The Summer Bummer Festival–Sound in Motion’s yearly adventurous music festival at Trix– celebrates its 10th edition with an extra festival day. In addition to challenging concerts and installations–for which the young curators of Oei! are contributing input for the first time–there is also an expo with the graphic work of the past 10 editions, a short film of Fire! Orchestra CBA Youth live at Summer Bummer 2024, a third festival magazine–with interviews and a handy timetable, the record fair–which has become a tradition, the catered stand with homemade slow food: rich flavors and pure ingredients that are lovingly and carefully prepared by the Summer Bummer crew, Radio Khiyaban‘s N.R.Safi will provide 3 days of superb tunes in between and after the shows,  of course there’s the mobile squad of Radio Centraal that provides the festival three days of live coverage, and to top it off you on Fri 29 and Sat 30/8 you can screen print your custom Summer Bummer T-Shirt on the spot with Rombus and Mojo Prints (29 & 30/8).

SUMMER BUMMER FESTIVAL DAY 3:
For pdf version of the program click the schedule below:

HAMID DRAKE/AVA MENDOZA (US)

The last time drummer and percussionist Hamid Drake appeared at the Summer Bummer festival was in 2022. He played a remarkable guest role at Christer Bothén’s concert, with whom he shared a history with Don Cherry, and then performed a memorable set with Peter Brötzmann. It would be the very last time these two jazz giants would stand on a stage together, as Brötzmann passed away in 2023.

However, Drake’s return is a celebratory occasion. He turned 70 at the beginning of August, making it the perfect time to clear the Summer Bummer stage for this unique musician. In our humble opinion, guitarist Ava Mendoza is the ideal sparring partner for this event: Last year, she was responsible for one of the absolute highlights of Summer Bummer with a blistering solo set, made a big impression with ‘The Circular Train’, her solo release for Bill Orcut’s label Palilalia, toured the world with Marc Ribot’s Hurry Red Telephone, and performed just recenetly with Drake and Brad Jones, as well as with Circular Pyramid, a project with Drake and William Parker.

RODRIGO AMADO/DAVID MARANHA (PT)

Although from different musical backgrounds, the collaboration between tenor saxophonist Rodrigo Amado and multi-instrumentalist David Maranha feels both natural and overdue. Their respective fields (freejazz, drone, minimalism) serve as launchpads for exploration, merging into free improvisation, abstract rock, and electronic textures. Their album ‘Wrecks’, recorded live in Lisbon, showcases deep artistic synergy that even brings to mind the historic ‘Live in Köln’ by Terry Riley and Don Cherry.

Amado took the stage of the Summer Bummer Festival with the Attic in 2018 and released that stunning concert as ‘Summer Bummer’ on No Business in 2019. Maranha appeared in Sound in Motion’s Oorstof series with Chris Corsano and Richard Youngs at De Nor in 2019. Now they are set to take the Summer Bummer stage, pulling you into a raw yet deeply human fusion of sax and organ, free jazz and drones, performing for this celebratory 10th Summer Bummer and for the first time ever outside of Portugal.

SPACE:
LISA ULLÉN/ELSA BERGMAN/ANNA LUND (SE)

Based in Stockholm, Space is a piano trio featuring Lisa Ullén (piano), Elsa Bergman (double bass) and Anna Lund (drums) that channels the American free jazz tradition as well as contemporary classical music. Combining raw power with an exquisite attention to detail, the three musicians make every moment sparkle with possibilities. In this aural space, every movement matters.

With their second album ‘Embrace The Space‘, the group established itself as “one of the most daring piano trios on today’s scene”. Having played a phenomenal show during the 2022 edition, we’re glad to invite this super trio to the stage once again

ZINC & COPPER:
ROBIN HAYWARD/ ELENA KAKALIAGOU/HILARY JEFFERY (UK/GR/DE) Oei!

Zinc & Copper is an internationally recognised low brass trio founded in 2005 by Robin Hayward, working together with Elena Kakaliagou and Hilary Jeffery since 2014. Through an intensive exploration of microtonal and natural tunings, they have developed a unique ensemble sound characterized by the warmth of low brass instruments and a wide range of extended playing techniques

In the time of Giovanni Gabrieli, long before modern valved brass instruments were invented, the brass ensemble had equal standing to other chamber music ensembles. By researching alternative approaches towards playing, Zinc & Copper is exploring the potential of this medium in the 21st century. The ensemble will perform ‘Words Of Paradise‘, a work inspired by the theories of Johannes Goropius Becanus on how the Antwerpian Brabantic, a particular dialect of Dutch spoken in the region between the Scheldt and Meuse Rivers, was the original language spoken in Paradise.

