Culture 14 | Tirana Ekspres

Home
Category: Culture

The archive description field doesn't exist for the current taxonomy so no content will be displayed

Culture, Music, Past Events

THE ARI ROLAND JAZZ QUARTET

Tuesday, 10th Dec 21.30 @ Tirana Ekspres

The Ari Roland Jazz Quartet is from New York City. Their music is inspired by the great masters of Jazz – Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie – and the Quartet members learned to play under the guidance of the living legends of Jazz in New York.The Quartet performs songs from the Golden Age of Jazz (1930’s – 1950’s), and their own original compositions have been celebrated by the international jazz press. In addition to their performances in New York and busy touring schedule, they direct international Jazz programs bringing young musicians from around the world together to play Jazz.

Ari Roland, double bass – A fully professional jazz bassist in New York City at 16, Ari also received classical training for 5 years at The Juilliard School. He has toured and recorded with many of the most significant figures in jazz, including Barry Harris, Betty Carter, Lou Donaldson, Wynton Marsalis, Marcus Roberts and Harry Connick Jr., and his CDS have received widespread critical acclaim. As a “Jazz Ambassador” for the US Department of State, he has traveled to 40 countries for over 100 cultural diplomacy tours.

Zaid Nasser, alto saxophone – Born and raised in New York, Zaid is the son of jazz and blues master Jamil Nasser and learned directly from the legends of jazz. At 19, he returned to Memphis, the birthplace of the blues, playing for two years with blues icon Calvin Newborn. Returning to New York, he was a featured soloist with Panama Frances’ “Savoy Sultans”, and with the pioneering jazz organist Bill Doggett. He has toured throughout Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa, bringing jazz and blues to new audiences, and his recordings have been included on many “Top 10″ of the Year” critic’s lists.

Chris Byars, tenor saxophone – A native of New York City, Chris began his professional career singing with The Metropolitan Opera Company at 6 years old, taking up the saxophone at age 14. He is equally recognized as an outstanding composer and arranger, having received prestigious awards and commissions from many organizations, including The Tanne Foundation and Chamber Music America. Chris has been on the faculty of Jazz At Lincoln Center, and was the recipient of a major grant for bringing the music of Bashir Quasam into the New York City Public School System.

Keith Balla, drums – Born in Austin, Texas, Keith moved to New York City in 2004, beginning his professional career in the city at the age of 17. In addition to appearances in US and international jazz festivals, he performs regularly in New York with many of the city’s dynamic young jazz artists. He has conducted jazz drum clinics in over 30 countries, and continues to record in New York. His musical maturity has made him a favorite of many of New York’s most respected veteran drummers.

View photo gallery:

Culture, Movie, Past Events

SEARCHING FOR SUGARMAN

This Tuesdays’ movie, December 3rd, 19:30 @ Tirana Ekspres:

Searching for Sugar Man is a documentary film directed by Malik Bendjelloul, which details the efforts of two Cape Town fans in the late 1990s, Stephen ‘Sugar’ Segerman and Craig Bartholomew Strydom, to find out whether the rumoured death of American musician Sixto Rodriguez was true, and, if not, to discover what had become of him. Rodriguez’s music, which never took off in the United States, had become wildly popular in South Africa, but little was known about him there.
On 10 February 2013, the film won the BAFTA Award for Best Documentary at the 66th British Academy Film Awards in London, and two weeks later it won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 85th Academy Awards in Hollywood.

Culture

All with habits

The event takes place in a psychiatric therapy clinic, the doctor disguises himself as a patient and develops his treatment without the patients realizing that he is the doctor! The play has at its center 5 prominent characters from the dramatically point of view, where each of them suffers from a special syndrome (huq). Fred (dr) – “suffers” from dirty word syndrome. (Venson) suffers from endless counting syndrome. (Maria) -makes the cross over and over and obsessed with checking the bag. (Bobby) -is obsessed with symmetry and can not step on the floor. (Lily) – has the mania to say everything twice. Among these problems stand out brilliant situations, of the human need to find salvation, in the internal struggle that man has to declare to others as he really is. Amidst the comics hides and stands an overwhelming society drama to withstand the pressure of life circumstances! If people were more altruistic in their relationships with each other, love and warmth would dominate !!!

Director: Gjergj Mena

Author: Laurent Baffie (French)

Genre: Comedy

Culture, Movie, Past Events

SAMSARA Movie

Tuesday, 26th November at 19.30 @ Tirana Ekspres: Samsara is a 2011 documentary film, directed by Ron Fricke and produced by Mark Magidson, who also collaborated on Baraka (1992), a film of a similar vein. Samsara was filmed over four years in 25 countries around the world. It was shot in 70 mm format and output to digital format. The film premiered at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival and received a limited release in August 2012.

