Tango uden kant

Bjarke Mogensen: »Album for Astor«

I en hyldest til Piazzolla har Bjarke Mogensen kastet sig over den argentinske tango på cd’en Album for Astor. Selvom han er en af de bedste i landet på akkordeonet, kommer vi hverken tæt på Astor Piazzolla eller under huden på tangoen.

Mogensen mestrer fuldt den teknisk krævende musik – men godt håndværk skaber ingen tango, for der mangler vildskab eller kant på 11 indspilninger, som ellers er varieret udvalgt. »Adiós Nonino« er skrevet under dyb påvirkning af farens død. Men vi kan ikke høre eller mærke sorgen igennem Mogensens akkordeon, som ligesom andre numre mangler det farlige element, hvor man kommer ud over kanten, tæt på afgrunden. På »Café 1930« har han selskab af Mathias Heises ellers suveræne mundharmonika, men halvvejs går de i stå, og i stedet for nerve bliver det kedeligt. De mange gentagelser i numrene kører i det hele taget mere i ring end skaber fornyet kraft.

På halvdelen af titlerne er Ensemble Storstrøm med til tango, men det kommer musikken ikke op af flyve af. Den karakteristiske tangorytme – dam-DAM – bliver for tung og markant i lydbilledet, og mister sin funktion som underlæggende fremdriftseffekt. Lydproduktionen hjælper ikke, da de otte instrumenter virker meget langt væk, og det er vanskeligt at skelne de enkelte stemmer fra hinanden.

Kun de to numre med vibrafonisten Johan Bridger har nerve, og man fornemmer tangoens vildskab og indboende urolighed. Man kan spille tango skævt, fejlagtigt og uden de store kompetencer – men kedeligt må det ikke blive. Der skal mere end stort musikerskab til en tango.

playlist

06.10

We are Late Runner – would you like to see our playlist?

»For us, music is... magic? Aside from the fact that we are huge fans of silence, the closing line of one of our upcoming singles perfectly captures our relationship with music:

'Music feels like magic to me / A superior art form in a marketplace / Trying to find an empty space'.

That is what it can feel like as a songwriter and performing musician. We try to hold onto an almost childlike infatuation with music, yet the art form we work in – alternative-leaning pop-rock – was created and has evolved 'in a marketplace' driven by powerful economic forces. As a romantic, that can sometimes be a bit disheartening...«

Late Runner consists of Asger Tarpgaard and Tanja Forsberg Simonsen, both formerly of the bands Superheroes and Private.

news

04.10

Björk takes over Polish marketplace today for secret festival finale

It was officially confirmed only recently that Icelandic avant-garde star Björk is visiting Bielsko-Biała today. After keeping it under wraps until the last moment, the organizers of the Wędrujący Festiwal (Wandering Festival) have revealed that Björk is the artist closing out the festival's grand finale.

playlist

03.10

My name is Andreo Michaelo Mielczarek – would you like to see my playlist?

»Recently, I discovered that when a couple of thousand people clap their thick gloves in minus 30 degrees, it sounds like the softest techno – a freezing space where the cold air turns into a wave of warmth, and we, in a moment of collective devotion, become one with the rhythm, one with the invisible bond that connects us in the warmth of silence. Music is not just sounds, but a vain attempt to capture the infinite, which has always been and always will be.«

Andreo Michaelo Mielczarek has been the editor-in-chief of Seismograf since 2021. He is also a music critic and cultural journalist at Kristeligt Dagblad and Århus Stiftstidende/Avisen Danmark and has over the years written to publications such as Kunsten.nu, Glissando (Poland), Neural (Italy), Raw Vision (UK), Nutida Musik (Sweden), Kunstkritikk (DK/Sweden), Iscene.dk, B.T., and Jazz Special. He is the author (together with Lars Muhl) of the book HVA' SAA! En guidet rutsjebanetur gennem Aarhus – før, nu og i fremtiden (2024) and has also contributed to the anthology on music criticism Man skal høre meget (ed. Thomas Michelsen and Claus Røllum-Larsen, 2024). He is a founder and partner in the Polish-Danish cultural organization Kultur(a), and wherever there is a piano, he will be there, eager to coax a melody from it.

playlist

02.10

My name is Aria Leth Schütze – would you like to see my playlist?

»For me, music is an opportunity for transformation.«

Aria Leth Schütze is based in Copenhagen and is the creative force behind the music projects Alto Aria and Samler På Dig. They are a co-founder of the record label Rhizome and a co-editor of the music magazine Passive/Aggressive. Their practice brings together electronic and acoustic music in an exploration of transformation.

playlist

02.10

My name is Mikkel Krause Frantzen – would you like to see my playlist?

»For me, music is the art form that – if measured in hours and minutes – occupies by far the greatest part of my life. I cannot sing, nor can I play an instrument, but I can listen – as a happy amateur – while cycling, on the dance floor, and, above all, at the office. I almost always work – that is, write – to music.«

Mikkel Krause Frantzen (b. 1983) is an associate professor at the Department of Arts and Cultural Studies, a literary critic for Politiken, and the author of several books in English and Danish, such as En fremtid uden Fremtid (2018), Klodens Fald (2021), and Slutspil (2024).