Imaginary oundscapes out of the moment
The new trio is called Sooon with three O. O as eastern (Ost) Switzerland,
O as overtone, O as in YODEL, as in BerimbaO, in PianO, in vOcal and as in TOny, SOnja and JOhn. The derivation of the name is typical for the band: unconventional, weird, funny and yet very consistent.
Irish-Swiss pianist John Wolf Brennan is well known for his numerous recordings and live performances in classical, jazz and improvisational music. He can be heard on piano (also with unusual techniques like arcopiano or oudpiano with muted strings), e-piano, melodica and for the first time on accordion. Haifa-born Palestinian multi-percussionist Tony Majdalani (djembe, berimbao, hand pan, santur and voice), has been living in Zurich for decades and working with Brennan for a long time.
Sonja Morgenegg – a real «Swiss aboriginal» – is probably a new discovery for most people, and one wonders why one has not heard of this extraordinary vocal artist, who not only masters the Muotathaler Juuz and numerous other Swiss natural yodels, but also singing practices from all over the world, from the Georgian Yodel Krimantchuli, to the Hawaiian Yodeling, the Nordic Yoik – the textless song of the Sami – to the shamanic singing and overtone practices of Central Asia Anyone expecting a new kind of «Swiss folk music» due to yodelling is in for a surprise: folk music is always tied to regions and traditions, to places and customs. This is not the music of Sooon, on the contrary: breaking the boundaries of spaces and habits, it’s more like «music on the way», music that travels and explores unknown areas. They are powerful original compositions and traditional models whose origins can no longer be classified. The term soundscape takes on another meaning here: it is not the sounds of a particular landscape condensed into music, rather the create new The musical influences are so diverse that they do not generate a picture of a particular environment, but create a dazzling and varied world of its own.
In particular, the mixture of different tonalities contributes to the colour. Arabic scales with their characteristic microtonal structure blend in with the «equally tempered mood», shaping Western music for the past 150 years. Although the semitones are all equal, they are slightly impure. In combination with natural tone scales and mathematically pure moods, a variety of microtonal layers are created. These different microtones create beats and frictions, breaking up the major and minor patterns, which our Western ears filter out immediately, question them, contrast them and temporarily cancel them out. This is music which demands
a deep listening, ears that are open not only for melodies and chords, but for the subtleties of sound combination.
At the center of the musical creation of this trio is improvisation and the moment: instant creation out of the moment, common exploration, tracing and emergence. Composition is just a starting point for a journey of exchange and communication. This gives the music a haunting energy and suspense. All three are inspiring virtuosos, but virtuosity is never an end in itself, but always a means of expression, understanding and connection. The result is soundscapes of unimaginable beauty, with elements of diverse yodelling techniques, shamanic and Middle Eastern songs, Swiss folk music, al-mūsīqā al-’Arabīyah, Irish folk and jazz.
Through intensive and careful examination and using traditional elements, the trio develops a unique harmonious and gripping style, characterized by the alternation of harmony and tension, density and emptiness, euphony and dissonance
and rich sound variety. Maybe this works so well, because the emphasis is not
on contrasts, but on connecting. No pre-prepared concepts are realized here. The essence is what happens on the journey together: the dialogue, the inter- action, the collective energy emerging.
The absence of immediate vicinity on a sound recording is cleverly replaced by arrangements which are wonderfully elaborated in the studio, so that the spontaneous momentum of music works excellently on this recording. All the more you look forward to experiencing Sooon live, when the steppes of Asia, the mountains of central Switzerland, the Negev deserts, the green meadows of Ireland and its multiplications and superpositions actually arise in space,
and the imaginary drone flight through new worlds takes place in real time.
Dieter Ringli, music ethnologist and musician