Cor Fuhler

Wahroonga

2012-01-24T18:50:00.000-08:00

Found a new house in Wahroonga.

but traveling a bit for a month or so before moving in.

Been painting/drawing quite a bit (as you might have noticed), here's another one:

Pymble

2012-01-19T21:19:00.001-08:00

Writing pieces for "the Gap sextet": jazzguitar, clarinet, drums, double bass, vibraphone & trumpet.

And looking for a house.....

Moving again

2011-12-18T20:07:00.000-08:00

All's packed up now, in a few days (via Pambula for x-mas), we will be moving to Sydney. Staying in Pymble first, and see from there. The next chapter starts!..........

Solo piano in Paris

2011-12-08T17:50:00.000-08:00

Just discovered a 20 minute solo piano show I did a few years back. Shot from the back of the hall, so not the best quality, best to turn the volume way up.

http://www.qwartz.org/index.php?/Qwartz-TV/Cor-Fuhler-Presences-electronique-14/03/09-Centquatre/menu-id-92.html

Corkestra new cd

2011-07-31T23:37:00.000-07:00

Out now:

Corkestra
the Gas Station Sessions

recorded on a free day during the 2008 Canada tour
Available at Toondist:
http://www.toondist.nl/Platenbakkerij/pb001.html

Cor Fuhler - piano, organ
Anne La Berge - flutes
Tobias Delius - tenorsax, clarinet
Xavier Charles - clarinet
Andy Moor - electric guitar
Nora Mulder - cymbalom
Wilbert de Joode - double bass
Tony Buck - percussion
Michael Vatcher - percussion, singing saw

1 appletree 4’15
2 cobbles 6’23
3 dorst 6’22
4 olive oil 4’58
5 sandcastle 1’38
6 wine cellar 7’14
7 dune 3’40
8 fata morgana 4’20
9 kurk 6’06
10 pebbles 3’54

all compositions Cor Fuhler (Buma/Stemra)
recorded by Dale Morningstar
June 26th 2008 at Gasstation, Toronto
mixed/edited/mastered by Cor Fuhler
design by Hugo Herrera Tobón

check out some tunes on:
http://soundcloud.com/cor-fuhler

Photos

2011-07-01T22:58:00.001-07:00

For anyone looking for photos of me, take your pick:

Short bio Cor Fuhler

2011-07-01T22:12:00.000-07:00

Cor Fuhler has been called many things: a maverick, a chameleon, a tinkerer, innovator and even traditionalist. However, above all, he simply thinks of himself as an improvising musician and organizer of sounds, ideas and combinations of people.
Mostly piano is his choice, the instrument he fought with and against for many years before and during his studies at the conservatory in Amsterdam in the 80’s. Since then he has added an array of other instruments to his practice: the EMS synthi analogue synth, the keyolin (a keyed violin of his own invention), the guitar and various unusual (but usually modified) instruments.
He has been busy with his own groups: Corkestra, the Cortet, Fuhler/Bennink/de Joode, devised music and story for "Wayang Detective" a combination of improvising musicians, gamelan orchestra and shadowpuppets. And with the eclectic rock/improv group Palinckx, electronics duo the Flirts, Otomo Yoshihide’s ONJO and the (in)famous electronic orchestra MIMEO.
He has recorded for labels such as Erstwhile, Potlatch, Leo, BTL, Nuscope, Geestgronden, Unsounds, Datarecords and his own label ConundromCd.
Cor has written contemporary pieces for chamber music ensembles MAE, the Nieuw Ensemble, Insomnio, just to name a few, and is regularly comissioned by smaller groups and individuals.
He has taught classes at Princeton University, Dutch Impro Academy, the Art Instutute of Chicago, West Coast Conservatory of Music (Vancouver) etc.
He has performed at Vancouver Int Jazz festival, Montreal Int Jazz Fest, Victoriaville, North Sea Jazz fest, Umbrella Music fest Chicago, Konfrontationen Nickelsdorf, Perspectives Fest (Sweden), What is Music Fest Sydney, Moers Fest (Germany), Molde Int Jazz fest (Norway), Musique Action (France) etc etc
He has played with Han Bennink, Jim O’Rourke, Louis Moholo, John Zorn, Roswell Rudd, George Lewis, Evan Parker, John Tilbury, Frances Marie Uitti, Leo “Wadada” Smith, Hamid Drake, Mats Gustafsson, Toshimaru Nakamura, Misha Mengelberg, Paul Lovens, Christian Fennesz, Lol Coxhill, Keith Rowe, just to name a few.
Cor is also a member of the Doek foundation and co-organizes the annual Doek festival.

