[last tickets] Lore Binon, IKRAAAN & Amina Osmanu

A very warm welcome to Klarafestival!

 

Flanders Festival Brussels, Klara and our partners are delighted to greet you once again. “I believe audiences aren’t just listening. They are actively contributing”, festival artist Barbara Hannigan remarked in an interview. Concerts are an interaction between the audience, artists and anyone who is contributing to those magic moments in front of or behind the scenes. Together we ‘become’ music. 

 

As a conductor and soprano, Hannigan is a global reference point. With her, classical music becomes a contemporary and unique experience. This is an inspiration to Klarafestival as the largest broadcast festival in Belgium. Her versatile talent is sure to enrapture you, as is that of the many Belgian and international artists who connect past and present with musical stories.

 

Klarafestival opens in style with Hannigan as conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra. After that, you will hear and see her with young musicians from her mentorship project Equilibrium Young Artists. In no fewer than 25 concerts, we present top talent including Les Talens Lyriques, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra with Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla and Vilde Frang, and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra with Víkingur Ólafsson. Klarafestival also treasures creation. The film concert Reich/Richter as a symbiosis of Gerhard Richter’s paintings and the music of Steve Reich; the creation Counterforces by composer Frederik Croene to text by poet Dominique de Groen; and the music theatre production Prey by Kris Verdonck with a composition by Annelies Van Parys will surprise you!

 

This and all other concerts are possible thanks to the collaboration with our cultural partners: Bozar, Flagey, Kaaitheater, Théâtre Varia, Muntpunt, Concertgebouw Brugge and DE SINGEL. Thanks to our private partners KPMG, Proximus, Brewery Omer Vander Ghinste, Belfius, Interparking and the players of Belgium’s National Lottery. We are grateful for the support of the Flemish Community and the Brussels Capital Region. And finally, thanks to Klara and VRT: there would be no broadcast festival without their valued collaboration.

 

 

Joost Fonteyne

Intendant Klarafestival

 

Counterforces

In the literary work of Dominique De Groen, social criticism is never far off. From her own experience (including as a paid worker in a clothes shop) she looks with a sharp and critical gaze at the ways of the world and the resulting dramatic imbalances. In particular, (young) women operating in male and media-oriented society are often the subject of her literary contemplations, both in poetry and in prose. Her outspoken and even combative feminism does not prevent the texts from being thoughtful and above all also imaginative.

 

In Counterforces the female power in the world is approached from three different perspectives, in which old mythologies form the common thread. Drawing upon highly diverse backgrounds allows universal ideas come to the fore. Indeed, mythology and religion often offer answers to fundamental questions that are asked across the globe, but culturally are always answered differently. 

 

For this unusual performance, Frederik Croene brings together three singers, each of whom has a different aesthetic frame of reference. IKRAAAN has her own idiom, influenced by rap and R&B, but in Dutch. Amina Osmanu’s musical heart beats to the rhythm of dub and rave, two musical genres from so-called popular music. With Lore Binon, the Western classical world is also drawn into the mix. The texts themselves were created in close collaboration with the singers, allowing the stylistic breadth of their artistic practice to shine through in the – trilingual – libretto. That eclecticism is also tangible in the music. There is no single story, there is no single fixed discourse.

 

The three characters who are embodied by the singers represent three female archetypes. Amina Osmanu stands for the primeval mother, strongly rooted, anchored in the earth. She is linked to various goddesses from history that relate to flora and fauna. IKRAAAN, however, reflects on interhuman relationships, on emotions in a social context. She does not reach for the ground (vertical), but reaches for the horizontal connections between people. Lore Binon, finally, trains her gaze upwards and tries to retain a broad overview with abstractions. By means of these three characters, Dominique De Groen succeeds in bringing together three different ways of looking at the world in a single logical entity.

