Chords for Calling - Outdoor intervention

11.06.2021 / 19:00 – 19:30
With Stine Janvin

As well as Audrey Chen, Elisabetta Lanfredini, Liina Magnea, Evelyn Saylor, Cansu Tanrikulu

Chords for Calling was developed by Stine Janvin in winter 2020–21 at the invitation of Deutschlandfunk Kultur and premiered as a radio concert for Art’s Birthday on January 17, 2021. It will now be performed live on June 11 in front of an audience for the first time.

The project is inspired by the tradition of Norwegian Lokk singing – a mixture of calling and singing with significant ornamentation and microtonal tuning – used in earlier times to call animals home from the grazing fields. In order to bridge the often-great geographical distances between caller and animals, high pitches were preferred and voices were amplified as they echoed through the valleys, mountains, and forests of the landscape. Chords for Calling is a reworking and adaptation of Karoline Bergseth’s song Kulokk.

Stine Janvin translates and adapts this age-old oral tradition for the big city: Chords for Calling is an ensemble piece for six performers in an outdoor setting in the city center of Berlin. In this case, the urban landscape of closely opposing building facades on Oranienstraße is used to amplify the six voices. From the daadgalerie’s windows, the ensemble calls out to neighborhood residents to join together in a communal experience after the long pandemic winter. In doing so we are reminded that, especially in difficult times, we must find ways to reaffirm our nature as social beings and strengthen community beyond our closest circles.

daadgalerie

Photo: Carlos H. Juica A.; Costume: Don Aretino & MuyaoZhang