You can listen to various stuff on soundcloud:
http://soundcloud.com/corfuhler

Or if you like watching:
Cor solo piano:
http://vimeo.com/25366223
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZbWjRTDNKo
A composed piece for violin solo (played by Janine Jansen):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfIdLAqgEqU
A half composed piece for 4 turntables:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDSXZ9uGYDs
On EMS synth in an improvising quartet:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daGtTYLk0OQ
On guitar with “the Gap”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozRIHyYgnIs

Furthermore, what some people have said in the press:

About "Stengam" his piano solo cd from 2006:
In the last five or so years, Fuhler has been involved in a very wide range of projects which cumulatively reveal him to be an idiosyncratic musician of the first rate. I've grown accustomed to hearing him in gnarly electroacoustic small groups or in his own Corkestra, so I was a tad surprised to see this solo disc. A prepared piano recital, it's superb and instantly recognizable. Unlike the frequently quite antic prepared piano sets heard from other improvisers, Fuhler concentrates here on music that's highly atmospheric, somber and sepulchral. Fuhler uses mild preparations (such as super magnets and Ebows inside the piano) to superb effect, creating the feel of gentle, lolling bells or massive plangent drones. It's a lovely, at times even bewitching feel that recalls an Ambarchi/Müller improvisation or something. The sound is gorgeous, oscillating, and unfolding on Ferrous - a rattling bowl or something sits on top of string, vibrating crankily in contrast to the effulgent drone. It's very compelling stuff, almost like listening to Harry Partch if he was hooked on Eliane Radigue. I find it addictive and I love the subtle variations Fuhler introduces (with every so often anincisive pluck or pedal or pointed finger). But the bulk of the album is given over to the six-part title suite. A marvelous piece that's immediately arresting, it ranges from deep tuned gongs and cross-cutting high tones to almost watery or didgeridoo-like sounds to gentle scrapings and overtones that suggest bowed electric guitars. A fascinating recital that's one of the year's best solo entries so far. - Jason Bivins, Signal to Noise, June 2007

About the Corkestra live in Montreal Canada 2008:
Once again the Dutch make my night. Pianist Cor Fuhler and his Corkestra were playing their singular brand of joyous mayhem at the Monument National Monday night. The nine-piece band—two drums, piano, three horns, guitar, hammered dulcimer, and bass—is the first one I’ve seen at this venue elicit cheers of joy and laughter from the audience during the set. It is certainly clear that the musicians are having a good time. They’re all big, silly smiles. The drummers looked as if there was nothing in the world they’d rather be doing. I can’t blame them. I’m sure it’s fun to improvise your way through Fuhler’s crafty compositions. At one moment they’re playing a beautifully orchestrated melody, and then suddenly, without preparation, they’re embarking on a collective noise solo. And with a group this experienced, even the noise sections have elegance about them. But mostly what I enjoyed were the composed sections. Fuhler uses his interesting instrumentation to full effect. The ensemble hits on some incredible moments of orchestration that sound like finely executed chamber music. Chamber music with a rock band edge, though. - Adam Kinner, Montreal Gazette.

About the 1998 cd “Bellagram” by Fuhler/Bennink/de Joode:
“There are the requisite dashes of wry humor and madcap frenzy, but it always seems to proceed with a certain structural logic.... What is apparent throughout is that these three are astute listeners. They know each other well and can react with lightning-quick response to any twist or turn thrown in by any member. This release is full of surprises at every turn, offering a compelling document proving that the spontaneous invention and masterful interplay of Dutch improvisation is alive and vital.” - Michael Rosenstein: Cadence, February 1999

DJ Cor Blimey and his Pigeon

2011-06-05T20:59:00.000-07:00

DJ Cor Blimey and his Pigeon , "10 Songs in 62 Minutes and 23 Seconds"
Conundrum 01

It's a while ago I made this cd (not cdr!), but it is still available and I thought to replace an old review here:

Performing under this humorous handle, the superb Dutch pianist Cor Fuhler gets down to some seriously absurd business, delivering a freewheeling admixture of world music, experimental sounds and overloaded kitsch. Although Fuhler performs on a wide array of keyboards here-piano, synthesizer, organ, harmonium, clavichord, celeste, melodica and even a keyolin (a violin with keys, a device of his own design)-his primary activity is that of a hip-hop DJ, giddily piecing together and layering all sorts of disparate elements. He mixes language-instruction records, schmaltzy exotica rhythm loops and Indian classical music with his own live instrumentation, displaying turntable skills that recall Christian Marclay more than they do Grandmaster Flash. Despite all of its lunacy, the album manages to transcend novelty status with some inspired, fascinating juxtapositions.

By Peter Margasak

Lamellophones

2011-04-14T22:07:00.000-07:00

Building a new set up, limiting myself to just lamellophones:
A lamellophone (also lamellaphone or linguaphone, from the Latin root 'lingua' meaning "tongue", i.e., a long thin plate that is fixed only at one end) is any of a family of musical instruments. The name comes from the Latin word "lamella" for "plate" and the Greek root "phonos" for "sound". The name derives from the way the sound is produced: the instrument has a series of thin plates, or "tongues", each of which is fixed at one end and has the other end free. When the musician depresses the free end of a plate with a finger or fingernail, and then allows the finger to slip off, the released plate vibrates. A tongue may be plucked either from above or below.