 

The text begins clearly with the invocation of the various goddesses with the request to send back the Demon that has crawled out of the earth with the mining of fossil fuels. It is immediately clear which theme is being addressed. It is a reflection on how the world changed with the arrival of industrialisation, what the effects of profit-seeking are, what the flip side of Enlightenment thinking can be. The common thread is how the patriarchy – the male domination – has in all these themes led to where we find ourselves today. The text is not an attack or an accusation, but a critical reflection on diverse but connected themes. The demon does not represent mankind in itself, but the prevailing mindsets that have dominated the last centuries in the Western social and economic model. The text is split into four large pieces: Crossroads, Rituals, Exorcism and Sunrise. The latter title causes us to anticipate a hopeful conclusion.

 

On a musical front, Frederik Croene opted for a combination of fixed media and live music. Atop an unchanging soundtrack, the three singers speak their own language. Frederik Croene is also on stage, albeit in a special position as pianist. His (male) presence creates an interesting dialectic with the female domination. Together with Karl Van Welden, he looked for a way to problematise his voice in the piece as a whole. The scenography is such that it is not always possible for the pianist to make his music heard. The way in which he is positioned on the stage is a kind of metaphor for the threat that a white, male, hetero pianist can experience when themes that have been dealt with from a male perspective for centuries are opened up for discussion. The pianist is not silenced, but is forced to contemplate. Indeed feminism does not simply cast men aside, but invites a rethinking of old axioms.

 

As a critical reflection on the present, this performance is also about the attention economy that currently influences our actions more than we often suspect. Through all the stimuli with which we are constantly bombarded, undivided attention becomes a rare commodity (which is highly coveted by advertisers). The music in this performance is deliberately slow and compelling. That makes it difficult to sing to because there is little to hold onto. At the same time that unsteady, amorphous sound universe affords great freedom to the musicians to move within the framework. This freedom also allows room for the specific individuality that each of the three singers carries within herself. 

 

— Klaas Coulembier

 

Amina Osmanu

Amina Osmanu a.k.a. Amos (BE) and Truenoys together form A/T/O/S (a taste of struggle). In 2020 they released a third album, Waterman. De Morgen wrote: ‘Her singing is hoarse and sultry, her phrasing is resolute: a touch of Jorja Smith in combination with the understatement of Martina Topley-Bird. Her performance regularly propels the third album by this Antwerp-based duo to the apex of the cosmos.'

 

Lore Binon

In 2008, Lore Binon (BE) completed her Master’s in violin at the Royal Conservatoire Brussels under Yuzuko Horigome, and later studied singing under Beatrijs De Vos at the Royal Conservatoire Brussels and the Escola Superior de Musica de Catalunya in Barcelona and the Conservatorium van Amsterdam under Valérie Guillorit. Last season Lore Binon collaborated with Opera Ballet Vlaanderen on Szenen aus Goethes Faust by Robert Schumann and created the title role Vigdis in the world premiere of The

Convert by Wim Henderickx. Binon can be seen and heard only in opera, but also in family productions, musical theatre and contemporary music. She regularly collaborates with Ictus and the Spectra ensemble, alongside her concerts with orchestras including the Belgian National Orchestra, the Brussels Philharmonic, the Freiburger Barockorchester and the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra. Her passion for chamber music has carried her to numerous festivals with Oxalys, Zefiro Torna, Il Gardellino and A Nocte Temporis, among others. She is also the co-founder of Revue Blanche, a vocal/instrumental chamber music ensemble. Lore Binon is also a champion of the vulnerable song genre.

 

Frederik Croene

After his conservatory studies, Frederik Croene (BE) set in train a number of projects in which he reflects on the ever-changing and multi-layered identity of the classical musician. Because the virtuosity is so linked to his instrument, he still uses it as a way of communicating. Croene performed the classical repertoire and recorded it, often in close collaboration with composers, such as Michael Beil, Johannes Kreidler, Simon Steen-Andersen, Michael Finnisey, Cathy Van Eck and Marianthi Papalexandri-Alexandri. In 2010 he moved the centre of gravity from performing musician to composer and performer with his concept of 'Le Piano Démécanisé' in an article an in an LP release. Croene composes almost exclusively for piano, midi-keyboard or ‘dismantled’ piano, making use of extra-musical tools such as video, text and choreography. He has a longstanding collaboration with musician Timo van Luijk and artist Karl Van Welden. The ‘rediscovery’ of the classical piano led to Cul de Sac, a recording of virtuoso post-classical works based on simple tonal principles. He recently released his new album Solastalgia, which saw its world premiere at the Concertgebouw. 

