Sirene 1009 at Cork School of Music

Sirene 1009: Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (copyright 2010 Seán Kelly, 2016 Bruce Coates, Andrew Putler, 2016 Jordan Hutchings, and 2016 Han-earl Park)
© 2010 Seán Kelly, © 2016 Bruce Coates, © Andrew Putler; © 2016 Jordan Hutchings; and © 2016 Han-earl Park.

Friday, May 19, 2017, at 8:00pm (doors: 7:45pm): Sirene 1009 (Han-earl Park: guitar; Dominic Lash: double bass; Mark Sanders: drums; and Caroline Pugh: voice and electronics), plus Catherine Sikora (saxophones) and Dan Walsh (drums), perform at Stack Theatre (CIT Cork School of Music, Union Quay, Cork, Ireland).

This is it! Final part of the Arts Council funded series, and the end of a string of performances that included a tour of Wales, England and N. Ireland. I am extremely fortunate to have shared the stage with such crafty and imaginative players; Dom’s never-ruffled, obliquely systematic low-frequency booms, Caroline’s bizarro tricks with and without microphone, and Mark’s delicate and sensitive clouds of garbage cans. For this event, not only do you get two stupendously creative groups of musicians (with a set by Catherine Sikora and Dan Walsh), but with live sound by Alex Fiennes (who recorded our album!), you’ll never have heard noise with such fidelity. See you there!

Tickets: €16 | €10 | €5

Online box office closes at 6:00pm. Tickets will be available from the door from 7:30pm.

See the performance diary for up-to-date info. [CSM page…] [Facebook event…]

Details

Sirene 1009: Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (Cork, 04-07-17). Copyright 2017 John Hough.
© 2017 John Hough.

Colorful, sometimes violent and revelatory listening experience that infuses modern aesthetics with the spirit of the ancient.

— John Morrison (Jazz Right Now)

Kinetic, energetic; an exceptional community of improvisers will be performing on Friday, 19 May 2017 when Sirene 1009 returns to Cork for a concert at the Stack Theatre, CIT Cork School of Music. Bringing yet more spontaneous musical interactions between artists local and international, the final concert in the Art Council funded series features guitarist Han-earl Park (Ireland/California), double bassist Dominic Lash (England), drummers Mark Sanders (England) and Dan Walsh (Ireland), vocalist Caroline Pugh (N. Ireland/Scotland), and saxophonist Catherine Sikora (Ireland/New York).

“The art of improvisation might be akin to the art of living,” says Han-earl Park, instigator of the ensemble Sirene 1009. “It’s not that improvisation is an exceptional activity—we all do it, and we all do it with every breath we take—it’s just that some of us have been focussing a lot of time and energy on it: there are exceptional improvisers.” Park has performed with some of the best improvisers from the Americas, Asia and Europe. He is part of ensembles including the London-based Mathilde 253 with Charles Hayward and Ian Smith, and the Berlin-based Numbers with Richard Barrett.

In an interview with a Jazz Noise, Park says the Sirene 1009 sound comprises, “Dom Lash’s assured, steady-handed control of his technique and sound-making; Mark Sanders’ range, seemingly boundless imagination, ability anticipate anything and everything, and ability to make sense musically regardless of what surrounds him; and Caroline Pugh’s handle and knowledge of genre, and how she seemingly can just jump in regardless of context. I think the various ways we move—our bodies and their relationship with the instruments, say—complement each other.”

The event is also a rare opportunity to catch the trans-Atlantic improviser, saxophonist and composer Catherine Sikora. Sikora, who, along with Han-earl Park, is part of the New York-based Eris 136199, is best known for her frequent collaborations with Eric Mingus, Brian Chase and Ross Hammond. In May, Sikora will be joined by Cork-based drummer Dan Walsh. Of this partnership, Sikora says: “I have a longstanding love of saxophone and drum duos, and am very much looking forward to this meeting with Dan Walsh.”

By turns reflexive and tactical, noisy and melodious, the evening promises to be a unique, creative collision of sensibilities and musicalities. As Sikora says: “When I play I find myself seeking beauty. The music that is most intensely interesting and satisfying to me is beautiful simple melody, something that is a world in and of itself, and that just seems right, as though there were no other way it could be.” Or as Park puts it: “Noise and all that jazz.”

Presented with funding from the Arts Council of Ireland, and support from FUAIM Music at UCC, UCC Department of Music, CIT Cork School of Music and the Cork Improvised Music Club.

About the performers

Improviser, guitarist and constructor Han-earl Park has been crossing borders and performing fuzzily idiomatic, on occasion experimental, always traditional, open improvised musics for twenty years. He has performed in clubs, theaters, art galleries, concert halls, and (ad-hoc) alternative spaces across Europe and the USA.

Park engages a radical, liminal, cyborg virtuosity in which mind, body and artifact collide. He is driven by the social and revolutionary potential of real-time interactive performance in which tradition and practice become creative problematics. As a constructor of musical automata, he is interested in partial, and partially frustrating, context-specific artifacts; artifacts that amplify social relations and corporeal identities and agencies.

Ensembles include Mathilde 253 with Charles Hayward and Ian Smith, Eris 136199 with Nick Didkovsky and Catherine Sikora, and Numbers with Richard Barrett. Park is the constructor of the machine improviser io 0.0.1 beta++, and instigator of Metis 9, a playbook of improvisative tactics. He has performed with Wadada Leo Smith, Paul Dunmall, Evan Parker, Lol Coxhill, Mark Sanders, Josh Sinton, Louise Dam Eckardt Jensen, Gino Robair, Tim Perkis, Andrew Drury, Pat Thomas and Franziska Schroeder, and as part of large ensembles led by Wadada Leo Smith, Evan Parker and Pauline Oliveros.