Sofar I have got:
Inside toy piano
Inside pianet
Mbiras, kalimbas, thumb pianos etc
simple mouth harp
simple mouth accordion
disk music box
lots of simple music boxes (modified off course)
Inside accordion (the bas part)
Hohner guitaret (yes!)
Saw-blades with attatched magnets

Just ordered various mouth harps (form Vietnam, china, Hungary)
and a chromatic set of tuning forks......

Still working on a nail violin

If any of you know any more lamellophones, let me know

Electric Banjo

2011-04-14T22:04:00.000-07:00

Not much to do here sometimes
so I built this out of left over stuff lying around

My dad

2011-04-14T21:52:00.000-07:00

Second from the left above

left this planet March 30, 2011

Will mis him the rest of my life
I feel gratitude only

MIMEO Wigry

2011-03-23T17:40:00.000-07:00

Soon out will be a doulbe LP by MIMEO called Wigry. A live concert we did in Wigry Poland in Nov 2009.

Whistlelight on VICMOD

2011-03-17T17:14:00.000-07:00

So, now you can buy my 2004 cdr "Whislelight" (on EMS synthi AKS solo) as a download:

http://www.vicmod.net/music/whistlelight/whistlelight.html

You can also see "the Gap" on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozRIHyYgnIs

Duif, mol en vis

2011-02-15T21:24:00.000-08:00

Uit de lucht valt een duif
dromend van zaad
ziende een zwevende mol

Uit de zee kruipt een vis
gevend om niets
voelend een gebroken tand

Uit het zand waait een tak
horend een toon
zoekend een zwervend nest

ConundromCd 0-15

2011-02-10T18:27:00.000-08:00

ConundromCd
I thought it might be a good idea to make another clear list of the ConundromCd's sofar.
So here we go:

0
Zilch
This was "released" in '98.
It was a trio with me and Han Bennink and Wilbert de Joode in Utrecht. Nobody showed up but we played a set anyway (for the people working there). It was recorded quite badly because I forgot my datmachine and we used a simple cassettedeck instead. The recording levels where way off so the whole thing is rather distorted.
This one is OOP.

1
DJ Cor Blimey and his pigeon: "10 songs in 62 minutes and 23 seconds".
1999, being sick of all this fuss about 2000 coming up I wanted to release it in the last millenium. 500 made, so plenty cds (not cdrs) left still.
The concept was a combination of 3 things for every song: one of my keyboards, a sample from some easy listening tune and a spoken word LP. It was kind of a joke towards all this DJ crapp stuff I heared all the time. It's also about numbers and there is a complicated code all through the cd.....
I'm still happy with track 4 being a long unedited keyolin solo (I only just build it then) on top of some indian music samples..

2
Whistlelight
Here the "real" cdr series start. Me on EMS Synthi AKS, just analogue electronics.

3
Rowe/Fuhler
A duo with me on acoustic piano and Keith Rowe on guitar/electronics.
OOP (sorry)

4
Slee
Solo on acoustic piano, focussing on the keys this time.
A kind of study in speed and sleep.
Brian Olewnick wrote a nice write up of this one and number 3 at Bagatellen + some reactions from me which you can read here (scroll all the way down).

5
TCOD (the Condition of dreaming)
A solo but dubbed in recording on keyolin, prepared cymbalom and transistor organ.
I made this in the same perdiod as above, so it's part of the same study. And I added a study in springreverbs: 2 Springs attatched to the bridge of the keyolin, the internal springreverb of the organ (a Dakota, with the most beatifull springreverb I have ever come across) and the cymbalom going trough an external spring reverb box.

6
CRAX
A live concert with me on piano (+ some primitive amplifiaction and preparations with various speakers inside the piano), Axel Dörner - slide trumpet and Clare Cooper - harp.
For me this was a study in changing roles, either you are the lightperson in a theatre show or the actor/actress.

7
Het Kabinet
A kind of freakshow, 7 insruments that do not have a history together at all. An experiment.
I wrote something here.
And RP here.

8
Wenen
Solo on piano, trying to combine the feedback piano with various vibrating machines etc, all within a acoustic domain.
I wrote somehting here.
Our good friend Richard Pinnell wrote something here, and our good friend Brian Olewnick wrote something here.

9
AFG
A trio: me on 2 grand pianos and both Robbie Avenaim and Dale Gorfinkel on vibraphone, from 2006
B O wrote here and R P here.

10
F-O'R
A live concert from Chicago in 2000, duo with Jim O'Rourke, we both played various instruments, piano, organ, 2 Synthis, keyolin, Computer.
B O wrote about this and all the following10 - 15 here.

11
Mill
me, Misha Mengelberg and Michiel Scheen live in the Eusebious church in Arnhem. Swopping between church organ, choir organ, Hammond organ and harmonium. From 1997. RP wrote here.

12
MP
A live recording of a piano solo concert in Montpellier, France. A 3 inch mini CDR. From 2009.
Apart from BO, RP wrote here.