 

Dominique De Groen 

Dominique De Groen (BE) is a writer, poet and visual artist. Her debut collection Shop Girl was published in 2017 and was nominated for the Aan Zee [At the Seaside] Poetry Debut Prize and the VRT’s LZWL Trophy. Her work is characterised by a critical attitude towards globalisation. In 2022 the Jan Campert Prize was awarded to De Groen for her poetry collection Slangen [Snakes].

 

Bibliography

Shop Girl, poetry collection, 2017

Sticky Drama, poetry collection, 2019

Offerlam, poetry collection, 2020

Slangen, poetry collection, 2022

 

IKRAAAN 

No one does what IKRAAAN (BE) does. As an adolescent she discovered her passion for music through artists such as Tupac. Through her love for the Dutch language she learnt to transmute this passion. In less than a year she developed her own dreamy singing style which transports you to a unique world. IKRAAAN makes music out of divine necessity. Obstacles, a bumpy path and the pain of being fundamentally different are the difficult subjects she broaches with her music. Her first EP HAPPY PILL was a breath of fresh air in 2019 in a volatile musical climate. In 2020 Studio Brussel selected her for the final of De Nieuwe Lichting and she collaborated with Jef Neve. In summer 2019 IKRAAAN started work on her first album. In that same period, the alter ego ‘the clown’ came into being in her subconscious.

 

Karl Van Welden

Karl Van Welden (BE) began more than ten years ago on Verenigde Planeten/United Planets, a cycle of visual and performative work based on the earthly or human presence in the universe. How do humans relate to the awe-inspiring vastness of the universe? With the planets from our solar system as an anchor point, he seeks out visual answers to this big question. His work includes performances such as MARS, PLUTO, MERCURY or SATURN, but also video, installations, interventions, drawings, paintings and three-dimensional works, which can act as reflections or preliminary studies, but can equally exist autonomously, or be combined into a single work. Whether deploying sound or image, with his creations the artist also explores versatility, balancing between autonomous poetry and subtle allusions to social or political themes.

 

PART I: CROSSROADS

 

AMOS:

Energy of the North

Powers of Earth

 

hollowed out by daily, daily sacrifice

 

fractured, cracked, and leaking

chemicals and tar sands

 

eroded

into bright and scorching deserts

 

arid, rocky soil

dead zones where not a thing can grow

 

aeons of geology bleached

into a cadaverous body

 

LORE:

Énergie du Levant

Puissances de l’Air

 

le ciel traversé

par des accords commerciaux

 

patternes mystérieux

que personne ne peut débrouiller

 

tissés d’une fumée noire

qui maintient en l’air des data clouds

 

gaz toxique de sinistres machines

de l’Histoire

 

IKRAAAN:

Energie van het Westen

Machten van Water

 

glinsterende draad

van gedeelde tranen

gedeeld angstzweet

dat ons allemaal dwingt

 

zout water brandt in longen

zuurstofloze nachtmerrie

 

lichamen die vloeibaar worden

met geweld uit een halflevende droom geperst

 

***

 

IKRAAAN:

Ze is alleen

ze slikt alles in

 

koude nachten zonder sterren

 

het maandelijkse bloeden, bloeden, bloeden

tot ze leeg is

 

ze slikt alles in, de betonnen muren

giftige pixels, dode avatars

 

eenzame nachten in blauw licht

het centrum van de dag, bloedrood en shiny

het glinstert en je kan het aanraken

 

ze slikt kopieën van kopieën van dromen

 

littekens van een zweep

die door de eeuwen stromen

 

ze slikt tot ze niet meer kan, niet meer kan, niet meer kan

haar brein uiteenspat, versplintert…

 

AMOS:

… earth’s body fragmented

into a broken song

of haunted fossil corpses

 

coagulated labour of fotosynthesis

fed to cities, fires, machines

burnt to ashes and toxic dark clouds

of restless psychic energy

 

you hear them, see them growing

 

organic fluids leaking into black skies

dry bones of the earth

crumbling to fertiliser

 

tearing the night air to shreds…

 

