Experiment with Tradition!

From Folk to Future

Rob Thorne
David Rothenberg by ArtBus Project
Benedicte Maurseth by Anders Bergersen

Links

Chaired by David Rothenberg (USA), ECM/NJIT;
with Benedicte Maurseth (Norway), Benedicte Maurseth;
Rob Thorne (New Zealand), Toi Puoro

How to keep ancient music alive in the global scene? Rob Thorne from New Zealand is one of the foremost practitioners of taonga pūoro, the music of the Maori, instruments that sat unplayed in museums until Richard Nunns resuscitated a traditional music that was completely forgotten. Benedicte Maurseth, one of the foremost players of the Norwegian hardangerfele, expands the reach of her instrument by working with playwrights, improvisers, and medievalists alike. She is one of few folk musicians recording on ECM and has also written a book of dialogues with her teacher, Knut Hamre. Both these musicians are primal and futuristic at once.

David Rothenberg has performed with both of them, and all three will try to come up with some guidelines on how to strike a balance between authenticity and innovation in a world that gives us few aesthetic directions on where to go and how to sound.

Rob Thorne is a selected showcase artist.