13
Puzzle
A series of leftover pieces that happen to be cyclic. From 1987 till 2005. From piano Jazz to Gamelan.

14
Puzzle 2
A series of leftover pieces, more in the composed music area. for various ensembles. All my compositions. From 1991 till 2007.

15
PPP5
Live set recorded in Amsterdam. A rather melodic series of pieces for: Keyolin, Cello, Percussion, Cymbalom and (bas-)Clarinet.
From 2005. (I really wanted to show the people that the keyolin is a great instrument....)

They can be obtained at my concerts (if I didn't forget them, so if you're interested, please email me beforehand to make sure) or at Erstdist.

@ Jethro's Manor this Sunday

2011-01-12T16:58:00.000-08:00

Afternoon at Jethro's Manor with Fri Resonans
Sunday 16. january 2011 at 15:00
in the beautiful settings of Jethro's Manor, 42 Fraser Street, Brunswick
(come round the back, we'll be in the garden)

mini-festival of improvised music from norway, australia and africa

The Norwegian festival Fri Resonans is presenting some of its core musicians in Australia this January. Guitarists Kim Myhr and Håvard Volden and singer Jenny Hval will be joined by Dutch pianist and instrument builder, Cor Fuhler, Brunswick locals Dale Gorfinkel and Robbie Avenaim as well as a grooving melbourne african percussion ensemble.

Robbie Avenaim (Australia) - solo percussion
Jenny Hval/Håvard Volden (Norway) - guitars/voice
Kim Myhr/Cor Fuhler/Dale Gorfinkel (Norway/Holland/Australia) - guitars/piano/vibes/contraptions
Yele Yele - Ousmane Sonko, Tawanda Gazidkwa, nathaniel coombs + more (senegal/zimbabwe/australia)

Outdoor stuff by Dale and Cor (also playing the keyolin, it's Oz premiere!!)

cool drinks and food provided. byo too.
families welcome.
pets welcome.
friends welcome.
friends of friends welcome.
So, bloody COME!!!!!

Amsterdam again

2010-11-27T18:49:00.001-08:00

So, off to Amsterdam again tomorrow for a gig with the Corkestra at the Melkweg and for the Doekfestival:
http://www.doek.org/festival_9/festival_9.html
in which I shall be playing with my new jazz group "the Gap" with Tobias Delius on clarinet, Steve Heather on drums and Jan Roder on acoustic bass.
Looking forward to seeing my father who as been very ill but okay now. So hard living so far away from your family in those conditions....

2010-10-16T22:03:00.000-07:00

Thornbury

2010-07-15T02:10:00.000-07:00

So, finally setled down in Melbourne. Found a nice house on Mansfield street in Thornbury. Getting back to a routine now, kids in school, so no more home teaching by me (which I actually liked doing).

Norway was great, such a wonderfull place. Good to be back in Amsterdam for a week, catching up with friends and family. But really looking forward to going back now to wife and kids....

2010-03-17T20:59:00.000-07:00

Moved to Oz.

After 10 days straight of 36 degrees Celsius in Singapore, pfff....

Interesting city though.

Still adjusting, at the moment in Canberra, but soon going to Pambula beach and Sydney for 2 months, catching up with all Sydney folks.

Fixed my nice '56 Höfner jazzbox, having been thrown around by airplane people......

Teaching my 2 boys reading/writing/counting/music and swimming every day, compensating for the lack of school hopefully.

We're working on a Holland/France tour, end of Oktober/beginning November

There is now a Corkestra myspace page at:

http://www.myspace.com/corkestra

And working on jazz pieces for guitar, vibraphone, bass and drums. Hopefully touring Oz sometime with this.

2010-01-04T06:55:00.000-08:00

Yep, not much activity here

Too busy moving to Oz

but for anyone trying to reach me in the future

my email adress will be corfuhler followed by the not uncommon gmail dot, well, com, I guess

and don't be shy....

Above is the last gig I did yesterday, me Wilbert and live painting (done by Tali Farchi)

Old stuff

2009-04-23T10:21:00.000-07:00

Have been listening to various old recordings from the past. To see if there is something amongst it worthwhile after all these years.

--- Me

--- Misha Mengelberg

--- Michiel Scheen

I organised once a trio in the Eusebius church in Arnhem. A church with a 9 (!) second delay. There was a grand organ, a choir organ, a Hammond organ and a harmonium. We swapped seats all the time. Recorded "98. Some very, very (!) weird stuff...

---trio Fuhler - Bennink - de Joode

--- + Thomas Lehn

Funny!, space jazz and beyond.... made me smile a mile

(from 2001 I think)

--- me - piano

--- Toshimaru Nakamura - no unput mixer

--- Oren Ambarchi - guitar & electronics

I organised this trio for the Doekfestival in 2004.

The piano sounds (too) loud all the time, but that's also because Toshi and Oren played very little. Still sounds good as a whole though. Makes me wonder about density, it's very differently persieved form a jungle perspective or a desert perspective. Both very valid.

