Sonic Matter: A leap into the unknown
The third installment of Sonic Matter, the festival for experimental music in Zurich, was held under the motto "Leap". Over 4 days, 16 events were offered at several concert venues and in different formats.
The good news right at the start: Sonic Matter can be continued. At the request of Zurich City Council, the municipal council has decided to continue supporting the festival for experimental music over the next four years with an annual operating grant of CHF 250,000. The City of Zurich is the main sponsor of Sonic Matter. The festival, which emerged from the Tage für Neue Musik Zürich in 2021, was previously in a pilot phase and had its creditworthiness assessed by an external company.
Getting to know something different
After the first edition with the motto "Turn" focused on musical and extra-musical changes and last year's "Rise" was intended to understand standing up in a political sense, the motto "Leap" now formed the bracket for the third year. In the foreword to the program, the two artistic directors Katharina Rosenberger and Lisa Nolte invited the audience to "take a leap into the unknown together". The interconnectedness of the world should be used as an opportunity to get to know what is different, to embrace the unforeseen. In addition to musicians from Switzerland, numerous foreign artists, primarily from the Middle East, were also invited. And as a guest, the Festival Irtijal Beirut is also part of the party.
Surprising sounds and twists
The opening concert in the Schiffbau of the Schauspielhaus Zurich provided a concrete expression of these ideas. The encounter with the Iranian composer and qanun player Nilufar Habibian was exciting. In her piece Becoming the oriental zither forms astonishing combinations with the electric guitar, cello and bass clarinet. Guitarist Sharif Sehnaoui and video artist Mazen Kerbaj, the two founders of the Beirut festival Irtijal, provided a powerful contrast to this performance by the Geneva-based ensemble Contrechamps with their impromptu performance Wormholes. To the unusual sounds of the prepared guitar, Kerbaj drew and sprayed abstract images on a foil, which were simultaneously projected onto a screen. In the light of the current war in Gaza, the suddenly appearing sentence "We are the dead of tomorrow" read as a clear political message. The composition for live ambisonic turntables and immersive electronics presented at the end by the composer Shiva Feshareki offered surprising 360-degree sound experiences, but clearly took too long compared to the wealth of ideas.
The traditional Tonhalle concert, which Sonic Matter announced at short notice would not take place as part of the festival this time, was accompanied by a scandal. Both organizers remained silent about the reasons. When asked, Sonic Matter's press spokesperson merely stated that the decision was "due to the geopolitical situation". In any case, the decision to cancel the Tonhalle concert meant a loss of prestige for Sonic Matter.
Lounge, Party, Course, Marathon
In addition to the traditional concerts, Sonic Matter once again offered alternative presentation formats, such as the Listening Lounge with current electro-acoustic music from twenty countries, the party for young people with the DJ group Frequent Defect from the Beirut club scene and an outdoor sound trail. The four-hour concert marathon Long Night of Interferences at the Theaterhaus Gessnerallee allowed music from different cultures to collide. The Swiss part of this was provided by the world premiere of a new work by Geneva composer Denis Rollet, in which violin, bass clarinet and live electronics go through various stages of convergence and distance.
The festival took a major geographical and aesthetic leap with the closing event at the Rote Fabrik. The composer, who lives in the Netherlands Aurélie Nyirabikali Lierman and her group Silbersee whisked the audience away in their performative installation Umva! to Rwanda. The subject is the life of Aurélie's grandfather Kanyoni Ladislas, who lived in Rwanda as a cowherd and natural healer and died at the age of 113. The narrative, the dance elements and the playing of traditional African instruments and the "European" violin created a fascinating Afro-European musical theater.
Conclusion after three years
After the third edition of Sonic Matter, it is clear that the festival has become an integral part of the avant-garde music scene that people no longer want to miss. However, the variety of presentation forms, the aesthetic breadth of the performances and the participation of artists from half the world also harbors the danger of a certain arbitrariness and also leads to a division of the audience into different interest groups.
