#Music
Kurt Schwitters Ursonate. A musical-artistic performance.

December 2021

Kurt Schwitters Ursonate. A musical-artistic performance.

"The world in upheaval" - this is how one can describe the time when Kurt Schwitters, one of the most important German artists from the first half of the 20th century, created his main work. In addition to the Merzbau, a kind of self-made grotto that consisted of spatial collages, the poem Anna Blume and the Ursonate are among the most outstanding works of the German. His work shaped the then flourishing movement of Dadaism, which as a kind of anarchic anti-art originated in the Weimar Republic and is still seen today as a formative factor for various European and international art movements.

"Rinnzekete bee bee nnz krr müü? ziiuu ennze, ziiuu rinnzkrrmüü, rakete bee bee, Rrummpff tillff toooo? ”- Excerpt from the text of the Ursonata

Now the world seems to be falling into turmoil again. Destructive forces are increasingly gaining influence, people lose the trust in utopian ideas and a lot reminds us of the time of the Dadaist movement, which is currently celebrating its centenary. On this occasion, Thomas Krüger, Anke Lucks and the jazz group Potsa Lotsa decided to set the Dadaist sound poem to music for the first time ever. And that with a text that, at a hundred years old, couldn’t be more topical than ever.

Recitation by Thomas Krüger. Anke Lucks (trombone) plays with the jazz group Potsa Lotsa: Silke Eberhard (alto saxophone), Wolfgang Schmidtke (trombone), Nikolaus Neuser (trumpet), Gerhard Gschößl (trombone).

Thomas Kruger

In 1986 Thomas Krüger recited the Ursonata for the first time as part of a performance in Leipzig, even then young creative people perceived a dissolving system and dealt with the irrational of their surroundings. Thomas Krüger is not only known as an actor in the cultural scene, but also for his political work. He began his political career in 1989 as one of the founding members of the Social Democrats in the GDR and remained their managing director in Berlin and a member of the People's Chamber in the GDR until 1990. He was the first deputy mayor of East Berlin from 1990 to 1991. From 1991 to 1994 he was Senator for Youth and Family in Berlin. As a member of the German Bundestag, he was active from 1994 to 1998. Since July 2000 he has been the President of the Federal Agency for Civic Education and is also involved in various voluntary committees, including: President of DKHW, member of the board of trustees of the DFB Cultural Foundation, since 2013 member of the research advisory board of the 'Culture and Foreign Policy' program of the Institute for Foreign Relations.


Anke Lucks

Anke Lucks is a trombonist and composer with a focus on jazz and instrumental pedagogy. After completing her studies, she toured worldwide with the artistry and music program “Balagan” and Europe-wide with the band “Rotfront”, she played theater and film music with the band “Shmaltz”, one-off performances with Albert Mangelsdorff, Anthony Braxton, Tyshawn Sorey.

Potsa Lotsa

These are Silke Eberhard, Nikolaus Neuser, Patrick Braun and Gerhard Gschlößl. In the original line-up as a wind quartet Potsa Lotsa, the musicians initially devoted themselves to the compositions of the African American multi-instrumentalist Eric Dolphy. With the septet Potsa Lotsa Plus, which combines the sound of six wind instruments with electronic sounds, Silke Eberhard then performed Dolphy's long-lost wedding music, Love Suite. Beyond jazz, the ensemble - preferably in quartet form - also relies on works of classical modernism by Giaccinto Scelsi or Kurt Schwitters ’Ursonate on its concert programs.


Events:
December 3, 2021 Goethe-Institut Saudi Arabia, Riyadh 7:30 p.m.
December 4th, 2021 The Music Space, Jeddah 9:00 p.m.

Registration open until December 1st, 2021: programm-ksa@goethe.de