LORE:

… d’obscurs courants glacés

de data, de codes, de capitaux

 

les trajectoires invisibles qu’ils tracent

à travers des corps chauds, des villes endormies

nos plus énigmatiques et plus profonds cauchemars

 

des traces d’une lumière blanche crue

qui scannent le monde, le rendent visible

tissant tout ensemble

avec un fil spectral

 

alizés et cours de la Bourse

investissements et pipelines

cousent d’occultes patterns

lient continents et codes génétiques

champs pétrolifères et émotions, émotions, émotions, émotions…

moisissures et molécules d’hydrocarbures

les fils d’un destin commun, commun, commun, commun…

 

***

 

IN KOOR:

Of all the timelines, all the paths

through history

 

this one is the darkest

 

of all possible worlds

this is the cruelest.

 

Is it futile?

To try at this late hour

to deviate from the path?

 

To extract it from the stone

in which it has been set

and make it flow again?

 

To awaken from this present

as if from a bad dream?

 

Energy of the South

Powers of Fire

 

that melt animals, cities, forests

glittering darkness of burning hills

 

fire from the deepest core

of a desert without centre

 

fire of oil, fire of coal

 

warm pulsating blood in which we forge our rage

into magic weapons

 

we give birth to our resistance

 

---

 

PART II: RITUALS

 

AMOS:

I call on a woman

with wings and gleaming armour

surrounded by lions

 

behind her shine a golden sun

a silver crescent moon

an eight-pointed star

 

Inanna of Mesopotamia

goddess of war and power

 

Inanna, we call on you (herhalen)

 

I call on a woman

her hair a mass of glittering snakes

 

Medusa, who can turn your oppressors into stone

 

Medusa, we call on you (herhalen)

 

Here comes a woman

whose shape is empty, infinite night

 

from her flows the water

from which all life is born

 

Neith of Egypt

dark weaver of cosmos and fate

 

Neith, we call on you (herhalen)

 

A woman appears

standing on a crossroads

paths meeting in the dead of night

bearing flaming torch and key

surrounded by snakes and howling dogs

 

Hecate of witchcraft

of healings herbs and poisonous plants

of ghosts and necromancy

 

Hecate, we call on you

 

Together we become heavy

feel our bodies sinking

through layers of earth and rock

 

dark chunks of compressed timespace

slimy labyrinths of deep organic dreams

 

we sink into a glittering coal body

fossilised subterranean body

 

we feel it become liquid

begin to flow

dissolve into leaves and wood

 

feel it flowing through our bloodstreams

ancient energy

coarsing through our veins

 

we become part of leaves and roots

organic fractals

 

we become liquid

flowing through the earth like water

 

coal transformed into living plants

ancient sunlight released

 

the earth bathing in bright light

 

Inanna, Medusa, Neith, Hecate

warrior queens of blood and love

earth and war

fertility and death

 

we call on you

to fight with us

 

ancient plants

trapped in coal

 

the dollar signs burned out of your corpses

 

your restless spirits

haunting us

 

we call on you

to fight with us

 

chaotic army

organic army

soft, dark, coiling army

 

against smooth lifeless forces

demon of the machine zone

crushing all life

 

we call on you

we call on you

we call on you

 

***

 

IKRAAAN:

Maar ik roep ook jullie aan

 

met jullie wonden

sticky bloed, pixelbloed

 

met klamme handen

rillend aan de randen van de dag

 

met longen vol katoenvezels

die zich nestelen in zacht vlees

 

met nachtmerries die niet uit elkaar vallen

wanneer de zon je huid aanraakt

 

elke aanraking een aanval

een vloek die echoot door de tijd

die plakt aan alle generaties voor jou

 

de naald van de geschiedenis

waaraan je je vinger hebt geprikt

 

We roepen jullie aan, die vergeten zijn (herhalen)

 

Onzichtbaar, verbleekt

onder fel neonlicht

 

door de mazen van het net

verstrikt in het web

 

van bloederige krasjes

waar je lichaam en het kapitaal

elkaar ontmoeten

 

een wonde die eeuwenlang

echoot door de lichamen

 

trauma dat zichzelf kopieert

op een lopende band naar nergens

 

Ik zing een balsem

een helende zalf

voor jullie wonden

jullie pijn en verdriet

 

rond mij in een cirkel

 

van huid en vacht

van armen en lippen

 

cirkel van tranen

waarmee we elkaars wonden helen

 

blauwe plekken en koud zweet

veranderen in wapens

 

om de structuren te vernielen

die op onze lichamen drukken.