Culture, Past Events

NOVEMBER 8: RE-OPENING OF THE NEW TIRANA EKSPRES CULTURAL CENTRE

Preparations at the new Tirana Ekspres center are well on their way to getting the venue ready for the big re-opening on November 8. The old center is now a precious memory for all of those who were first introduced and became part of the unique history of this alternative space for the arts and culture in Tirana. The new center has been re-designed and configured to best serve the growing and varied needs of art lovers as well as being fitted with better accommodations to server a day-long center. Most importantly, the new center is located even closer to the center of Tirana, which will make it much more accessible to all our supporters and visitors as well as artists. Plans include an increase in the number of activities and events which should be welcomed news for the growing number of requests and interest by artists and performers alike. The old center was demolished during the last two weeks of October, while everything else was dismounted and transferred to the new location. At the new center, workers have been working to get everything ready. But most importantly, we hope that the new venue will serve you all even better. View Tirana Ekspres NEW SPACE in a larger map

Culture, Music, Past Events

JONAS KOCHER – GAUDENZ BADRUTT

Date: 11.10.2013.
Hour: 19.00
Collaborating now for many years, Badrutt and Kocher play improvised music. Through this practice they explore the relation between the very electronic sounds of the accordion and the instrumental potential of the electronic to create a subtle and tensed sound universe, always open to present and accidents. Until now they have presented their work and in Switzerland, France, Germany, Russia, Estonia, Austria, Czech Republic and Finland.

Sound extract: http://jonaskocher.net/sons/gbjk.mp3
Accordion player and composer born in 1977, Jonas Kocher collaborates regularly as accordionist in improvised and conceptual contexts with musicians such Michel Doneda, Christian Wolfarth, Olivier Toulemonde, Hans Koch, Alfredo Costa Monteiro, Duo Diatribes, Jacques Demierre, Christian Kesten, Gaudenz Badrutt, Chris Heenan, … .

Jonas Kocher’s work explores the relationships between tone, noise and silence and the process of listening. As composer he realises projects which are situated between composed theatre, installation and concert pieces. His compositions has been played at Biennale Bern 2010, Jardins Musicaux 2012, SMC Lausanne, Theater Basel, Zentrum Paul Klee, Festival Encuentros Buenos Aires, Umlaut Festival Berlin, Centre Dürrenmatt Neuchâtel, Festival Concentus Moravie, Zagreb Biennale. He composes also for hörspiel, dance and theatre. Jonas Kocher runs the label Flexion records. www.jonaskocher.net

Gaudenz Badrutt (electronics & computer) began his career as a pianist in the field of contemporary classic music. Since 15 years he works as an electronics musician in the field of improvised, experimental music. He is mainly known as one half of the electroacoustic duo strøm (together with Christian Müller, electronics and bass clarinet), as well as part of the duo Hans Koch (bass clarinet) – Gaudenz Badrutt and the duo with Jonas Kocher (accordion). His music is coined by a very instrumental use of computer/live sampling and electronic devices. Filigree, minimal noises, drones and dense structures are key characteristics of his music. He is further occupied in the fields of electronic composition and sound & video installation.

Gaudenz Badrutt has further collaborated with Bertrand Gauguet, Burkhard Beins, Michael Vorfeld, Norbert Möslang, Dieb13, Diatribes, Arno Camenisch a.o.. with concerts at home and abroad, including: the JOLT Festival Basel 2011, Zwei Tage Zeit Zürich 2012, Influx Toulouse 2011, Transmediale Berlin 2009, Zoom in Bern 2008, Norberg Festival (Sweden) 2006, Taktlos/Tonart Bern 2006. Gaudenz Badrutt lives as a freelance musician in Biel (Switzerland). www.gaudenzbadrutt.ch

Dafni Stefanou was born in Athens(Greece), studied dance at the Rallou manou Professional dance School (Athens 1998) and at the Sate School of Dance (Athens 1999).Her work defers and expands in many directions. Improvisation is a vehicle and her interest focuses on the interweaving of dance and music.