Festival appearances include Freedom of the City (London), Sonorities (Belfast), ISIM (New York), dialogues festival (Edinburgh), CEAIT (Los Angeles) and Sonic Acts (Amsterdam). His recordings have been released by labels including Slam Productions, Creative Sources and DUNS Limited Edition.

Park taught improvisation at University College Cork, and founded and curated Stet Lab, a space for improvised music in Cork.

“Guitarist Han-earl Park is a musical philosopher…. Expect unexpected things from Park, who is a delightful shape-shifter….”

Brian Morton (Point of Departure)

Dominic Lash is a freely improvising double bassist, although his activities also range much more widely and include playing bass guitar and other instruments; both writing and performing composed music; and writing about music and various other subjects.

He has performed with musicians such as Tony Conrad (in duo and quartet formations), Joe Morris (trio and quartet), Evan Parker (duo, quartet and large ensemble) and the late Steve Reid. His main projects include The Dominic Lash Quartet, The Set Ensemble (an experimental music group focused on the work of the Wandelweiser collective) and The Convergence Quartet.

Based in Bristol, Lash has performed in the UK, Austria, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey and USA. For nearly a decade he was based in Oxford and played a central role in the activities of Oxford Improvisers; much of 2011 was spent living in Manhattan. In 2013 and 2014 he is taking part in Take Five, the professional development programme administered by Serious.

Festival appearances include Akbank Jazz Festival (Istanbul), Audiograft (Oxford), Freedom of the City (London), Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Hurta Cordel (Madrid), Konfrontationen (Nickelsdorf), LMC Festival (London), Manchester Jazz Festival and Tampere Jazz Happening.

His work has been broadcast on a number of radio stations, including BBC Radios 1 and 3 and Germany’s SWR2, and released on labels including Another Timbre, b-boim, Bead, Cathnor, Clean Feed, Compost and Height, Emanem, Erstwhile, FMR, Foghorn, Leo and NoBusiness.

Since moving to Bristol he has been involved in organising concerts under the banners of Bang the Bore and Insignificant Variation. A new venture is the monthly series happening every second Wednesday at the Arnolfini entitled Several 2nds. Events include performances, workshops, film screenings and discussions.

“Following in an illustrious lineage from Barry Guy through Simon Fell… breathtaking.”

John Sharpe (All About Jazz)

Mark Sanders has played with many renowned musicians from around the world including Evan Parker, Peter Brotzmann, Derek Bailey, Myra Melford, Paul Rogers, Henry Grimes, Roswell Rudd, Okkyung Lee, Barry Guy, Tim Berne, Otomo Yoshihide, Luc Ex, Ken Vandermark, Sidsel Endresen and Jean Francois Pauvrois, in duo and quartets with Wadada Leo Smith and trios with Charles Gayle with Sirone and William Parker.

New collaborative projects include ‘Riverloam Trio’ with Mikolaj Trzaska and Olie Brice, ‘Asunder’ with Hasse Poulsen and Paul Dunmall, duos with John Butcher and DJ Sniff, ‘Statics’ with Georg Graewe and John Butcher, and trio with Rachel Musson and Liam Noble.

Mark and John Edwards play as a rhythm section with many groups including Trevor Watts Quartet, ‘Foils’ with Frank Paul Schubert and Matthius Muller, Mathew Shipp’s ‘London Quartet,’ also playing with Fred Frith, Wadada Leo Smith and Shabaka Hutchins amongst many others.

Christian Marclay’s ‘Everyday’ project includes Mark with Christian, Steve Beresford, John Butcher and Alan Tomlinson, he also works regularly in the projects of Mikolaj Trzaska, Gail Brand, Paul Dunmall, Peter Jaquemyn, and Simon H. Fell.

Mark has performed in the USA, Canada, Brazil, Japan, Morrocco, South Africa, Mozambique and Turkey, playing at many major festivals including, Nickelsdorf, Ulrichsburg, Glastonbury, Womad, Vancouver, Isle of Wight, Roskilde, Berlin Jazz days, Mulhouse, Luz, Minniapolis, Banlieue Bleues, Son D’hiver and Hurta Cordel.

He has released over 120 CDs.

“A gifted player capable of seamless movement between free-rhythms and propulsive swing.”

John Fordham (The Guardian)

Scottish vocalist and composer Caroline Pugh borrows old-fangled technologies and honours oral histories to create new performances. With a background in both folk and improvisation, her solo works You’ve Probably Heard These Songs Before, Timing By Ear, Measuring By Hand and Platform Audio also draw on performance art and pinhole photography.

Originally from Edinburgh, Caroline has performed across Europe and North America with new improvisation performances including Los Angeles’ Betalevel in 2012, NIME 2011 in Oslo, Just Listening 2011 in Limerick and Experimentica09 in Cardiff. She is also in a band called ABODE and an improvisation collective called E=MCH.

Now based in Belfast, Caroline sings in a folk duo with Meabh Meir and together with Myles McCormack they run traditional song sessions at the Garrick Bar on Mondays from 7.30-10pm.

In 2011, Caroline was awarded an Art Council Northern Ireland grant for her solo work and gained a Distinction for her AHRC-funded Master of Music at Newcastle University. She coaches students at Queen’s University Belfast and has worked in collaboration with visual artists (Connecting through Scape 2008), theatre practitioners (hour8+9 2009), video artists (SAAB 2009), dancers and psychologists (Newcastle and Northumbria Universities 2010). She also got a BA in Scottish Music from the Royal Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, and studied Contemporary Music at the University of Central Lancashire for a wee while too.