--- me - piano, string instrumetns, synth stuff

--- Steve Heather - big drum, percussion, super 8 film

Not really a recording but an installation we did in 2005. The idea came from Steve: 2 main instruments (grand piano and very large bass drumm) with a circel of smaller instruments around it, being played by 2 rotating machines. Around the piano mostly string instruments and around the bass drumm mostly percussion stuff. Additionaly we both had all kinds of machines to play the objects of our choise + the additional super 8 films and analogue electronics.

Our good friend Dick Lucas recorded 20 + minutes of this installation and it still sounded very good to my ears.

--- me - piano, EMS putney, keyolin, cracklebox

--- Jim O'Rourke - computer, organ, EMS Synthi A

A concert we did in 2000, live at the Empty Bottle Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music in Chicago. Well..., mmm, it survives in my opinion. Very 2000.... but it was a good year... I could hear things comming up....

Who knows...

Now off to the woods of Limburg for a holliday.

Back in over a week or so

Swing

2009-04-23T01:25:00.000-07:00

More often than not, I wake up at night (by my kids or something else) and can't get back to sleep for something like 3 hours or so. Mostly I come up with solutions about pieces that I'm writing or things I don't know yet how to build. But sometimes I make nursery rhymes. Mostly I forget them straight away, but this time I could still cite it when my oldest boy came waking me up:

There was a boy called Ling

he had a ring

and dreams about a king

who flies on a wing

to a country called Ming

where all the people sing

just about the spring:

Spring, spring, spring

I'm sitting on a swing

and having a fling

with a girl called Jing

Spring, spring, spring

she's a lovely thing

then broke the string

and gone was Jing

It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing

AFG + Music boxes

2009-04-13T05:56:00.000-07:00

So, the recording I was refering to 2 posts ago, is out now: ConundromCd9! Me, Dale Gorfinkel and Robbie Avenaim (called AFG). The disc is called Plains. On every cdr there is a different postage stamp with a plane on it (above picture is the one I keep myself with a stamp from Afganistan from '84, but they're all unique and from countries like Poland, Cuba, CCCP, Mongolia etc etc).

It was an interesting combination (2 vibraphones and 2 pianos), and I think we did some very interesting stuff in a beautifull place called the Old Darlington School in Sydney on Feb 7 and 8 in 2006, recorded by the great and wonderfull Jim Denley. We all think we can do much better now, but I think you allways have that feeling. "Plains" is great as it is and worthy of presenting I think.

We're planning to do some more work in 2010 in Oz, recording as well as performing.

Been working on playing the piano with Music boxes (with the terrible original song cut out obviously). I'm not a fan of cyclic music when it is 100% cyclic, so with 2 or more boxes (I made 6 by now) it plays the (prepared) strings in a cyclic way but changing all the time and never the same. Something like rain... And a great percussive addition to the sustained sounds I can generate through electromagnetism.

I also will write a piece for 2 pianos (duo Post & Mulder will perform it in November) for these boxes and the 2 players. Should be fun: dense but also light.

2009-04-01T11:01:00.000-07:00

Wow!

Off to the Antarctic as Mr Pinnell's assistant to do some sound research on the effects of ice on birdcalls. Man, this came just out of the blue. Soooo psyched about this.

So, won't be seeing you all for a while.

And huhh, happy birhtday sister in law!

2009-03-26T06:34:00.000-07:00

Been listening to some recordings I made with Robbie Avenaim and Dale Gorfinkel. Made me realize again how vivid the Australian scene is and how much I miss it.

We recorded at the Old Darlington School in Sydney, one afternoon in 2006 I think. I played on 2 grand pianos and Dale and Robbie on 2 vibraphones (and Robbie on some percussion as well). They worked a lot with machines on their vibraphones, and that also inspired me at the time to explore a similar territory. And odd combination it was maybe but for EAI very good. Does anybody know of vibraphone players that work in the field of EAI? Well they have a cd out on 2 of them on Splitrec.

Anyway, listening after a few years I still sounded great. Maybe it'll become ConundromCd number 9.

Here's a pic from that day:

ConundromCd

2009-03-09T05:27:00.000-07:00

I thought it might be a good idea to make a bit of a clear list of the ConundromCd's sofar.

So here we go:

Zilch

This was "released" in '98.

It was a trio with me and Han Bennink and Wilbert de Joode in Utrecht. Nobody showed up but we played a set anyway (for the people working there). It was recorded quite badly because I forgot my datmachine and we used a simple cassettedeck instead. The recording levels where way off so the whole thing is rather distorted.

This one is OOP.

DJ Cor Blimey and his pigeon: "10 songs in 62 minutes and 23 seconds".

1999, being sick of all this fuss about 2000 coming up I wanted to release it in the last millenium. 500 made, so plenty cds (not cdrs) left still.

The concept was a combination of 3 things for every song: one of my keyboards, a sample from some easy listening tune and a spoken word LP. It was kind of a joke towards all this DJ crapp stuff I heared all the time. It's also about numbers and there is a complicated code all through the cd.....

I'm still happy with track 4 being a long unedited keyolin solo (I only just build it then) on top of some indian music samples..

