Granular : : P.A.R.T.S. (Brussels, 3 and 4/11/2007)

João Martins, Ulrich Mitzlaff, Miguel Cabral, Ricardo Freitas, Emídio Buchinho, Nuno Rebelo

At Beaux Arts Horta Hall in Brussels, improvisations of music & dance. Granular is an association for the development of new music in Portugal, PARTS is one of the most famous dance schools in Europe. In this event, students from PARTS under the direction of David Zambrano presented 4 improvisation performances together with an ensemble of musicians from Granular (João Martins - sax and objects; Ulrich Mitzlaff - cello; Miguel Cabral - homemade percussions & electronics; Ricardo Freitas - acoustic bass; Emídio Buchinho - acoustic guitar; and myself on electric guitar and objects). Since David Zambrano asked specifically for music with grooves, we came with 4 pre-recorded sequences on computer that we could use anytime during the impros. This, together with my own gestures directing the musicians ensemble, provided a very lively music which everybody apreciated. We did well, very well indeed! And so did the dancers: nicholas tiishang aphane, salka ardal rosengren, jos baker, marcus baldemar, gilad ben ari, aron blom, fanny broyaux, young-seung choi, soo-jin chun, ludvig daae, stanislav dobak, frédérique dom, mikko hyvönen, anneleen keppens, thibault lac, cecilia lisa eliceche, dawid lorenc, steven michel, csaba molnar, sarah beth percival, eleni pierides, jonathan pranlas, guo rui, peter Þavel, maria silva, fanny skura, noé soulier, artemis stavridi artemis, marco torrice, anaïs van eycken, petra van gompel, stav yeini, elisa yvelin and of course David Zambrano.

Mark Tompkins in Lisbon

Mark was in Lisbon from the 18 to 28 of October. He stayed at my place and during this time we started working on a new creation: "Lulu" (Frank Wedekind's play adapted by Alban Berg for his opera, or the silent movie from Pabst, staring Louise Brooks). This musical choreography of Mark Tompkins will be premiered in the Fall of 2008 by his company I.D.A., with Mark singing live the different male characters. For the moment he's still searching the ideal actress / singer for the role of Lulu. I'll be doing the music and working on the songs together with Mark. During his staying in Lisbon we worked on 3 songs ("have you ever loved", "if not you" and "little lulu") and we are more than happy with the results. Click here to listen to a demo of one of the songs: have u ever loved in your life (Lulu)

Apart from this homework, we had some rehearsals with our band "Mark Lewis & The Standards" and we did 2 concerts in Lisbon: on the 24 October at Musicbox and on the 27 at Fábrica do Braço de Prata. Both were great gigs; personally, i prefered the warm athmosphere of the second one.

Emotional Blackmail Mark Lewis Standards
Colocado por monyque

Mark Lewis & The Standards live in Vienna, October 2006

live impro at Fábrica do Braço de Prata (Lisbon)

Fábrica do Braço de Prata is a great new venue in Lisbon: a huge building with 14 rooms for exihibitions, instalations, concerts, bookstore, bar & restaurant and... free parking place!!! On the 19th of October i played a free improv gig with Zé Bruno Parrinha (clarinet), Rodrigo Pinheiro (grand piano), Miguel Leiria Pereira(doublebass)& myself (electric guitar). Since Miguel is mostly a classic music doublebass player, the overall impro often took tonal directions, sometimes almost romantic, which in a way were a chalenge for the other musicians but at the same time provided a very pleasant athmosphere that the audience much apreciated.