Hear In Now + QWANQWA: Weaving Strands of Sound

Saturday, September 24

TIMEs: 3:00-4:00PM & 5:00-6:00pm

VENUE: Logan Center Performance Hall. 915 EAST 60TH ST.

Hear In Now + QWANQWA: Weaving Strands of Sound

"Weaving Strands of Sound from Addis to Chicago" is a collaborative musical experience between the Ethiopia-based QWANQWA and Hear in Now (HIN).

At the core of both ensembles are stringed instruments, with each group exploring tradition and experimentalism in their unique own way, pushing musical boundaries and expectations within their respective communities. Upon meeting in Addis Ababa, Tomeka Reid and Kaethe Hostetter felt inspired to find a way to combine their worlds of tradition and experimentalism, using their varied musical languages and experiences. While both ensembles rely heavily on improvisation, the sources and means of that improvisation are very different. The goal of this exchange will be to share stylistic improvisational techniques between the two groups. Specifically, HIN members who have worked extensively with Butch Morris and Anthony Braxton will share conduction techniques with the members of QWANQWA, and in return, QWANQWA will share the many scales and rhythms used in traditional Ethiopian music.

QWANQWA

QWANQWA is a supergroup of musicians from the baddest ensembles of Addis Ababa. Brought together by a shared passion for the power of Ethiopian music, this group shines an experimentalism based in the virtuosity of rooted traditions. With swirling mesenko (one-stringed fiddle), punk krar solos (electric lyre), wah-wah-violin, bass krar boom, and the unstoppable rhythm of heavy kebero (goatskin drum) beats, plus powerful traditional lead African diva vocals, QWANQWA keeps the people rapt in celebratory attention. After making a splash at world-renowned festivals including Roskilde, Bonnaroo, Jazzfest, and WOMEX; after two successful European tours; and after their 60-date MacArthur Foundation-backed U.S. tour was postponed in 2020, this ensemble is yet again ready to hit the road.

Founded in 2012 by American violinist Kaethe Hostetter, QWANQWA draws inspiration from East African regions of Ethiopia and beyond. Delving deep into regional beats and moods, the ensemble’s repertoire ranges from a trance-like song of the Eritrean tribe of Blen to a Somalian rock number and Mahmoud Ahmed sing-a-longs. The music is characterized by tight arrangements and extended experimental moments, and the live show ranges from intimate to wild, from whispery conversations to full-blown rock show—including moments when it’s hard to believe these psychedelic sounds are actually coming from traditional harp and violin. QWANQWA’s sound is driving, powerful, and different from anything else coming out of Ethiopia during this Golden Age of Ethiopian music.

Since their founding, QWANQWA has released three albums: Volume One (2014), Volume Two (2015), and Volume Three (2020).

The musicians:

Endris Hassen – masinqo

Kaethe Hostetter – violin

Bubu Teklemariam – bass krar

Selamnesh Zemene – vocals

Misale Legesse – kebero

HEAR IN NOW

A conjunction is an action or an instance of two or more events occurring at the same point in time or space. By way of a commission from Italian Woma Jazz in 2009, the three women who comprise the string trio Hear in Now (cellist Tomeka Reid, bassist Silvia Bolognesi, and violinist Mazz Swift) surrendered to a gravitational attraction, resulting in a remarkable conjunction of ideas and sound.

Stylistically, that has included musical conversations with hip-hop artists Common, Jay-Z, and Kanye West, as well as with creative improvised music icons Muhal Richard Abrams, Roscoe Mitchell, and Anthony Braxton. But the ethos of the trio has been shaped most by its musicians’ collective fearlessness and boundary-defying openness. Their embrace of expanded and invented techniques has resulted in compositions that expand the vocabulary of each instrument and touch on the exploratory nature of improvised music, while remaining rooted in the melodicism of more “traditional” or popular forms.

Hear in Now has performed at festivals including Vision Fest in New York; the Made in Chicago Festival in Poznan, Poland; the Chicago Jazz Festival; and the Hyde Park Jazz Festival, among others, in addition to museums, clubs, and concert halls across Europe and the United States. The trio has released two albums: Hear in Now and Not Living in Fear.

The musicians:

Tomeka Reid – cello

Silvia Bolognesi – bass

Mazz Swift – violin

Eddy Kwon – violin

Chad Taylor – drums/percussion