07.05.25, 20:00, Tashi Dorji, Clara Levy & Ruben Machtelinckx, GAME

Double lineup featuring Bhutanese-American free jazz guru and debut of a brand-new homegrown improv duo.

Clara Levy & Ruben Machtelinckx built up a well-deserved reputation as adventurous improvisers on the jazz circuit. For Ruiskamer they will play a duo set together for the very first time.

Ruben Machtelinckx’ music has evolved from gentle melodies and folk influences to a sound world where friction and a hidden discomfort reside, without letting go of the power of songs and strains. In extension of his musicianship he runs Aspen Edities, an independent record label for contemporary music that issues both improvised music and compositions, often combined in a peculiar interplay.

Clara Lévy is a French violinist and improviser, whose career is mainly focused on what is commonly called « new music ». For the past few years, she has been developing solo projects, questioning in turn the conditions of listening and the dramaturgy of the concert (Outre-Nuit), or the sometimes blurred edges between interpretation and composition (13 Visions).

Tashi Dorji's playing takes an intuitive approach that feels both lyrical and feral, hinting at tangent references that disappear through improvisations on both acoustic and electric guitar.

Dorji's first improvisations on acoustic guitar came to life on a number of tapes that found him exploring its properties and boundaries between melody, texture and the unknown. A mystifying vision that continued throughout a number of solo and collaborative albums with such luminaries as Susie Ibarra, Mette Rasmussen, Michael Zerang or Tyler Damon. 'we will be wherever the fires are lit' marks his return to Drag City with a collection of improvised instrumental "torch songs" for acoustic guitar, that balance the delicate and fierce in its intimate execution, imbued with a pathos of resistance.

With support by GAME, the Ghent Advanced Master Ensemble, consisting of the musicians and composers of the MANAMA Contemporary Music programme.