Music Cycle TOMORROW: Oholo!

Music Cycle TOMORROW: Oholo!
Saturday, 13 November 2021, at 8 p.m.
MMC KIBLA

We kindly invite you to join us on Saturday, 13 November 2021 at 8 p.m. at MMC KIBLA for an orchestral fire and energy bomb of different kinds of music by the collective Oholo!, which works at the intersection of improvised and composed music.

Oholo! is one of the few ensembles in Slovenia, and beyond, that easily fuses different forms of jazz and African brass bands and transforms them into an abstract sound of free improvised music with a high degree of groove. There is so much going on between the seven musicians, spreaded across a wide spectrum of the local critical, free and improvised music scene, that the music draws us in, spins us around like a tornado and, in the immediacy of the group's musicianship, seduces us into a shared experience of listening and playing. With a serious, studious and exploratory approach, they try to twist musical patterns from the past into a contemporary sound, having immense fun in the process. The less usual instruments for jazz (two double basses, violin, guitar, etc.) allows the group to make many sparkling sonic solutions and excursions into improvisation.

Oholo! is jazz with an exclamation mark, as Mario Batelić wrote in the preface of their debut album Mnogobolje: »A not-so-common band name that evokes more uncomfortable feelings, hints at unconventionality and boldness, and the extra exclamation mark in the name just calls for extra attention. Under a name that, truth be told, would be more likely to be given to an angry punk band, some of the most prominent Slovenian representatives of jazz, improvised and experimental music have come together.« He continued that, »Swinging and swaying is not to be found among rhythmic patterns and infectious melodies that can be whistled, as was the rule in the old big bands, but in the constantly bouncing and leaping, moving structure of the multi-layered compositions, in which melodic and rhythmic motifs freely wander and echo among the skilled members of the septet.«

Members:
Andrej Fon – tenor sax, clarinet
Jure Boršič – alto sax
Marko Jenič – violin
Andrej Boštjančič Ruda – guitar
Jošt Drašler – contrabass
Tomaž Grom – contrabass
Vid Drašler – drums

The heart of Oholo! is definitely in their pure love of the gig and in the playfulness of the resulting music. It is impossible to miss the fact that the boys go wide and deep in what they do, without reserve - to the end, and they also avoid recycling the history of improv in a big way. At best, they only recycle themselves, but in doing so they remain a distinct, indigenous and progressive unit. Somehow, from within, from within itself, this music rejects really good comparisons. All the enthusiasm for playing is maintained both on the surface and among the active layers that are revealed within the communication between the individual members of the band.

A solid collective in terms of composition and performance, it also follows all the unwritten rules of this kind of collective music-making. And the musicians are also playing and toying with their instruments and having fun, which is certainly a necessary prerequisite that opens the listener up to a multitude of interpretations of what kind of brass bands he is actually listening to. As consummate improvisatory connoisseurs, they get caught up in numerous performance transitions, soloistic lapses and dialogues, kneaded on the indefinable border between intimate enthusiasm and mutual tensions.

The septet in no way complicates the set compositions, but is simply about playing, playing and playing. In the process, a variety of music is released, most of which come from complete inspiration and skilful interludes that are passed around. In this improvisatory mission, Oholo! is of course neither the first nor the last ensemble, but it is one of those in recent times where this type of music is neither too formulaic nor self-contained.

Since it is not easy for such a large ensemble to meet together, we rarely get to hear and see their masterpieces live, which makes meeting them all the more of a treat.

Admission is free. You can attend the event in accordance with the RVT protocol and NIJZ recommendations.

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Production: X-OP Association for Contemporary Art
Coproduction: ACE KIBLA and Association for Art and Audio-visual production CODE BLUE
Support: Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, Municipality of Maribor