 

Sluit je ogen, glijd je lichaam in

 

langs je slokdarm, je zachte organen

langs gladde membranen

een warm, kwetsbaar labyrint

 

op de bodem

zie je een schaduw

jouw schaduw

 

oog in oog met een duister spiegelbeeld

 

je eigen angst, je wreedheid

 

de giftanden

die uit je tandvlees groeien

 

je ziet de schaduw en vergeeft hem

 

je naait een wonde aan elkaar

lijmt een barst in je spiegelbeeld

 

twee helften dansen in het maanlicht

witte en zwarte slang verstrengeld

kronkelend in de zachte nachtlucht

 

***

 

LORE:

Dans le chaos des corps

se dévoilent des patternes géométriques

 

les vecteurs de l’Histoire

deviennent visibles

 

les itinéraires

de l’argent et des corps,

du pétrole et de l’or

 

je les suis, me fais fluide

glisse avec eux dans les pipelines

 

m’encode en datasets, en de complexes algorithmes

m’égoutte dans des comptes bancaires offshore

 

me brûle au bois de navires

qui dans la longue nuit du Passage du milieu

ont halluciné un sombre futur

et vomi sur les rivages des Amériques

sur des plantations de tabac et des champs de canne à sucre

 

me tisse avec le fil à coudre

sur de trépidantes machines à tisser 

qui engloutissent les flots de corps

un obscur magnétisme

 

tournoie entre des nuages de fumée de charbon

laquelle se durcit, se fige

en des villes

 

se pétrit

en une révolution industrielle

 

m’enroule autour de la double hélice

de végétaux modifiés

formes de vie brevetées

 

un nouveau paysage

posée sur l’ancien

un paysage lisse et sans nom

une masse anonyme de matières premières

 

un univers dépouillé de secrets

 

des éléments détroussés de magie

rouages dans la machine…

 

On suit les plis du tissu de l’histoire

 

et le passage du temps

prend une forme matérielle

 

tous les niveaux, mécanismes, processus

minéraux et géologiques

numériques et biologiques

de la plus petite réaction chimique

à la géopolitique globale

s’engrènent les uns les autres

 

je vois les structures se cristalliser

 

croître comme des fractales

des tentacules qui s’étendent

au-dessus du tissu spatio-temporel…

 

On suit les plis du tissu de l’histoire

 

devant moi se dévoilent

des réseaux de chaînes causales

dans lesquels on s’englue

 

les chaînons mystérieux le long desquels

une fougère de l’âge carbonifère

infléchit une cotation boursière

 

comprendre comment le réseau s’articule

c’est de la magie

 

introduire de nouveaux plis dans l’univers

creuser des tunnels cachés à travers l’Histoire

trous de ver dans le temps et l’espace

 

réarranger les chaînes causales

qui lient l’histoire ensemble

 

suivre les lignes jusqu’à leurs origines

plier-les en lignes de fuite

 

pour sortir du présent.

 

---

 

PART III: EXORCISM

 

AMOS:

Floating weightless on cosmic currents

inhuman waves of deep time

cold geometries of space

 

approaching the zero

the seed

from which this poisonous hour has grown

the forces that propelled us to this point…

 

A demon, an evil goddess

 

come from outer space

in ancient depths of time

 

infiltrating

dominating

 

a demon, an evil goddess

 

re-wiring our nervous systems

 

hard-coding cruel desires of capital

into our bodies

 

IKRAAAN:

… en hier sta ik, oog in oog
in de dieptes

van een collectief onderbewuste

 

de oerbron van het trauma

waar de steen het water raakt

een krater slaat

die door generaties vaart

 

de kiem van het geweld

dat zich als een parasiet

in onze breinen heeft gezet

 

hier sta ik…

 