“Every once in a while you happen upon a gig or event that’s so fundamentally unlike anything you’ve experienced before that you can’t help but reconsider your own thoughts on what defines music, performance and entertainment.”

Brian Coney (BBC Across The Line)

Catherine Sikora is “a free-blowing player’s player with a spectacular harmonic imagination and an evolved understanding of the tonal palette of the saxophone”. Sikora works in a broad range of settings, from highly complex composed music, to spoken word projects, to free improvisation. Frequent collaborators include Eric Mingus, Enrique Haneine, Brian Chase, Han-earl Park, Stanley Zappa, Christopher Culpo and Ross Hammond, as well as solo performance.

Dan Walsh is a musician working from Cork City, Ireland as drummer in The Great Balloon Race and Not Earth and composer/bandleader in Fixity as well as multi-instrumental duties in Senior Infants and other collaborations. Dan is the promoter/curator of Cork Improvised Music Club, a now weekly event running at Gulpd Cafe since 2013 featuring musicians from various fields of exploration.

By Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh

Cover of ‘Sirene 1009’ (BAF000) with Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (artwork copyright 2017, Han-earl Park)

Sirene 1009 (BAF000) [details…]

Personnel: Han-earl Park (guitar), Dominic Lash (double bass), Mark Sanders (drums) and Caroline Pugh (voice and tape recorder).

© + ℗ 2017 Han-earl Park.

reminder: Sirene 1009 at FUAIM, Cork

Sirene 1009: Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (copyright 2010 Seán Kelly, 2016 Bruce Coates, Andrew Putler, 2016 Jordan Hutchings, and 2016 Han-earl Park)
© 2010 Seán Kelly, © 2016 Bruce Coates, © Andrew Putler; © 2016 Jordan Hutchings; and © 2016 Han-earl Park.

This Friday (April 7, 2017), at 1:10pm: Sirene 1009 (Han-earl Park: guitar; Dominic Lash: double bass; Mark Sanders: drums; and Caroline Pugh: voice and electronics) kicks-off the Arts Council of Ireland funded series with a performance at the Aula Maxima (University College Cork, College Road, Cork, Ireland). Admission is free. [Details…]

Following the concert, also at the Aula Maxima, there will be a group improvisation workshop at 2:30pm. [Details…]

Arts Council of Ireland

Presented with funding from the Arts Council of Ireland, and support from FUAIM Music at UCC and UCC Department of Music.

Thanks: Sirene 1009 (Belfast, London, Monmouth) and Park-Pugh (Derry)

Han-earl Park and Caroline Pugh (Derry, 03-08-17)

Four performances in March. (Another mini-tour, but, hey, for the first time, I’ve actually tied-together an album release and a tour—never happens!) A privilege to have shared the stage with smart, creative performers, and to have been performing to some wonderful community of listeners. So, quick thanks to everyone on/off stage at Monmouth, London, Belfast and Derry….

Big thanks to all the venues, promoters and supporters. Thanks, in particular, to Lyndon Owen, a person of apparently limitless enthusiasm, and the team at Monmouth (what a wonderful community); to Peter O’Doherty at Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin for the incredible work bootstrapping the Derry scene; to Eduard Solaz at IKLECTIK for running such a wonderful space; and to Brian Carson at Moving on Music, and to Simon Waters at SARC for presenting, promoting and hosting.

Thanks for David Bird at SARC for all his work above-and-beyond the call of duty. (Hey! I owe you and Craig a beer.) Kudos, David Lyttle for loaning us your double bass for a couple of days.

As always big, big thanks to everyone who came to listen. I’ll particularly remember the adventurous and genuinely interested listeners in Monmouth and Derry. And a special thanks to Jeremy (he’ll know why 😉 ).

Finally, thanks to all the performers: to James King for the gibberish; to the acoustic frenzy of FAINT (big thanks to Franziska for all her help (starting in February 2016!) getting the Belfast performance together—it’s been a long road, but worthwhile!); and, of course, biggest thanks to Dom, Mark and Caroline for the music (See you in April!)!

Sirene 1009 (Cork, 2017)

Poster © 2017 Han-earl Park. Component images/photos © 2016 Jordan Hutchings, © Andrew Putler, © 2016 Bruce Coates, © 2010 Seán Kelly, and © 2014 Han-earl Park.
Poster © 2017 Han-earl Park. Component images/photos © 2016 Jordan Hutchings, © Andrew Putler, © 2016 Bruce Coates, © 2010 Seán Kelly, and © 2014 Han-earl Park. Click for PDF…

Friday, April 7, and Friday, May 19, 2017: Sirene 1009 (Han-earl Park: guitar; Dominic Lash: double bass; Mark Sanders: drums; and Caroline Pugh: voice and electronics) perform as part of an Arts Council of Ireland funded series.

Friday, April 7, 2017

Performance by Sirene 1009 at Aula Maxima (University College Cork, College Road, Cork, Ireland). Presented by FUAIM Music at UCC.
1:10pm.

Admission free.

[Performance diary entry…] [Facebook event…]

Friday, April 7, 2017:

Group improvisation workshop by Mark Sanders, Dominic Lash, Han-earl Park and Caroline Pugh at Aula Maxima (University College Cork, College Road, Cork, Ireland). Presented with support from UCC Department of Music.
2:30pm (setup: 2:10pm).

Workshop fee: €20 (discounts available for CIT/UCC music students).

[Details/register…]
[Performance diary…] [UCC page…] [Facebook…]

Friday, May 19, 2017

Performance by Sirene 1009, plus Catherine Sikora (saxophones) and Dan Walsh (drums), at Stack Theatre (CIT Cork School of Music, Union Quay, Cork, Ireland). Presented with support from CIT Cork School of Music and the Cork Improvised Music Club.
8:00pm (doors: 7:45pm).

