The Man without a Past
Deutsches Theater Berlin
Aki Kaurismäki (author) // Dimiter Gotscheff (director) // Claus Caesar (drama adviser) // Katrin Brack (stage) // Ellen Hofmann (costume design) // Alexander Dafov, Simon Jakob Drees (music)
The much-acclaimed director Dimiter Gotscheff adapts Kaurismäki's prize-winning film for the Deutsche Theater Berlin. And my colleague Simon Jakob Drees and I are suppose to to come up with the music.
Gotscheff, who knows us well from directing "The Powder-keg", suddenly invites us for a coffee. Again and again he points out how important the music is for Kaurismäki's films. Can we imagine to bring The Man Without a Past on stage musically? Of course, I say and we begin the rehearsals.
Gotscheff shouts: "I'm working with my gut-feeling!" The actor is his brush and the script his paint. This is happening outside of time, but in a confined space. I'm watching him for hours, how he gives every scene color until he suddenly bursts out: "Music!" Now everything has to go quickly. Where is the right frequency? Which instrument contains the answer to his quest for musical support of the developing sequence on stage? Will I come up with something? Where are my tunes? Shall we just lend support or sometimes give contra? In theater, one could claim, music is part of the props. And that is precisely the captivating part of this work. There is no time for roundabout ways. Almost everything is created instantly by improvisation. During a break, we write down and arrange the music. Practicing was back in the days. I recharge myself by the humanity of it all. The throwing of words and moods, light experiments and thoughts.
"Mitko, who do you like this...?" We are doing the eighth rehearsal of this particular scene 'drunkenness.'
"You did play something small last time, now what the hell is this?!"
The search goes on. "Quit, people, I'm looking for...!"
Silence is also music.
Opening night has been postponed for a week. Two days before the opening, we still don't have all scenes. The actors have to learn their massive parts within 24 hours, but are playing it completey natural on the last rehearsals. Finally, we come up with the musical conclusion - a few hours before opening night. Our band is pretty good. This is all unbelievable.
When we are playing we morph into this furry being with many tongues. We all work with our gut-feelings. The script and the music becomes one, but Kaurismäki didn't make it to opening night. We go and find him.
Centraltheater Leipzig
Sascha Hawemann (author,
director) // Maike Storf (stage, costume design)
// Alexander Dafov (music)
The play ITSPUNK tells the musical history of the british punk band Cockney Rejects from the 80’s. But it’s far more than just a simple regeneration of the band’s biographie. It’s the story of young skinheads searching their way out of a shabby neighbourhood in the suburbs of London. A way out beyond the forlorn environment they grew up in. On individual paths, they all get in touch with punk music; together they end up pioneers of Oi. We accompany them through moments of anger, despair and aggression, the ups and downs of their career, depicted by off-key anecdotes and suspensefully staged by music. Brutality, football, skinheads. In a socio-critical way, the director Hawemann makes a connection between London and Leipzig, where skinheads and football are up-to-date topics. My task was to form a convincing, genuine street-punk-band out of four actors (no musicians!) within less than a month. That might not sound too demanding, since the music is rather plain and based on no more than three chords. The real challenge was to sound neither worse than the Cockneys, nor better – for then it would stop being punk. The result lies somewhere in between and matches the production perfectly, for I hope we achieved to translate the rough and direct sound in a live, theatrical way.
Until the end of June 2010, Xell will perform in the production as a punk-band-singer and guitar-player, dressed in a Clockwork Orange costume.
The much-acclaimed director Dimiter Gotscheff adapts Kaurismäki's prize-winning film for the Deutsche Theater Berlin. And my colleague Simon Jakob Drees and I are suppose to to come up with the music.
Gotscheff, who knows us well from directing "The Powder-keg", suddenly invites us for a coffee. Again and again he points out how important the music is for Kaurismäki's films. Can we imagine to bring The Man Without a Past on stage musically? Of course, I say and we begin the rehearsals.
