11 July 2024, Louise Brailey, Crack
Portrait (en)

Monheim Triennale’s The Prequel made rare, vital space for collaboration without commercial agenda

Bringing together 16 experimental musicians for three days of spontaneous sessions and one-off live shows, The Monheim Triennale created a charged space for collaboration, improvisation, boundary-pushing and play.

Another startling collaboration came in the formal environment of the boat’s main auditorium, between German composer and director Heiner Goebbels and Palestinian producer and musician Muqata´a. An emotional charge resonated from every plucked piano string, every monolithic slab of bass or rat-a-tat percussion lick. Muqata´a often draws samples from his homeland, and here, fragile strains of Arabic pop drifted across the sonic rubble as Goebbels played the exposed piano with mallets or pieces of wire, and laid hulking chains inside the casing before playing ringing, muted tones of the compromised instrument.