… pijn, verdriet, schaamte

stromen uit mijn poriën

maar op mijn huid worden ze hard

een glinsterend harnas

 

hier sta ik

op het kantelpunt van licht en darkside

het exacte moment van balans

 

hier sta ik, de wondes nog vers genoeg

om in mijzelf te kunnen reiken

 

glanzende roze dieptes

van mijn psychisch lichaam…

 

LORE:

… me voici

au point zéro de vecteurs

d’où partent les lignes de force

 

la genèse

où une noire matière diffuse

s’engrumelle

se met en mouvement

engendre de la conscience

 

voyage à travers Histoire et futur

croissant par vagues de façon exponentielle

 

me voici

face à face avec du démoniaque

 

ça vient de loin

se déploie sur des dimensions

que nous ne pouvons saisir

 

me voici...

 

… au point

où l’on tisse le fourbe fil

d’asphalte lisse, de centres de distribution

 

d’algorithmes commerciaux

en drones létaux et précis

de paniers de supermarché numériques

en champs vidés de leur sang

 

le fil qui nous réunit comme des perles

et nous tire jusqu’à un destin froid et inexorable

est tissé ici

où je me trouve…

 

AMOS:

… after I followed

organic fossil currents

 

here I stand

ancient swamp of giant plants

ferns as tall as houses

 

the air moist, intoxicating

humming with vitality

heavy with the smells

of flowers and rich mud

 

a vibrant explosion of life

trees rising sky-high from silent slime

from dark, bubbling, fermenting water

 

here I lie… (herhaling)

 

… floating in the warm water

 

Inanna’s eight-pointed star

shining bright in the muddy darkness

 

Medusa’s snakes dancing

in the currents

 

Hecate enchanting seaweeds and algae

giving them magic power

 

Neith infusing the water

with cosmic life force

 

I feel their force surge through me

as I find myself…

 

IKRAAAN:

… oog in oog met de demon

die zich heeft genesteld

in vergeten gangen van mijn wezen

gegraven door verre voorouders

 

mijn rafelige littekens worden amuletten

die hem verblinden, binden

 

mijn schaduwen, mijn donkerste gedachten

worden slangen

die zich rond hem wikkelen

tot hij barst

 

LORE:

Je coupe le fil démoniaque

le tisse en un symbole magique

 

refoule la puissance maligne

dans le recoin obscur du cosmos

la caverne oubliée du temps

d’où elle s’est glissée

 

suce le poison de l’univers

infecte les logarithmes infernaux

avec un contre-virus

 

AMOS:

Spread roots and veins

suck the power from the demon

and its dark alchemy

transforming life into toxic clouds

of burning coal

 

I coil my plant-body around it

 

suckers and tendrils

twigs and stems and leaves

 

I become a body of vegetal force

 

and I squeeze

 

I banish you

from the subterranean zones where life is born

 

IKRAAAN:

Ik drijf je uit

uit de dieptes van mijn lichaam

 

LORE:

Je t’expulse

des canaux secrets de l’Histoire

 

Je t’expulse

de la blessure qui a vu naître le temps

 

IKRAAAN:

Ik drijf je uit

druk je harde scherpe hoeken

uit mijn weefsel

 

AMOS:

I banish you

from seeds and cells

exorcise you from arid soils

 

IKRAAAN:

Om te kunnen groeien

op de grens van licht en schaduw

 

AMOS:

To make the soil sing with life

 

LORE:

Pour briser l’horizon de béton

laisser entrer

la lumière des corps célestes

 

IN KOOR:

We banish you

 

from the north and the south

from the deserts and the seas

from the west and from the east

from the mountains and the caves

 

from soft skin and smooth fur

from hard geometry of rocks

from blood and plastic

from time and sleep

from starlit nights at the speed of light

from lunar gleam reflected in water

and from the rays of the early morning sun

from mud and gold, from palm trees and crystals

 

we extract you

we suck you out like poison

we fling you far away

 

we cut the threads

with which you bind us

 

and banish you

banish you

banish you