Gotscheff shouts: "I'm working with my gut-feeling!" The actor is his brush and the script his paint. This is happening outside of time, but in a confined space. I'm watching him for hours, how he gives every scene color until he suddenly bursts out: "Music!" Now everything has to go quickly. Where is the right frequency? Which instrument contains the answer to his quest for musical support of the developing sequence on stage? Will I come up with something? Where are my tunes? Shall we just lend support or sometimes give contra? In theater, one could claim, music is part of the props. And that is precisely the captivating part of this work. There is no time for roundabout ways. Almost everything is created instantly by improvisation. During a break, we write down and arrange the music. Practicing was back in the days. I recharge myself by the humanity of it all. The throwing of words and moods, light experiments and thoughts.
"Mitko, who do you like this...?" We are doing the eighth rehearsal of this particular scene 'drunkenness.'
"You did play something small last time, now what the hell is this?!"
The search goes on. "Quit, people, I'm looking for...!"
Silence is also music.
Opening night has been postponed for a week. Two days before the opening, we still don't have all scenes. The actors have to learn their massive parts within 24 hours, but are playing it completey natural on the last rehearsals. Finally, we come up with the musical conclusion - a few hours before opening night. Our band is pretty good. This is all unbelievable.
When we are playing we morph into this furry being with many tongues. We all work with our gut-feelings. The script and the music becomes one, but Kaurismäki didn't make it to opening night. We go and find him.
ItsPunk
The play ITSPUNK tells the musical history of the british punk band Cockney Rejects from the 80’s. But it’s far more than just a simple regeneration of the band’s biographie. It’s the story of young skinheads searching their way out of a shabby neighbourhood in the suburbs of London. A way out beyond the forlorn environment they grew up in. On individual paths, they all get in touch with punk music; together they end up pioneers of Oi. We accompany them through moments of anger, despair and aggression, the ups and downs of their career, depicted by off-key anecdotes and suspensefully staged by music. Brutality, football, skinheads. In a socio-critical way, the director Hawemann makes a connection between London and Leipzig, where skinheads and football are up-to-date topics. My task was to form a convincing, genuine street-punk-band out of four actors (no musicians!) within less than a month. That might not sound too demanding, since the music is rather plain and based on no more than three chords. The real challenge was to sound neither worse than the Cockneys, nor better – for then it would stop being punk. The result lies somewhere in between and matches the production perfectly, for I hope we achieved to translate the rough and direct sound in a live, theatrical way.
Until the end of June 2010, Xell will perform in the production as a punk-band-singer and guitar-player, dressed in a Clockwork Orange costume.
Powder Keg
Deutsches Theater Berlin, Berliner
Festpiele
Dejan Dukovski (author) // Dimiter Gotscheff (director) // Bettina Schültke (darama adviser) // Anri Kulev (stage, costume design) // Sandy Lopicic and Orkestar (music)
Gotscheff's production of this prize-winning play is one of the absolute highlights in international theatre in recent years. Not surprisingly, it was nominated for the Vienna Nestroy theatre award in 2000 (when it was first produced) and for the German theatre award Der Faust in 2009.
The play is about human lives and desolation in disintegrating Yugoslavia in the 1990s. These are short episodes -- Balkan Blues collages really -- that show a certain helplessness of the protagonists to deal with their traditions, the West and the new times. A drama about existential questions like "What happened?" "What's left?", "Who are we?" or "What's next?". The play also depicts some ostensibly staged clichés, culture crash’s and the difficulties of translating Balkan humor and savvy to a Western audience.
In my view, this tragic comedy represents perfectly the Balkans and the hard choices people in Southeastern Europe faced: What to do with the so-called new freedom? Still, the play speaks to everyone in every country. It touches upon human problems that have no boundaries.
The ensemble of actors is simply amazing. Everyone has the right part and is playing at his or her limits. It is exhilarating to work in this production. Here, everything is about turning a difficult topic together into art and precious aesthetic detail and not about specialist competence or egotism. To stage POWDER KEG is pure fun for me.
