Musicians:
Thomas Ankersmit: electronics
Mazen Kerbaj: trumpet
Sharif Sehnaoui: guitar
Raed Yassin: double-bass

A first time collaboration between electronics music wizard Thomas Ankersmit and acoustic improve pioneers "A" Trio. A highlight of the festival celebrating "A" Trio's 20 years of existence and uninterrupted
activity.

Thomas Ankersmit is a musician and sound artist based in Berlin and Amsterdam. He plays the Serge Modular synthesizer, both live and in the studio, and collaborates with artists like Phill Niblock and Valerio Tricoli. His music is released on the Shelter Press, PAN, and Touch labels, and combines intricate sonic detail and raw electric power, with a very physical and spatial experience of sound.                                                                                         Acoustic phenomena such as infrasound and otoacoustic emissions (sounds emanating from inside the head, generated by the ears themselves) play an important role in his work, as does a deliberate, creative misuse of the equipment.

“A” Trio is the oldest Lebanese improvisation group. Formed in 2002 in Beirut during the second Irtijal Festival of Experimental Music, they went on to record the first free jazz CD to be produced in the Arab world (“A”, La CDthèque, 2003). Their music later moved away from its jazz roots towards a                      more textural approach, relying strongly on prepared & extended techniques for a heavy diversion of their respective instruments. After a decade of working together in trio and various other contexts, Kerbaj, Sehnaoui & Yassin have finally reached a very characteristic sound that has that has been fondly described                                                 as “textural swing.” Creative yet simple, acoustic yet powerful, their live performances are very playful and rely on a strong visual component.