Tickets: €16 | €10 | €5

Online box office closes at 6:00pm. Tickets will be available from the door from 7:30pm.

[Details…]
[Performance diary…] [CSM page…] [Facebook…]

See the performance diary for up-to-date info.

Details

Sirene 1009: Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (copyright 2010 Seán Kelly, 2016 Bruce Coates, Andrew Putler, 2016 Jordan Hutchings, and 2016 Han-earl Park)
© 2010 Seán Kelly, © 2016 Bruce Coates, © Andrew Putler; © 2016 Jordan Hutchings; and © 2016 Han-earl Park.

Sirene 1009, “a fierce, adventurous band that goes… into the unknown, fearlessly in search of the new” (David Menestres, Free Jazz), makes their Cork debut as part of the Arts Council of Ireland funded series, starting with a free concert at 1:10pm on Friday, 7 April 2017 at the Aula Maxima, UCC, continuing at 8:00pm on 19 May, Stack Theatre, CIT Cork School of Music. Sirene 1009 is the cyborg virtuosity of Han-earl Park, the indomitable low-end growl of Dominic Lash, the unstoppable hits and clangs of Mark Sanders, and the controlled vocal mayhem of Caroline Pugh.

Brian Morton in Point of Departure described Cork-based guitarist Han-earl Park as “a musical philosopher,” while Stanley Zappa in The New York City Jazz Record noted that his sound was the “totality of the guitar’s sonorities.” Park has performed with some of the best improvisers from the Americas, Asia and Europe. He is part of ensembles including the London-based Mathilde 253 with Charles Hayward and Ian Smith, the New York-based Eris 136199 with Nick Didkovsky and Catherine Sikora, and the Berlin-based Numbers with Richard Barrett.

The molten, musical core of the ensemble comprises the virtuosic bassist, composer and sound artist Dominic Lash, and Mark Sanders, arguably the most sought-after avant-jazz and free improvisation drummer of his generation. Belfast-based avant-folk singer and electronic artist Caroline Pugh joined the group in 2015, bringing an additional layer of levity and exuberance to the already playful interactions of the trio.

Also on 7 April, following the performance, the ensemble will also host a group improvisation workshop at 2:30pm. More information: www.busterandfriends.com/workshop

With the release of the ensemble’s eponymous first album (“a colorful, sometimes violent and revelatory listening experience that infuses modern aesthetics with the spirit of the ancient.” John Morrison, Jazz Right Now), and following the ensemble’s Culture Ireland funded tour of England in 2015, and their performance at the Sonic Arts Research Centre as part of Brilliant Corners, Belfast, Sirene 1009 is ready to bring their mix of musical histories in a performance that will leap between noise, melody, dissonance, harmony and rhythm.

Presented with funding from the Arts Council of Ireland, and support from FUAIM Music at UCC, UCC Music Department, CIT Cork School of Music and the Cork Improvised Music Club.

About the performers

Improviser, guitarist and constructor Han-earl Park has been crossing borders and performing fuzzily idiomatic, on occasion experimental, always traditional, open improvised musics for twenty years. He has performed in clubs, theaters, art galleries, concert halls, and (ad-hoc) alternative spaces across Europe and the USA.

Park engages a radical, liminal, cyborg virtuosity in which mind, body and artifact collide. He is driven by the social and revolutionary potential of real-time interactive performance in which tradition and practice become creative problematics. As a constructor of musical automata, he is interested in partial, and partially frustrating, context-specific artifacts; artifacts that amplify social relations and corporeal identities and agencies.

Ensembles include Mathilde 253 with Charles Hayward and Ian Smith, Eris 136199 with Nick Didkovsky and Catherine Sikora, and Numbers with Richard Barrett. Park is the constructor of the machine improviser io 0.0.1 beta++, and instigator of Metis 9, a playbook of improvisative tactics. He has performed with Wadada Leo Smith, Paul Dunmall, Evan Parker, Lol Coxhill, Mark Sanders, Josh Sinton, Louise Dam Eckardt Jensen, Gino Robair, Tim Perkis, Andrew Drury, Pat Thomas and Franziska Schroeder, and as part of large ensembles led by Wadada Leo Smith, Evan Parker and Pauline Oliveros.

Festival appearances include Freedom of the City (London), Sonorities (Belfast), ISIM (New York), dialogues festival (Edinburgh), CEAIT (Los Angeles) and Sonic Acts (Amsterdam). His recordings have been released by labels including Slam Productions, Creative Sources and DUNS Limited Edition.

Park taught improvisation at University College Cork, and founded and curated Stet Lab, a space for improvised music in Cork.

“Guitarist Han-earl Park is a musical philosopher…. Expect unexpected things from Park, who is a delightful shape-shifter….”

Brian Morton (Point of Departure)

Dominic Lash is a freely improvising double bassist, although his activities also range much more widely and include playing bass guitar and other instruments; both writing and performing composed music; and writing about music and various other subjects.

He has performed with musicians such as Tony Conrad (in duo and quartet formations), Joe Morris (trio and quartet), Evan Parker (duo, quartet and large ensemble) and the late Steve Reid. His main projects include The Dominic Lash Quartet, The Set Ensemble (an experimental music group focused on the work of the Wandelweiser collective) and The Convergence Quartet.

Based in Bristol, Lash has performed in the UK, Austria, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey and USA. For nearly a decade he was based in Oxford and played a central role in the activities of Oxford Improvisers; much of 2011 was spent living in Manhattan. In 2013 and 2014 he is taking part in Take Five, the professional development programme administered by Serious.

