Interval Crisis / Barzakh
the hammered dulcimer (santur, hackbrett, cymbal, zambal,... ) is a stringed instrument being traditionally used in different forms and temperaments in-between the himalayas and the alps. Thereby the instrument represents the art of weaving an invisible rug. Being the grandmother of the modern day piano, it takes an important role in popular music all around the regions of the former austro-hungarian monarchy as well as in classical ottoman and persian music.
Never having learnt any dulcimer in a traditional sense, i apply different traditional humors and temperaments to investigate into their agencies unfolding a language of things. There is a vast universe of musical tunings at disposition, for different processes and realities. Having founded the acoustic ensemble "Ornamentrauschen" with european and middle eastern actors we search for new ways of acoustic performances. As well I play solo shows with different amplified dulcimers to investigate into the possibilities of temporalities, territories and narrations in-between pre-modern states and contemporary techniques.
Krems’ striking Minorites Church houses several of the more sonically severe and darker acts on the bill, and Stefan Fraunberger’s set in the echoey stone setting is the very best. This Austrian artist is also a linguist, fluent in several Middle Eastern languages, and finding inspiration from his insight into old Arabic text in the case of a newly commissioned work برزخ - at the gates of the union. The piece is performed by Fraunberger playing a Persian dulcimer (a Santur) with a handful of field recordings from Syria, Pakistan and Iraq mixed in, and the title (pronounced barzakh) refers to the ‘barrier between the physical and spiritual worlds’. The billowy array of scrapes, plucks, and tickles he puts the dulcimer’s strings through is uniformly beautiful, diverging a couple of times away in favour of booming doom that lingers in the slowly decaying sonics of the space. The amplified strings veer between melodies and noise washes, and never stop being engaging and provocative for over an hour. Entering the room feels quite like a barrier between worlds too. It’s almost entirely pitch black aside from the gentle light on Fraunberger seated on a small stage in the middle of the crowd. It takes several minutes for one’s eyes to adjust, so new audience members can be watched walking in from the outside, temporarily blind. They shuffle slowly, arms outstretched, helpless and ghostlike in the darkness. Fraunberger’s soundtrack couldn’t be more appropriate." (The Quietus / Tristan Bath concerning the premiere of the comissioned work "barzakh" at minoritenkirche / donaufestival 2016)