Whistlelight

Here the "real" cdr series start. Me on EMS Synthi AKS, just analogue electronics.

Rowe/Fuhler

A duo with me on acoustic piano and Keith Rowe on guitar/electronics.

Slee

Solo on acoustic piano, focussing on the keys this time.

A kind of study in speed and sleep.

Brian Olewnick wrote a nice write up of this one and number 3 at Bagatellen + some reactions from me which you can read here.

TCOD (the Condition of dreaming)

A solo but dubbed in recording on keyolin, prepared cymbalom and transistor organ.

I made this in the same perdiod as above, so it's part of the same study. And I added a study in springreverbs: 2 Springs attatched to the bridge of the keyolin, the internal springreverb of the organ (a Dakota, with the most beatifull springreverb I have ever come across) and the cymbalom going trough an external spring reverb box.

CRAX

A live concert with me on piano (+ some primitive amplifiaction and preparations with various speakers inside the piano), Axel Dörner - slide trumpet and Clare Cooper - harp.

For me this was a study in changing roles, either you are the lightperson in a theatre show or the actor/actress.

Het Kabinet

A kind of freakshow, 7 insruments that do not have a history together at all. An experiment.

I wrote something here.

Wenen

Solo on piano, trying to combine the feedback piano with various vibrating machines etc, all within a acoustic domain.

I wrote somehting here.

Our good friend Richard Pinnell wrote something here, and our good friend Brian Olewnick wrote something here.

They can be obtained at my concerts (if I didn't forget them, so if you're interested, please email me beforehand to make sure) or at Erstdist.

Going to France in a couple of days, looking forward to seeing a few nice concerts and museums in Paris!

Västerås, Brest and Paris

2009-03-03T07:56:00.000-08:00

Do not have much time to report anything. Plenty thoughts after some great musuems in Barcelona. But to busy with work, (and that's good!) Tomorrow of to Sweden for the great Perspectives festival. And next week to France (Brest and Paris), so not sure when I will post.....

Looking forward to seeing Taku, Sachiko, Mats, Otomo etc

EMS external reverb + Barcelona

2009-02-19T07:25:00.000-08:00

Working on an external reverb for the EMS Synthi AKS. I'm making a switch so I can choose between the normal internal one and another "something". I have several spring reverbs but for this I'm going to make a plate reverb from a tamtam cymbal. Just have to find the right multi toned tamtam.

But first I'm having a well deserved break. Going to Barcelona for a week with the family, Jippie!!!!!!

Back on the 28th

Multiple personality order

2009-02-12T05:31:00.000-08:00

I just released ConundromCd 8 last week, a live recording of a piano solo concert (thanks to mr Pinnell for the pic). It was recorded Januari 22, so just a couple of weeks ago. Thanks to Hannes Löschel for inviting me to Vienna and making this possible.

When I started (more than 10 years ago by now) a trio with Han Bennink on drums and Wilbert de Joode on double bass, my aim was to not only work on "instant composing" but also on "instant arranging". Being one person I can immediately play what I just played on various instruments: piano, keyolin, melodica, electric organ, celesta. The thing is, it's not just a transformation in sound/colour, but many more things.

The sound of the piano starts from gravity, the melodica from air, the keyolin from a bow, the organ from a volume pedal. Playing them all at the same time gives a very complex problem, using different parts of the brain and body, projection etc. Also the drums and double bass change in sound if I change instruments. This was the thing I wanted to explore within a Jazz context and it resulted in 2 cds: Bellagram (1998) and Tinderbox (2002).

It took me quite a bit of time to come to terms with a DX7 synth in my student time. I remember a moment a shouted to myself, "the sound comes from the speaker!! accept it!!". from then I felt more at home with it and it became fun, which resulted in i.g. "Border, live in Zürich" (1995) by Palinckx.

One thing I learned from playing the keyolin is a totally different way of blending in with other instruments, I almost had to start from scratch again. That was a great thing to do, it puts everything in another perspective. And learning it's all in the bowing.....

Dealing with all these "special effects, extented techniques, different instruments" and making them not "special effects, extended techniques, different instruments" but just part of the music by building a long term relationship with them, is why I was quite happy with the outcome of above mentioned "Wenen". All these elements I mentioned come together in the piano, the percussion (the keyed notes etc), the electronics (I send radio sounds, noise and stations to the string by electromagnetism), the acoustic feedback resulting in ultrahigh sinewaves, the fysical versus the automised parts and how to project all this.

Had a great week, nice concert with Evan Parker and Michael Vatcher, and seeing Keith Rowe and Oren Ambarchi the day after.

It was great to see Evan and Keith having these enormously strong relationships with their instruments. A really strong foundation.

Oh, and I did my first concert on guitar last tuesday.... (they called me just beforhand that the hammers were gone out of the local piano, so I had to decide quickly what to bring)

It never stops.

the super soccerteam

2009-02-04T03:13:00.000-08:00

How many people can make a soccerteam with just brothers?