Festival appearances include Akbank Jazz Festival (Istanbul), Audiograft (Oxford), Freedom of the City (London), Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Hurta Cordel (Madrid), Konfrontationen (Nickelsdorf), LMC Festival (London), Manchester Jazz Festival and Tampere Jazz Happening.

His work has been broadcast on a number of radio stations, including BBC Radios 1 and 3 and Germany’s SWR2, and released on labels including Another Timbre, b-boim, Bead, Cathnor, Clean Feed, Compost and Height, Emanem, Erstwhile, FMR, Foghorn, Leo and NoBusiness.

Since moving to Bristol he has been involved in organising concerts under the banners of Bang the Bore and Insignificant Variation. A new venture is the monthly series happening every second Wednesday at the Arnolfini entitled Several 2nds. Events include performances, workshops, film screenings and discussions.

“Following in an illustrious lineage from Barry Guy through Simon Fell… breathtaking.”

John Sharpe (All About Jazz)

Mark Sanders has played with many renowned musicians from around the world including Evan Parker, Peter Brotzmann, Derek Bailey, Myra Melford, Paul Rogers, Henry Grimes, Roswell Rudd, Okkyung Lee, Barry Guy, Tim Berne, Otomo Yoshihide, Luc Ex, Ken Vandermark, Sidsel Endresen and Jean Francois Pauvrois, in duo and quartets with Wadada Leo Smith and trios with Charles Gayle with Sirone and William Parker.

New collaborative projects include ‘Riverloam Trio’ with Mikolaj Trzaska and Olie Brice, ‘Asunder’ with Hasse Poulsen and Paul Dunmall, duos with John Butcher and DJ Sniff, ‘Statics’ with Georg Graewe and John Butcher, and trio with Rachel Musson and Liam Noble.

Mark and John Edwards play as a rhythm section with many groups including Trevor Watts Quartet, ‘Foils’ with Frank Paul Schubert and Matthius Muller, Mathew Shipp’s ‘London Quartet,’ also playing with Fred Frith, Wadada Leo Smith and Shabaka Hutchins amongst many others.

Christian Marclay’s ‘Everyday’ project includes Mark with Christian, Steve Beresford, John Butcher and Alan Tomlinson, he also works regularly in the projects of Mikolaj Trzaska, Gail Brand, Paul Dunmall, Peter Jaquemyn, and Simon H. Fell.

Mark has performed in the USA, Canada, Brazil, Japan, Morrocco, South Africa, Mozambique and Turkey, playing at many major festivals including, Nickelsdorf, Ulrichsburg, Glastonbury, Womad, Vancouver, Isle of Wight, Roskilde, Berlin Jazz days, Mulhouse, Luz, Minniapolis, Banlieue Bleues, Son D’hiver and Hurta Cordel.

He has released over 120 CDs.

“A gifted player capable of seamless movement between free-rhythms and propulsive swing.”

John Fordham (The Guardian)

Scottish vocalist and composer Caroline Pugh borrows old-fangled technologies and honours oral histories to create new performances. With a background in both folk and improvisation, her solo works You’ve Probably Heard These Songs Before, Timing By Ear, Measuring By Hand and Platform Audio also draw on performance art and pinhole photography.

Originally from Edinburgh, Caroline has performed across Europe and North America with new improvisation performances including Los Angeles’ Betalevel in 2012, NIME 2011 in Oslo, Just Listening 2011 in Limerick and Experimentica09 in Cardiff. She is also in a band called ABODE and an improvisation collective called E=MCH.

Now based in Belfast, Caroline sings in a folk duo with Meabh Meir and together with Myles McCormack they run traditional song sessions at the Garrick Bar on Mondays from 7.30-10pm.

In 2011, Caroline was awarded an Art Council Northern Ireland grant for her solo work and gained a Distinction for her AHRC-funded Master of Music at Newcastle University. She coaches students at Queen’s University Belfast and has worked in collaboration with visual artists (Connecting through Scape 2008), theatre practitioners (hour8+9 2009), video artists (SAAB 2009), dancers and psychologists (Newcastle and Northumbria Universities 2010). She also got a BA in Scottish Music from the Royal Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, and studied Contemporary Music at the University of Central Lancashire for a wee while too.

“Every once in a while you happen upon a gig or event that’s so fundamentally unlike anything you’ve experienced before that you can’t help but reconsider your own thoughts on what defines music, performance and entertainment.”

Brian Coney (BBC Across The Line)

By Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh

Cover of ‘Sirene 1009’ (BAF000) with Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (artwork copyright 2017, Han-earl Park)

Sirene 1009 (BAF000) [details…]

Personnel: Han-earl Park (guitar), Dominic Lash (double bass), Mark Sanders (drums) and Caroline Pugh (voice and tape recorder).

© + ℗ 2017 Han-earl Park.

updates

05-04-17: add link to CSM page.
05-10-17: add link to 19 May specific post.

tonight: Han-earl Park and Caroline Pugh at Glassworks, Derry

Caroline Pugh (photo copyright 2016 Jordan Hutchings)
© 2016 Jordan Hutchings

Tonight (Wednesday, March 8, 2017), at 9:00pm: Han-earl Park (guitar) and Caroline Pugh (voice and electronics) perform at The Glassworks (33 Great James Street, Derry BT48 7DF, N. Ireland). Admission: £5, students free. [Get tickets…]

By Han-earl Park and Caroline Pugh

Cover of ‘Sirene 1009’ (BAF000) with Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (artwork copyright 2017, Han-earl Park)

Sirene 1009 (BAF000) [details…]

Personnel: Han-earl Park (guitar), Dominic Lash (double bass), Mark Sanders (drums) and Caroline Pugh (voice and tape recorder).

© + ℗ 2017 Han-earl Park.