Xell and I sing or play the oboe and the traditional Bulgarian Gaida (bagpipe). The music is part Balkan folk and part compositions by Sandy Lopicic who also did the excellent music arrangements. Without the music this play would lose its inner compass.
A Different Kind of Music
Kira
Langlott (vocals) // Dirk Feistel (cister) // Timmy B. Timmermann
(drums, percussion) // Jean Walther (reedpipe, fiddle, gaida) //
Alexander Dafov, Xell (oboe, guitar, vocals, gaida)
The D.L. Band arranges and plays pieces from European folklore, primarily from around the Balkans. A unique ensemble sound comes from the interesting instrumentation, partly using medieval instruments - a new and exciting path in musical language.
This is what drew Xell and me to get in on the act and we play it for all it's worth, naturally also 100% live.
Open for
ambitious projects
I do just about everything that has an artistically creative direction.
Musically, I can do backup, create, lead - whenever and whatever.
I can compose really well and write great stage music when it's needed. I advise on scenes and do script-doctoring for films and theatre. I'm absolutely a musical performer: oboist, singer, bagpiper, guitarist and all in a flash.
Apart from that I can snap professionally with my camera on request. On top of all that I was a producer for SAT1-TV for years and contributed to the general cultural decay with crazy coming attractions - all in the name of survival, of course...
So, request whatever you want and I'll tell you whether and how it's possible and if I feel like doing it. My experience so far has been that I always do and apart from that I work shoulder to shoulder with Xell - a powerful team.
Contact
Dejan Dukovski (author) // Dimiter Gotscheff (director) // Bettina Schültke (darama adviser) // Anri Kulev (stage, costume design) // Sandy Lopicic and Orkestar (music)
Gotscheff's production of this prize-winning play is one of the absolute highlights in international theatre in recent years. Not surprisingly, it was nominated for the Vienna Nestroy theatre award in 2000 (when it was first produced) and for the German theatre award Der Faust in 2009.
The play is about human lives and desolation in disintegrating Yugoslavia in the 1990s. These are short episodes -- Balkan Blues collages really -- that show a certain helplessness of the protagonists to deal with their traditions, the West and the new times. A drama about existential questions like "What happened?" "What's left?", "Who are we?" or "What's next?". The play also depicts some ostensibly staged clichés, culture crash’s and the difficulties of translating Balkan humor and savvy to a Western audience.
In my view, this tragic comedy represents perfectly the Balkans and the hard choices people in Southeastern Europe faced: What to do with the so-called new freedom? Still, the play speaks to everyone in every country. It touches upon human problems that have no boundaries.
The ensemble of actors is simply amazing. Everyone has the right part and is playing at his or her limits. It is exhilarating to work in this production. Here, everything is about turning a difficult topic together into art and precious aesthetic detail and not about specialist competence or egotism. To stage POWDER KEG is pure fun for me.
Xell and I sing or play the oboe and the traditional Bulgarian Gaida (bagpipe). The music is part Balkan folk and part compositions by Sandy Lopicic who also did the excellent music arrangements. Without the music this play would lose its inner compass.
Dectera Lugh
The D.L. Band arranges and plays pieces from European folklore, primarily from around the Balkans. A unique ensemble sound comes from the interesting instrumentation, partly using medieval instruments - a new and exciting path in musical language.
This is what drew Xell and me to get in on the act and we play it for all it's worth, naturally also 100% live.
To be Continued
I do just about everything that has an artistically creative direction.
Musically, I can do backup, create, lead - whenever and whatever.
I can compose really well and write great stage music when it's needed. I advise on scenes and do script-doctoring for films and theatre. I'm absolutely a musical performer: oboist, singer, bagpiper, guitarist and all in a flash.
Apart from that I can snap professionally with my camera on request. On top of all that I was a producer for SAT1-TV for years and contributed to the general cultural decay with crazy coming attractions - all in the name of survival, of course...
So, request whatever you want and I'll tell you whether and how it's possible and if I feel like doing it. My experience so far has been that I always do and apart from that I work shoulder to shoulder with Xell - a powerful team.
Contact
.