She has been one of the ‘x-groop project’ participants at P.A.R.T.S (Brussels 2000).Her current project in Athens is equal to a duet with the musician and dancer Giorgos Amendas (December 2012). Her latest collaborations in Bienne were, the solo project ONE directed and co-choreographed by Suzanne Mueller Nelson (June 2012) and the project NICHI NICHI KORE KO NICHI 21 propositions d’ ecoute directed by Jonas Kocher (May 2013). Her new space specific work” which way I ought to go from here’ for the Billi kulturbus project, will prepmiere on January 2014.

Culture, Past Events, Visual Arts

CONVERSCENE

Converscene is a project from Niku Aleks Muçaj on refunctionalisation of one of the most relevant symbols of the socialist realism, the bunker. He has build an installation on the outdoor concert space an will showcase it this Saturday, June 02 at 21h00. You will learn more about it during the event. Until then, please read the info below.

Converscene/Konverkene introduction

The fall of the regime in 1991 presented an unprecedented conundrum for the Albanian territory. Land which was confiscated by the Albanian Labor Party following the Liberation of Albania was being returned to their original owners with a massive amount of foreign objects built by the regime, and placed regularly and ubiquitously: the bunkers. These defense structure, built under the clause of national defense were a reflection of the paranoia, populist militarization efforts, and xenophobic policies which became the core of Party doctrine. With estimates which vary from 500,000 to 1 million bunkers built between 1967 and 1986, the actual number, cost, and localization strategies of the bunkers remain just educated guesses due to the regime’s tight control over information, and the post-regime’s lack of interest in this section of albanian history. What is clear is that Albania was prepared for a land invasion, it’s just that no one bothered to come…

The transitionary 90’s presented Albania to the international community after 45 years of isolation, and left any supposed threat of military altercations in the past. The bunkers quickly transformed from our land’s armor into stubborn relics of a painful past, without any clear purpose or meaning. Their cost (estimated to be equivalent to an apartment during Hoxha’s rule) built a subtle resentment in the minds of albanians, but their weight and rigidity prevented them from being removed or destroyed. So there they stayed, where they were placed, covered by vegetation and slowly sinking into the ground. The bunkers were transforming into a natural part of the landscape, both physically and metaphysically.

During this period of massive informal territorial transformation, appropriation became the default process. It’s better to say sorry and pay a kafe than ask for permission. Part of this zeitgeist was also the independent ad-hoc transformation of a limited and scattered number of bunkers. A shoe smith’s workshop here, a chicken coop there, a depo a little further down, a restaurant inside a larger “Pikë Zjarri”, and so on. These isolated cases were gradually becoming more prevalent, also fueled by tourists’ curiosity and surprise. The bunker transformations became more lucrative in nature, and more visible in the landscape.

The Concrete Mushrooms project, presented at the Politecnico di Milano in 2009, was the first formal effort to research and explain the bunkers at the national and international stage; with the aim of raising awareness and revitalizing the structures with a holistic project in the context of tourism. Initiated as a humble academic research, the project took a life of its own with the creation of a website which hosted elements from the project. Responses were categorically positive and unexpectedly numerous by both Albanians and foreigners– something which for the team translated into a clear indicator of the potential these bunkers hold, and also that we were not the only ones to believe so; therefore the project was determined to remain conceptually as a set of instructions and a platform for debate and bunker-related creativity.

Mucaj’s ‘Converscene/Konverskene’ installation at Tirana Ekspres presents the first realized transformation project done following a collaborative research and a formal project. The scene, installed in the outdoor space of Tirana Ekspres, overthrows three “Qëndër Zjarri” bunkers’ domes to create a new open air scene for the gallery. The stage is a new platform for all artistic expression and is inherently a powerful base for bringing up issues such as isolation, collective memory, and identity. Thus, the stage can be understood also as an agora– a public space where the appropriation and democratization process is happening physically. The purposeful deconstruction of the “concrete mushrooms” – the bunkers – and their transformation into a multi-modular stage shall be a symbol for the social transformation: the necessity for Albanian society to go through a similar process – from bunkers to stages.

Other bunker related documentation, research, and projects, such as Violana Murataj’s research “The Bunkers”, Martijn Payens’ documentary “Mushrooms of Concrete”, Olia Miho’s intervention “Cathedrals”, Alicja Dobrucka’s photoessay “Pillboxes”, and David Galjaard’s photo-book “Concresco”, define clearly an increasing realization of the impact and interest that these bunkers hold. This appears to be only the beginning for Albania’s forgotten bunkers.

– Elian Stefa

Concrete Mushrooms Co-Founder

http://converscene.org/

Culture, Music, Past Events

THE GLASSES

Applause! Applause!