Han-earl Park and Caroline Pugh are also performing…

As part of Sirene 1009 (with Dominic Lash and Mark Sanders), April 7 and May 19, 2017: Cork, Ireland. [Details…]

reminder: Sirene 1009 at Brilliant Corners, Belfast

Sirene 1009 (Belfast)
Photos © 2016 Bruce Coates; icons © 2016 Han-earl Park; overlaid text © Brilliant Corners.

This Tuesday (March 7, 2017), at 8:00pm: Sirene 1009 (Han-earl Park: guitar; Dominic Lash: double bass; Mark Sanders: drums; and Caroline Pugh: voice and electronics) perform as part of Brilliant Corners, a festival of jazz presented by Moving on Music, at the Sonic Arts Research Centre (Cloreen Park, Belfast BT9 5HN, N. Ireland). Tickets: £10 [get tickets…].

By Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh

Cover of ‘Sirene 1009’ (BAF000) with Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (artwork copyright 2017, Han-earl Park)

Sirene 1009 (BAF000) [details…]

Personnel: Han-earl Park (guitar), Dominic Lash (double bass), Mark Sanders (drums) and Caroline Pugh (voice and tape recorder).

© + ℗ 2017 Han-earl Park.

Next performances…

Han-earl Park and Caroline Pugh are performing March 8, 2017: Derry, N. Ireland; and Sirene 1009 is also performing April 7 and May 19, 2017: Cork, Ireland. [Details…]

tonight: Sirene 1009 at IKLECTIK, London

Sirene 1009 (London). Copyright 2016 Han-earl Park
© 2016 Han-earl Park

Tonight (Thursday, March 2, 2017), at 8:30pm (doors: 8:00pm): Sirene 1009 (Han-earl Park: guitar; Dominic Lash: double bass; Mark Sanders: drums; and Caroline Pugh: voice and electronics) perform at IKLECTIK (‘Old Paradise Yard,’ 20 Carlisle Lane, London SE1 7LG, England). Admission: £8 (£6).

By Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh

Cover of ‘Sirene 1009’ (BAF000) with Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (artwork copyright 2017, Han-earl Park)

Sirene 1009 (BAF000) [details…]

Personnel: Han-earl Park (guitar), Dominic Lash (double bass), Mark Sanders (drums) and Caroline Pugh (voice and tape recorder).

© + ℗ 2017 Han-earl Park.

Sirene 1009 is also performing…

March 7, 2017: Belfast, N. Ireland; and April 7 and May 19, 2017: Cork, Ireland. [Details…]

reminder: Sirene 1009 at Queens Head, Monmouth

Sirene 1009 (Monmouth). Copyright 2016 Han-earl Park
© 2016 Han-earl Park

This Wednesday (March 1, 2017), at 9:00pm: Sirene 1009 (Han-earl Park: guitar; Dominic Lash: double bass; Mark Sanders: drums; and Caroline Pugh: voice and electronics) perform at Queens Head Inn (1 St James Street, Monmouth NP25 3DL, Wales). Admission is free.

Presented with support from Music in Monmouth and Plancktone Club.

By Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh

Cover of ‘Sirene 1009’ (BAF000) with Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (artwork copyright 2017, Han-earl Park)

Sirene 1009 (BAF000) [details…]

Personnel: Han-earl Park (guitar), Dominic Lash (double bass), Mark Sanders (drums) and Caroline Pugh (voice and tape recorder).

© + ℗ 2017 Han-earl Park.

Sirene 1009 is also performing…

March 2, 2017: London, England; March 7, 2017: Belfast, N. Ireland; and April 7 and May 19, 2017: Cork, Ireland. [Details…]

ideas as open as the night sky (reviews: Sirene 1009)

‘Sirene 1009’ (BAF000) with Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (artwork copyright 2017, Han-earl Park)
© 2017 Han-earl Park

Music where the “gorgeous plucked theme”, the “maniacal wails”, “booming, thunderous landscape of percussion”, and “sweetly sung passages of melodic intrigue” coexists? John Morrison, reviewing ‘Sirene 1009’ (BAF000) for Jazz Right Now, describes “a colorful, sometimes violent and revelatory listening experience that infuses modern aesthetics with the spirit of the ancient.” This, for example, is his take on Cliodynamics I:

Lash brilliantly alternates between bowed and plucked phrases as Sanders beats down a booming, thunderous landscape of percussion. Park provides a subtle bit of coloring strokes while Pugh leads the way, her maniacal wails and babbles briefly giving way to sweetly sung passages of melodic intrigue. Clocking in at ten minutes and forty four seconds, ‘Cliodynamics I’ drags listeners deep into the belly of the beast, a dark and ominous ocean of sound that only gets more intense with each passing minute. [Read the rest…]

— John Morrison (Jazz Right Now)

I love that Morrison hears a music that is “ancient and primordial with ideas as open as the night sky, it is not hard to imagine that some of humanity’s first music would have sounded something like this.”

Elsewhere, in Bad Alchemy [BA 93]: “Riffing madness”? A “meta-unsettling effect”? Why is the “Elk of Entropy… smooched with acceleration-bebop”? And who “eats broomsticks and pukes horses”? In his review, despite the limitations of language (“what is permitted by decency” and “can only be hint euphemistically”), Rigobert Dittmann (a.k.a. rbd) attempts to use words like the band use sound:

Die Gitarre als Heringsdosenöffner, der knarzige oder plonkende Bass, das perkussive Dingdong oder schrottige Geruckele, das alles ist nur Ummäntelung für das… poo. Die Schottin steigert sich nämlich von der Anstrengung, nur ein-, nicht auszuatmen zum Hyperventilieren, sie probiert, sich die eigene Zunge in den Hals zu stopfen, sie radebrecht kryptovolapük, jodelt Sirenenalarm, quirlt das LLLL, kirrt auf Iiiii, imitiert eine Singende Säge, spickt Maggie Nicols mit Shelley Hirsch, schlürft rohes Rattenschaschlik und zischelt Verboteneres als das kleine Hexeneinmaleins etc. Ich kann das nur umschreiben, damit meine älteren Leser nicht in Gefahr kommen, ihre dritten Zähne zu verschlucken. Sanders paukengrollt und cymbalzischt zwar zu sonorem Pizzikato und surrender Laubsägerei noch einigermaßen im Rahmen des Guten und Schönen, aber auch die Gitarre kratzt und wabert so verstörend gegen den Strich wie es nur geht.

