To be playing colors

by Petar PLAMENOV
 
Nils Petter Molvaer (born September 18 1960 in Sula, Norway) is a Norwegian trumpet player, composer and producer, who connects multiple music styles - jazz, ambient, house, electronic and break beats, as well as elements from hip hop, rock and pop music - and melts them into convincing soundscapes of deep intensity. Often eclectic, Molvær's style is similar to avant-garde trumpeter Toshinori Kondo. His interest in both acoustic and electric music shows the ease with which he handles the conventions of pop, rock and funk, alongside those of modern jazz.



Avant-garde jazz trumpeter Nils Petter Molvaer and though he learned a lot playing in local bands, in 1979 he chose to leave his hometown to study at the conservatory in Trondheim. As a member of the nu jazz group Masqualero, Molvær became associated with the ECM label, which later released his first solo material. In 1998, Khmer, which incorporated ambient, house, and electronic sounds along with his trumpet, came out, followed two years later by Solid Ether, an album that also saw a remix version in 2001's Recoloured. In 2002 NP3 was released, and three years later ER, in which he allowed more space for programmers like DJ Strangefruit and Reidar Skår, was issued. In 2006 Thirsty Ear took the honors for Molvær's An American Compilation, a record that was meant to introduce a United States audience to the experimental and genre-bending musician.



Nils Petter Molvaer will present on the stage of  Sofia Live Club some hits from his latest album Hamada. It is Nils Petter Molvaer's ninth album as leader, taking into account two remix compilations, a live album and a collection of film music, not to mention his numerous contributions to projects by Marilyn Mazur, Bill Laswell, Hector Zazou and many others. It delivers on the promise of his 1997 debut, Khmer, and marks Molvaer out as a highly original composer/stylist with the courage to radically reinvent himself.

Hamada, meaning dead or inanimate, is an Arabic word also used to describe desert rock without sand or water. The term suits Molvaer's parched mournfulness very well and acknowledges the influence of Middle Eastern music on the Norwegian trumpeter, but it's also a little counterintuitive because Hamada sees Molvaer successfully explore new territory after a period of relative inactivity.

Hamada has an impressively cohesive structure. The music begins hushed and blue before gradually building to the first of two climaxes on Friction. After further passages of murmured ambience, the group roars into life again on the howling, eight-minute Cruel Altitude and then gradually cedes to silence via the solo Lahar. The peaks are remarkably thrilling, as though Molvaer had summoned angry djinn to wreak vengeance on the listener. The djinn is guitarist Eivind Aarset, who can be favorably compared to Pete Cosey, Miles Davis' fiery lead guitarist in the 70s, and Audun Erlien whose drumming drives the music irresistibly forward.

Sofia Live Club
Address:
Sofia, 1 Bulgaria Square, NPC, subway with the fountains
Working time: 20:00–07:00
Nr seats: 270
Mobile: 088 833 11 93

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