It’s time for some action and the next lucky city that we will come to is TIRANA ! Yeah even the date is no joke (31.12.) so spread the word like wildfire. So see you folks on the 31.12.2011 and we will play and celebrate together at the Tirana Ekspres (The alternative art space of Tirana).Applause! Applause!

Culture, Music, Past Events

CONQUERING LION

PMG Tirana presents the Conquering Lion from Macedonia in a live concert. The Conquering Lion is without a doubt the best Roots Reggae band in Macedonia and one of the best in the Balkans. They’ve been very active during this year with concerts in Sofia, Bucurest, Belgrade etc. They are promoted and marchendised with the PMG label and they’ve been invited by PMG Tirana to promote their new album titled FIRE. After the concert, Naty Fiyah Sound system and a special D’N’B Set by Ivi Abazi (PMG Tirana)

Culture, Past Events

GYPSEE YO

GYPSEE YO (Jonida Beqo) is a native of Albania, currently residing in Atlanta, GA. She is a performance artist whose work aims to blur the lines between genres. Her background includes successful projects in theatre, dance, storytelling, and an extensive spoken word and slam poetry resume. She is the regional Southern Queen of Slam (2008), Atlanta’s Slam Champion (2006 – 2009), a three time National Poetry Slam semi-finalist (2006 – 2008), a National Poetry Slam final stage feature in Austin, TX (2007). In addition, she has ranked two times as first runner up in the Women of the World Poetry Slam in Detroit, MI (2009), and Columbus, OH (2011). Her three poetry collections in Albanian I Do Not Fit Inside my Body(1998), The Last Nail (1999), and When Life Grows Roots Inside a Suitcase (2003) are critically acclaimed titles. She has toured internationally and has been recognized for her work in theatre with the Dell’Arte Diversity Award by the American College Theatre Festival and the Kennedy Center in DC (2004). Her work has been highlighted both in her native country and in the US in television and radio features, including Spoken!, Nashville’s NeoSoul Radio, and Atlanta’s Voice of the Arts.

Since 2002 Gypsee Yo has performed and lead workshops at a number of schools, universities, and churches throughout the US. Keynote performances and lectures include Kennesaw State, Poetry at Georgia Tech curated by Thomas Lux, guest lecturer at Emory University, University of New Mexico, University of Northern Arizona, Berkeley, CUPSI, Atlanta Writers Institute, and artist in residence at Calhoun College. Additionally, poetry readings and slam venues across the nation have chosen to feature her poetry and her performances for audiences of all ages.

PROJECTS

Dust Blood Love- Poetry Album (2009)

Firstborn Daughters – Poetry Album ( 2007)

Kitchensinkdrama – Poetry Album ( 2005)

When Life Grows Roots inside a Suitcase – Poetry Collection, Bota Shqiptare Publishing Press, Albania (2005)

The Last Nail – Poetry Collection, TOENA Publishing Press, Albania (1999)

I Do Not Fit Inside My Body – Poetry Collection, TOENA Publishing Press, Albania (1998)

Sinners and Saints: The Women I Know – Original One Woman Play, Lighthouse Productions (2002)

Passages and Detours; A Storytelling Project – Original Full Length Play, Lighthouse Productions (2008)

Lovestruck, or, Poetic Will – One Woman Play, Lighthouse Productions (2009)

Java Monkey Speaks Anthology II , III – featured poet (2006, 2008)Pedestal Magazine – Online Literary Magazine – featured poet (2008)Her Circle Ezine – Online Literary Magazine – featured poet (2008)

Estrology- Women Of the World Poetry Slam Anthology- featured poet (2008)

PROJECTS

Dust Blood Love- Poetry Album (2009)

Firstborn Daughters – Poetry Album ( 2007)

Kitchensinkdrama – Poetry Album ( 2005)

When Life Grows Roots inside a Suitcase – Poetry Collection, Bota Shqiptare Publishing Press, Albania (2005)

The Last Nail – Poetry Collection, TOENA Publishing Press, Albania (1999)

I Do Not Fit Inside My Body – Poetry Collection, TOENA Publishing Press, Albania (1998)

Sinners and Saints: The Women I Know – Original One Woman Play, Lighthouse Productions (2002)

Passages and Detours; A Storytelling Project – Original Full Length Play, Lighthouse Productions (2008)

Lovestruck, or, Poetic Will – One Woman Play, Lighthouse Productions (2009)

Estrology- Women Of the World Poetry Slam Anthology- featured poet (2008)

Page [tcb_pagination_current_page] of [tcb_pagination_total_pages]

First

Last

Would you like to see more artworks like these?