— Rigobert Dittmann (Bad Alchemy)

[About this recording…] [Bandcamp page (order CD/download)…] [All reviews…]

CD: €11 minimum (‘name your price’) plus shipping.*†
Download: €8 minimum (‘name your price’).†

‘Sirene 1009’ (BAF000) with Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (artwork copyright 2017, Han-earl Park)‘Sirene 1009’ (BAF000) with Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (artwork copyright 2017, Han-earl Park)‘Sirene 1009’ (BAF000) with Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (artwork copyright 2017, Han-earl Park)‘Sirene 1009’ (BAF000) with Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (artwork copyright 2017, Han-earl Park)‘Sirene 1009’ (BAF000) with Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (artwork copyright 2017, Han-earl Park)‘Sirene 1009’ (BAF000) with Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (artwork copyright 2017, Han-earl Park)

* Limited edition glass-mastered CD. CD includes additional material (artwork, etc.) not included in the download version of the album.

† Both digital and physical purchases give you streaming via the free Bandcamp app, and option to download the recording in multiple formats including lossless.

Culture Ireland logo

London performance presented with funding from Culture Ireland, and support from SLAM Productions.

improvisation workshop with Mark Sanders, Dominic Lash, Han-earl Park and Caroline Pugh (Cork, 2017)

Caroline Pugh, Mark Sanders, Dominic Lash and Han-earl Park (copyright 2016 Jordan Hutchings, 2016 Bruce Coates, Andrew Putler, 2010 Seán Kelly, and 2014 Han-earl Park)
© 2016 Jordan Hutchings, © 2016 Bruce Coates, © Andrew Putler, © 2010 Seán Kelly; and © 2014 Han-earl Park.

Friday, April 7, 2017, at 2:30pm (setup: 2:10pm): you are invited to a group improvisation workshop with drummer Mark Sanders, double bassist Dominic Lash, guitarist Han-earl Park, and vocalist and electronics performer Caroline Pugh. The workshop takes place at the Aula Maxima (University College Cork, Cork).

[Register for the workshop (€20)…]* SOLD OUT.

*Registration included free download/unlimited streaming of a track, Cliodynamics III, from the album Sirene 1009 (BAF000).

There are a small number of discount places for students at CIT Cork School of Music and UCC Department of Music. To claim your place, UCC Music students, please contact John Godfrey; CIT Music students, please contact Han-earl Park. SOLD OUT.

Places are strictly limited. It is the workshop attendees’ responsibility bring their own instruments, and any necessary amplification, etc. We ask that all attendees be on time as there is only a 20 minute setup time (2:10pm to 2:30pm).

Calling all ambitious, aspiring improvisers!

Are you a musician, artist, sound-maker or composer wanting to make music collectively? Are you an improviser in jazz, rock, folk or other tradition wishing to engage across traditions? Are you a performer finding it difficult to bridge the frameworks of idiom and the promise of open, free-play of improvisation? Are you an aspiring free improviser?

A practical, playful, hands-on masterclass, this workshop will offer a unique opportunity for performers to participate in musical interactions, and create spontaneous musical expressions. In addition to learning to realize the possibilities of improvisative play, the workshop will be an opportunity to meet and interact with local, national, and international practitioners of improvised musics.

The workshop is for:

  • Aspiring improvisers wanting to engage with a broader canvas of interactive strategies.
  • Performers and composers interested in alternative, collaborative music-making.
  • Performers seeking meaningful ways to deploy unorthodox or nonstandard sounds and gestures.
  • Those who want to meet, play and talk.

Who: workshop instructors

Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (copyright 2010 Seán Kelly, 2016 Bruce Coates, Andrew Putler, and 2016 Jordan Hutchings)
© 2010 Seán Kelly, © 2016 Bruce Coates, © Andrew Putler, and © 2016 Jordan Hutchings.

The quartet of improvisers who make up the ensemble Sirene 1009, represent many decades of professional experience in complementary fields. The artists have extensive experience as teachers and educators.

Mark Sanders has run music workshops in music schools from Cambridgeshire, England to Szeny, Poland, and at festivals such as the Poschiavo Jazz Festival in Switzerland. He has given masterclasses at Cheltenham Jazz Festival, Trinity School of Music, Middlesex Polytechnic Music Department, and the Guildhall School of Music and the Music Therapy Department. He has been a tutor in Free Improvisation at The Royal Academy of Music, London for thirteen years.

Dominic Lash has been involved in leading improvisation workshops at Newcastle University (2006 and 2008), Oxford University (2008 and 2009), Falmouth University (2012 and 2013) and Trondheim Music Academy (2013).

He has given private bass lessons since 2001.

Han-earl Park taught improvisation at University College Cork (2006–2011). He founded and curated (2007–2011) Stet Lab, an alternatively pedagogical space in Cork.

He has lead, or co-lead, workshops at University of Hull: Scarborough Campus (2012), and the Sonic Arts Research Centre, Belfast (2015). Park privately taught guitar and improvisation since 2004.