Well my dad could. He was one of 15 kids, 3 girls, 12 boys, and mind you, no twins, no halfbrothers/sisters (well, you never know).

So the team even had one brother to spare (or maybe he was the coach?)

Looking forward to this Saturday (me and Evan Parker and Michael Vatcher in Groningen).

Going to see Oren Ambarchi and Keith Rowe at the Bimhuis in Amsterdam the day after. Pleasantly surprised they play there!

I hear it was warm in Adelaide, with koalas coming in for some cooling down:

Vienna, skating and telecasters

2009-01-30T05:46:00.000-08:00

(Me and Darius, my youngest son)

Had a nice solo concert in Vienna last week. And played with Burkhard Stangl and Paul Skrepek for the first time. Nice!Been working a lot on the piano lately. My latest set-up:

The organiser and pianist Hannes Löschel gave me a cd: Ereb-Afrik, a Stangl composition for 2 pianos (1 player), where Hannes plays the piano and Josef Novotny does the sound projection.

Very recommendable! great piece, great playing.

One thing I noticed about pick-ups on an electric guitar: its either 2 or 3 single coils, (Fender tele and strat), 1, 2 (or even 3) humbuckers (Gibson), humbucker-single-humbucker (popularized by Ibanez), but where-ever I looked, never a single coil-humbucker-single coil... So guess what I did......

I added a humbucker pick-up to my telecaster electric guitar inbetween the 2 single coils. I still have to add the 5-way switch and the switch for parallel/single etc for the humbucker.

I had quite a few guitar pick ups lying around because of experiments with the piano, but because I had build my own ebow/ pick-up kinda devices, they're just asking to be used...

I'ts been cold but unfortunately not cold enough to scate on the big lakes in Holland, as it was a few weeks back: (Lucian, my oldest son)

het Kabinet

2008-12-15T05:39:00.000-08:00

Dutch - English dictionary:

Kabinet: cabinet (government), office, bureau (piece of furniture), gallery/collection.

With the more usual instruments (piano, saxophone, violin, drums, etc etc etc) there are lots of unwritten rules/habits/assumptions you are semi-aware of, but there are even more at a subconsious level. E.g. when a trumpet plays with a double bass, there is a history, influencing what you play, things you (and the audience) have learned because this situation has happened before, records that have set in your mind, etc

Now, if you combine a keyolin, lute, timpani, glasharmonica, harmonium, radio, doublebass-clarinet, electronics, singing saw and a strohviol, there are none of these historic and often burdoning relationships.....

With this in mind I set up a group for the Doek festival 5 1/2. With musicians that are used to playing in the more traditional setting, but with a very open mind, playing unusual instruments that have no history in this perticular combination.

When MIMEO started there was a similar exploratory feeling. Technical developments of live electronics and the way we used them, was very new. So the world was open and full of surprise and wonder.

Another aspect is my sympathy for the unusual, and often failed attempts to create something new. It is my believe history is a road taken by chance. If you made/discovered some things that accidentally fit on that road, you are the Nobel prise winner, the cult figure, and what not. If you made something not on that path, you will just disapear in the annals of history, but you are absolutely of no less value IMO.

The result with "het Kabinet" is for sure not the best record ever made, but nevertheless, it is intriging and often funny. Warning: a resistance for some noodling is a requirement... But in the Netherlands, that has been cultivated a bit already, in a different way then other parts of Europe, wich is yet another level/layer/friction.

Anyway, NOW AVAILLABLE!!!! the Kabinet.......

25 made, and I doubt I will ever sell them.

(For sale at concerts only, sorry about that)

Cor Fuhler - keyolin, Hohner guitaret, Niglo 1, roll-up piano, Aleks Kolkowski - strohviol, singing saw, Jacques Palinckx - lute, resonator guitar, Gert-Jan Prins - timpani, radio, electronics, Peter van Bergen - doublebass-clarinet, Michael Vatcher - glasharmonica, 2 meter bass drum, percussion, Frank van Bommel - harmonium, metalophones.

Colours and Conditioning

2008-11-17T05:31:00.000-08:00

Some 20 years ago I went to a concert by an electric guitar player (think it was Emily Remmler, not sure). The sound of the guitar was terrible to my ears and I couldn't get over that. There might have been great melodic and harmonic ideas, but I couldn't bring myself to try and listen to those. A bit silly perhaps, like not being able to listen to a storyteller just because you don't like his/her voice.

I've always had an obsession for pure sound. Never automatically accepting a device build by others, but experiment and alter things to make it better/more personal and build up a relationship. But the problem with good sounds is also that it is hard to use them in a more narrative way. If a sound is too dominant, too beautifull, it leads away from the storyline. And this can easily become a very weak point...

I was in a museum yesterday, and there was a man demonstrating how they used to make the oilpaint in Rembrandt's time. The table with everything on it (grinded up stones and minerals of various colours put in little pots, smelly linseed oil, a grinding surface to blend the oil with the stone powder, the overall air of alchemy and mystery) was imo the most beautifull and interesting thing in the whole museum.... It's kind of what I have been attempting to do the last few years. To create an similar effect by focussing on pure sound. Listening for days to a new sound, to build up a complex relationship (you know, love-hate etc) with that specific new sound. But sticking to just sound for its intrinsic meaning and overall effect on other elements.