OTTO:
CAMILLE ÉMAILLE/GABRIEL VALTCHEV/POL SMALL (FR)

OTTO‘s music is minimalist in vocabulary but intense in energy. Gabriel Valtchev, Pol Small and Camille Emaille all play the tapan – a Bulgarian percussion instrument with only two skin tones – and metal percussion (gong, bronze plate).

The group’s musical interest lies in seeking to develop an idea with a very limited sound palette, so that musical construction depends more on the timing and interweaving of the three instruments. The set consists of fixed sections and improvised parts, revealing increasingly complex polyrhythms and variations in timbre, rhythm and color.

1984 (FR/UK/BE):
SAKINA ABDOU/MARIAM REZAEI/KOBE VAN CAUWENBERGHE

Inspired by Ursula K. Le Guin‘s classic sci-fi novel ‘The Dispossessed’, guitarist Kobe Van Cauwenberghe, turntablist Mariam Rezaei and saxophonist Sakina Abdou have been working on a collection of open-ended pieces in which they experiment with linearity, repetition, variation and improvisation in real time.

Each piece contains a set of 3 to 5 independent melodies that can be used and developed by the musicians, simultaneously with the improvisations. The melodic and harmonic content of each part is based on a set of intervals, using the intervallic system Henry Threadgill has developed over the years for his ensemble Zooid. Abdou, Rezaei and Van Cauwenberghe operate between cycles and sequences, lines and circles, past-present and future simultaneously, taking nonlinearity as standard and yet all in one simultaneous forward process.

INSTALLATIES/PERFORMANCES:

BART VAN DONGEN & ANTOON VERSTEEGDE (NL):
ELECTRIC GRAND

Electric Grand is a collaborative project by Dutch visual artist Antoon Versteegde and composer Bart van Dongen. They magnify the sound of a prepared piano by giving each note its own speaker. Known for his bamboo art, Versteegde has created unique installations for each location since the project’s inception in 2021. For the 10th Summer Bummer edition, he designed bamboo pyramids for the speakers that fit perfectly in Trix’s garden. The installation’s electronics were refined together with Edwin van den Oetelaar and Kristiyan Angelov. Using the prepared piano, Van Dongen makes the randomly placed pyramids with speakers resonate through improvisation. The participation of guest musicians in one of the performances is a possibility.

Bart van Dongen is a composer, musician, and conceptual artist known for his relentless search for new sounds, effortlessly connecting seemingly opposing forces. He keeps his finger on the pulse of contemporary music as the founder and co-director of the Paviljoen Ongehoorde Muziek in Eindhoven. Recently, he received international acclaim for his work with bassist Gonçalo Almeida under the name Tabula Sonorum.

Antoon Versteegde is a visual artist renowned for his large-scale bamboo installations. These temporary constructions, made from materials like bamboo poles, flags, rope, and elastic, are both artworks and interactive experiences. He has completed over 500 interactive projects worldwide. While the installations often disappear after a few days, weeks, or months, the shared memory lives on as a lasting part of the experience.

JOKE CAIMO (BE) Oei!:
HUMAN ORGAN CONCERTO

In the audio-visual installation ‘Human Organ Concerto’ the undisciplined artivist, media artist, and inventor Joke Caimo invites the audience to ‘perform’ the piece. The organ’s sound is controlled by the breathing patterns of the participants, captured through wireless devices. These devices translate each breath into four electric pulses, triggering different tones on a pipe organ.

Caimo’s work lies at the intersection of performance, music, product design, installation, and the digital world. With their objects and instruments, they explore ‘the collective’ versus ‘the inner self’, inviting the viewer to become part of their work. They develop measuring instruments and platforms that help us better understand unconscious patterns and mechanisms in co-creation processes. The underlying theme is investigating, stimulating, and visualizing the energies between people as a collective. Additionally, Caimo is a co-initiator of Samenschool and hosts their own residency and workspace for artists, friends, and neighbors.

DJ:

RADIO KHIYABAN DJ (AF/US)

N.R. Safi is an Afghan-American musician who runs Radio Khiyaban, an internationalist sound platform based in the Netherlands highlighting the blurry intersection between traditional artforms and contemporary experimentation with a particular focus on south/west Asia. Safi will provide the perfect soundtrack for Summer Bummer 2025 in between and after the concerts.

+ RECORD FAIR – FILM – EXPO – SCREEN PRINTING (29 & 30/8) – SNACKS & BITES