Caroline Pugh has 10 years of experience giving vocal workshops to children, students, mixed ability groups and adults in schools, universities (Queen’s University Belfast, Northumbria University, Saint Louis University, University of California at San Diego, Royal Scottish Conservatoire Scottish Music Youth Singing Project) and community centres.

She has 10 years of experience one-to-one vocals lessons; and 10 years of experience in working with people with learning difficulties and a variety of different assistive technologies, plus related training (University of Central Lancashire, Napier University, and Edinburgh College of Art).

She emphasizes collaborative workshops alongside other artforms, including dance, psychology, visual art and drama.

By Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh

Cover of ‘Sirene 1009’ (BAF000) with Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (artwork copyright 2017, Han-earl Park)

Sirene 1009 (BAF000) [details…]

Personnel: Han-earl Park (guitar), Dominic Lash (double bass), Mark Sanders (drums) and Caroline Pugh (voice and tape recorder).

© + ℗ 2017 Han-earl Park.

updates

03-16-17: registration info for UCC/CIT music students.

performance diary 02-14-17 (Belfast, Cork, Derry, London, Monmouth)

upcoming performances
date venue time details
March 1, 2017 Queens Head Inn
1 St James Street
Monmouth NP25 3DL
Wales
9:00pm Sirene 1009 (Han-earl Park: guitar; Dominic Lash: double bass; Mark Sanders: drums; and Caroline Pugh: voice and electronics).
Admission free. Presented with support from Music in Monmouth and Plancktone Club. [Details…]
[Queens Head page…]
March 2, 2017 IKLECTIK
‘Old Paradise Yard’
20 Carlisle Lane
London SE1 7LG
England
8:30pm (doors: 8:00pm) Sirene 1009 (Han-earl Park: guitar; Dominic Lash: double bass; Mark Sanders: drums; and Caroline Pugh: voice and electronics).
Admission: £8 (£6).
[Details…]
[IKLECTIK page…]
March 7, 2017 Sonic Arts Research Centre
Cloreen Park
Belfast BT9 5HN
N. Ireland
8:00pm Sirene 1009 (Han-earl Park: guitar; Dominic Lash: double bass; Mark Sanders: drums; and Caroline Pugh: voice and electronics) as part of Brilliant Corners. Also performing: FAINT (Franziska Schroeder: saxophones; Pedro Rebelo: piano and ‘instrumental parasites’; and Steve Davis: drums) with Ricardo Jacinto (cello and electronics). Tickets: £10. [Get tickets…]
[Details…]
[Brilliant Corners page…]
March 8, 2017 The Glassworks
33 Great James Street
Derry BT48 7DF
N. Ireland
8:00pm Han-earl Park (guitar) and Caroline Pugh (voice and electronics).
Admission: £5, students free. [Get tickets…]
[Details…]
[Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin page…]
April 7, 2017 Aula Maxima
University College Cork
Cork, Ireland
1:10pm Sirene 1009 (Han-earl Park: guitar; Dominic Lash: double bass; Mark Sanders: drums; and Caroline Pugh: voice and electronics) presented by FUAIM Music at UCC.
Admission free. Presented with funding from the Arts Council of Ireland. Arts Council of Ireland
[Details…]
April 7, 2017 Aula Maxima
University College Cork
Cork, Ireland
2:30pm (setup: 2:10pm) Group improvisation workshop with Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh.
Workshop fee: €20.* [Register…] SOLD OUT. * There are a small number of discount places for students at CIT Cork School of Music and UCC Department of Music. SOLD OUT. Presented with funding from the Arts Council of Ireland, and support from UCC Department of Music. Arts Council of Ireland
[Details…]
May 19, 2017 Stack Theatre
Cork School of Music
Union Quay
Cork, Ireland
8:00pm (doors: 7:45pm) Sirene 1009 (Han-earl Park: guitar; Dominic Lash: double bass; Mark Sanders: drums; and Caroline Pugh: voice and electronics). Also performing: Catherine Sikora (saxophones) and Dan Walsh (drums). Tickets: €16 | €10 | €5.
Online box office closes at 6:00pm. Tickets will be available from the door from 7:30pm. Presented with funding from Arts Council of Ireland, and support from CIT Cork School of Music and the Cork Improvised Music Club. Arts Council of Ireland
[Details…]
[CSM page…]
Autumn 2017 Europe I am seeking performance opportunities for the transatlantic trio Eris 136199 (Nick Didkovsky: guitar; Han-earl Park: guitar; and Catherine Sikora: saxophones). Interested promoters, venues and sponsors, please get in touch! [Performance proposal…]

Continue reading “performance diary 02-14-17 (Belfast, Cork, Derry, London, Monmouth)”

performance: Han-earl Park and Caroline Pugh at Glassworks, Derry

Caroline Pugh (photo copyright 2016 Jordan Hutchings)
© 2016 Jordan Hutchings

Wednesday, March 8, 2017, at 9:00pm: Han-earl Park (guitar) and Caroline Pugh (voice and electronics) perform at The Glassworks (33 Great James Street, Derry BT48 7DF, N. Ireland). Admission: £5, students free. [Get tickets…]

Believe it or not, despite playing together in different groups, this will be Caroline and my first performance in duo configuration. So, Derry-folk, you get to hear it first!

See the performance diary for up-to-date info. [Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin page…] [Facebook event…]

By Han-earl Park and Caroline Pugh

Cover of ‘Sirene 1009’ (BAF000) with Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (artwork copyright 2017, Han-earl Park)

Sirene 1009 (BAF000) [details…]

Personnel: Han-earl Park (guitar), Dominic Lash (double bass), Mark Sanders (drums) and Caroline Pugh (voice and tape recorder).

© + ℗ 2017 Han-earl Park.