French percussionist Lê Quan Ninh. In October 2011 KLANK will present ANUNDFUERSICH, a collaboration with the painter Dina Koper (Commissioned by klangpol's aus-gezeichnet-Festival in Oldenburg).

KLANK:

Reinhart Hammerschmidt - double bass, stuff

Christoph Ogierman - violin, voice, stuff

Tim Schomacker - percussion, voice, stuff

Hainer Wörmann - electric guitar, stuff

Click here for upcoming appearances.

Click here for audio and video.

Contact KLANK for further information.