MATTHIAS ENGELKE
German composer and sound artist Matthias Engelke composes stage music for contemporary dance theatre and theatre productions since 2001. He was commissioned by Theater Heidelberg, Theater Freiburg, Schauspielfrankfurt, Staatsschauspiel Dresden, Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe and Moussonturm Frankfurt. In his compositions the sonic integration of analog generated sound in an electronic context is a constant field of exploration. His method of composition is often inspired by an experienced or imagined interaction of music and sound with a physical space or a theatrical room. This can include the inseminating interplay between music/sound and dance/movement, influencing the textures and sonic qualities of his music. In the past years, music performances using live-electronics have become an additional focus in his work. In 2021 he released the album “Resonant Dowland” and in 2022 the album “Zeitfrei” in the Sound Art Series of the label Gruenrekorder.
NEW
3. November 2023: New Dance Production Premiere
Trailer for “New Report on Giving Birth” by Wen Hui
Music: Matthias Engelke
Music for the production of Wen Hui /Living Dance Studio: New Report on giving Birth
The choreographer Wen Hui has changed the way we look at Chinese society with artworks that combine dance and documentary film footage. One of the pieces that brought her international recognition was ‘Report on Giving Birth’ from 1999. This was based on interviews with female factory workers, doctors, journalists, midwives and her own mother about their experiences of pregnancy and birth. Now, 24 years after its world premiere, in “New Report on Giving Birth” we will see four dancers reveal new perspectives on the female-connoted body. They come together as mothers, non-mothers and women with migrant backgrounds from China, Thailand, Iran, Italy and Germany. They translate the realities and ascriptions associated with this status into choreographies that are powerful, playful, poetic and intimate. Together with the dancers, Wen Hui investigates how structural violence and control become codified in the body. Here dance serves both as a means of communication and a moving archive; their communal process is a route to both empathy and resistance.
1. October 2022: Album release: Woman Giant
WOMAN GIANT is a collaboration with the Moradokmai Theatre Community and combines traditional Thai singing, Thai poetry and Thai myths with modern electronics and subleme rythms.
Credits: Vocals, recitations: Janaprakal Chandruang, Sureeporn Boonyalaeka, Punnipa Meejun
Flute, mallets: Janaprakal Chandruang
Piano, voice and all other instruments: Matthias Engelke
Sound Art Series by Gruenrekorder
Germany / 2022
GrDl 210 / LC 09488 / GEMA
Video Release: Mindful
By Matthias Engelke and Janaprakal Chandruang; Video by Thilo Neubacher
The tune describes six guiding philosophies deriving from Buddhist doctrines. The lyrics encourage the listener to be mindful when dealing with other people and their unpredictabilities.
From the Album “WOMAN GIANT” – Matthias Engelke and Moradokmai Theatre Community; Label: Gruenrekorder
Music: Matthias Engelke, Janaprakal Chandruang; lyrics & vocals: Janaprakal Chandruang
Single out now: Mindful
MINDFUL is the second single release from the new album WOMAN GIANT with the Thai artist Janaprakal Chandruang of the Moradokmai Theatre Community. The album will be released on 1st October on the label Gruenrekorder.
The tune describes six guiding philosophies deriving from Buddhist doctrines. The lyrics encourage the listener to be mindful when dealing with other people and their unpredictabilities.
Credits: Music: Matthias Engelke, Janaprakal Chandruang; lyrics & vocals: Janaprakal Chandruang
Single out now: Elephant song (chang, chang, chang)
My new single ELEPHANT SONG is a collaboration with the Thai artist Janaprakal Chandruang oft he Moradokmai Theatre Community. A happy, summerly, groovy song!
The song is from my new album WOMAN GIANT, that will be released on 1st October 2022 on the label Gruenrekorder. It is a collaboration with the Moradokmai Theatre Community and combines Thai poetry of the 18th century, Thai myths and traditional Thai singing with modern electronics and subleme rhythms.
Credits: Music & lyrics: Khun Ying Chinn Silapabanleng; adaptation & flute: Matthias Engelke; vocals & Thai flute: Janaprakal Chandruang
04.02.2022 Album release ZEITFREI at Gruenrekorder
In the original songs of the album ZEITFREI the mesmerizing timbre of the classical soprano voice of Maraile Lichdi interweaves with an acoustic and electronic world of sound.
The songs are characterized by the concept of the ambivalence of the temporal in music. In the lyrical, sketch-like texts, always vague and associative, the topics of transience, vanity, disorientation, loss of control, alienation, farewell, sorrow and finally the invincibility of time but also the resilience of man, are reflected in polarising musical levels. These poles are represented in the unstoppable and directed passages of time, to be heard on the one hand in melodies and melodic fragments and on the other in repetitive and ecstatic sound fields.
The inescapability of time is thereby confronted with the ancient desire of man, the utopian ideal of overcoming finiteness by overcoming time itself. The dream to be, and to stay, free of time.
OUT NOW: FERN ZERSILBERT (Single)
FERN ZERSILBERT is the third of three single releases from the new record “ZEITFREI” which features the Soprano Maraile Lichdi. The album will be released within the Sound Art Series of the label “Gruenrekorder” in February 2022.
OUT NOW: SISYPHOS (Single)
Sisyphos is the second of three single releases from the new record “ZEITFREI” which features the Soprano Maraile Lichdi. The album will be released within the Sound Art Series of the label “Gruenrekorder” in February 2022.
OUT NOW: ARIADNE (Single)
ARIADNE is the first of three single releases from the new record “ZEITFREI” which features the Soprano Maraile Lichdi. The album will be released within the Sound Art Series of the label “Gruenrekorder” in February 2022.