We are more conditioned than we often realize. If we hear something long enough it becomes a standard without us realizing it. Mostly this is a natural thing and just fine, but sometimes not.

It is strange that we don't hear the squeeks anymore when you move your hand from chord to chord on an acoustic guitar. We just hear the song, the chords and notes. Imagine if a piano had a squeeky sustain pedal. You would notice the squeeks right away and probably find them distracting and annoying. But the amount of squeeks is (for the sake of argument) the same with both instruments! A matter of being conditioned....

For me it gets problematic when I hear 80-ties pop music with a DX7 with just factory presets. They are used so often that we accept them as the standard. Having played the DX7 for many years myself and just using sound I made (or altered) myself I get very annoyed listening to that era of music. Which is not so much a judgement of that music but admitting to a personal problem I have with it.

Same problem I have/had with the use in EAI of electronics with the standard small Behringer mixer. For me there is not enough thought (love if you will) for sound. We tend not to see alternatives anymore. Like going to a paintshop and buying a standard colour, and using it without even thinking of the possibility of mixing your own. The choices we make is what defines us...

Luckily the computer and its programming has now come a long way and musicians have become more aware of sound and projection "an sich".

Of course there are great musicians doing amazing things with crappy tools, because of their narrative quality and strong personality. Putting sound in a context is their forte and focus. Being a bit older helps too and is a perhaps a nessecity?

I find it a very comforting thought that Sun Ra did his greatest stuff when he passed the 60 mark, and he's not the only one.........

the Onyfad

2008-09-20T04:56:00.000-07:00

Parallel to what is fairly normal in liturature or film, namely splitting up a story in scenes/episodes, leading to a coda where it all comes together, I tried to do the same thing with a composition for MAE:

-violin

-double bass

-clarinet

-recorder

-trombone

-piano

-electric guitar

-percussion

-voice

-myself on electronics

First I made the coda, isolated certain elements out of it and made specific compositions for those. Then I split up those pieces and mixed them all up (but the order remains chronological).

The story is about the Onyfad, a partly mythical, partly historical being.

From Wikipedia: Onyfad was a species of giant monkey that lived mainly in the southern tip of South America, the Antarctic and Tasmania, Australia. untill roughtly 5,000 years ago..........

To be performed at the Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam Oktober 30

http://www.ensemble-mae.com

keyolin

2008-07-22T01:39:00.000-07:00

Finally got around to realize an idea I had for the keyolin. A system to lock any of the keyboard keys. So as to have an open string as well, or just to let a note go while I have my righthand free to either play on a melodica or change the pattern on an electronic tabla or whatever.

It's great, it opens up a lot of new options

This week recording two pieces on the piano. One for a Melbourne exibition and one for the internet soundmuseum. I'm going to use my new set up in the piano for this. Sending audio to electromagnitic devices inside the piano. Hope it goes well.....

Midsummer

2008-06-21T05:44:00.000-07:00

June 21st, Midsummer's day

Tomorrow off to Canada with the Corkestra

We added a gig in Toronto:

Will play the Fender Rhodes in that gig, it's been a while %-P

at the Horseshoe Tavern (a doulbe bill with Vandermark) on June 26th

------

I have listened to a gig I did 2 years ago with a group called "het Kabinet" ("the Government", as in all the ministers, state secretaries and president)

Cor Fuhler - keyolin, guitaret, Niglo 1 , roll-up piano

Aleks Kolkowski - strohviol, singing saw

Frank van Bommel - harmonium, metalophones

Jacques Palinckx - lute, resonator guitar

Gert- Jan Prins - timpani, radio

Peter van Bergen - doublebassclarinet

Michael Vatcher - glasharmonica, 2 meter bassdrum

and I really liked it! despite of many reservations I had after the concert, I smiled al the way through listening to it

So I think I will make this ConundromCd 7, mixing and mastering after I get back from Canada

--------

and!

I managed to make a number of copies of ConundromCd 6

CRAX (with Dörner, Cooper, Fuhler)

So, the Lucky people in Canada could be the first ;-)

CRAX - Corkestra Canada

2008-06-19T00:07:00.000-07:00

News

Out soon:

ConundromCd 6: CRAX

Axel Dörner - slide trumpet

Clare Cooper - harp

Cor Fuhler - piano & (electronic) preparations

Corkestra on tour in Canada

June 23 Ottawa Jazz Festival concert

24 Ottawa Jazz Festival workshop

25/26 Toronto recording sessions

27 Calgary

28/29 Vancouver

30 Montreal

Cor Fuhler, Cor Fuhler, Cor Fuhler, Cor Fuhler, Cor Fuhler, Cor Fuhler, Cor Fuhler, Cor Fuhler, Cor Fuhler, Cor Fuhler, Cor Fuhler, Cor Fuhler