rumeur (for solo accordion)
Alfredo Costa Monteiro, a prima vista, si presenta sotto ai riflettori come un perfetto sconosciuto. Ma, affrontata una ricerca attenta, vengono a galla diversi aspetti che invitano a soffermarsi sull’estroso modus operandi del fisarmonicista. Lo strumento principale si fa apprezzare per un approccio con l’esterno totalmente libero e disincantato.
Portoghese di nascita, ma stabile da tempo in quel di Barcellona, Monteiro possiede un curriculum che, seppur sprovvisto di un voluminoso background produttivo, mette bene in evidenza la passione per la musica d’avanguardia.
Il giro cui ruota, con più assiduità, fa capo alla portoghese Creative Sources e le collaborazioni più recenti lo vedono accreditato all’interno del lavoro, partorito insieme ad altri musicisti del giro portoghese, «Cesura»; una violenta smossa di vari canovacci, quali musica colta, free jazz ed elettroacustica. V’è, poi, la presenza stabile all’interno del trio dei Treni Inerti (sempre per la CS è uscito l’introspettivo «Ura») con i due trombettisti Ruth Barberàn e Matt Davis. Un melange che approfondisce l’asprezza di certi suoni nella loro intimità più nascosta. La vera bomba, se così si può definire, è incarnata dal duo con il manipolatore elettronico spagnolo Ferran Fages, battezzato Cremaster. Un’autentica boccata d’aria fresca da cui, sempre del 2003, è scaturito un disco per casa Antifrost: «Infra». In esso, da osservare il mood estroverso, Monteiro propone il suo disimpegno alle regole accademiche suonando, o meglio sfregando una chitarra con diversi oggetti autocostruiti. Il disco prende le sembianze del primo Kevin Drumm (ben si calza la ‘granulosità’ del disco d’esordio), sbircia dalle parti di Keith Rowe senza, però, lasciarsi plagiare a pieno nei movimenti decisionali, risale verso certa elettronica estrema di marca Touch inizi anni 90′, finendo per approdare all’unisono nella libera improvvisazione dei giorni nostri.
In poche parole: acquisto caldamente consigliato.
«Rumeur», tolto l’ombroso spettro riguardante una serie di CD-R pubblicati in passato, è il primo lavoro fabbricato in completa solitudine dal musicista. Poco c’è dato di conoscere, attraverso le note interne, sull’assemblaggio dell’opera (un altro punto da evidenziare riguardo la linea ‘spartana’ in cui si muove Monteiro). Le tracce consistono in cinque assaggi che dimostrano come sia possibile arrivare a smuovere radicalmente il suono comune d’una fisarmonica.
Ognuno dei momenti possiede una sua identità. Un crepitare frastagliato del suono, a tratti, fa pensare che sia della carta ad essere percossa; un momento dopo la materia diventa omogenea, acquisendo le sembianze di un possente drones sorretto da microvariazioni tonali. Di seguito troviamo (lunghi) istanti dove salgono alla mente i trattamenti chirurgici sui fiati (l’introspezione del trombone di un George Lewis, il rigore matematico nell’eseguire di un Anthony Braxton…) o, come nel penultimo tassello, dove un perpetuo stiramento stridulo del suono fa ipotizzare l’armeggiare ondulato di strumenti a corda. C’è un non so che di giocoso, di beffardo, che tinge alcuni frangenti d’una propensione alla musica peraltro seriosa.
Non mi meraviglierei se la figura di Monteiro venisse accostata senza freni ai diversi scampoli artistici degli ultimi anni rappresentati da varie entità come: Alessandro Bosetti, Annette Krebs, Sachiko M (soprattutto per l’estetica stilizzata del suono), Bhob Rainey e Greg Kelley.
Auguriamoci di sentirne parlare al più presto!!!
Sergio Eletto,Sands-Zine
It looks like an unassuming parenthesis, right? But it is one of the most important parentheses you’re ever likely to stumble upon. Listening to «Rumeur», you couldn’t possibly guess the music originates from an accordion. Alfredo Costa Monteiro is a madman. Of all the experimental accordionists out there (granted, there aren’t that many), he is the only one who has blown the tradition to smithereens and assembled his own musical vocabulary from scratch. The five pieces included on this short (39 minutes) solo debut are all extremely puzzling, fascinating and occasionally (for most ears — constantly) unpleasant. No explanations are given as to the techniques or equipment used, but the minimal artwork (a handful of accordion buttons thrown on a table) suggests that Monteiro doesn’t hesitate to take his instrument apart. Tracks 1, 3 and 5 sound like the artist is brushing a microphone against the reed grid of the instrument, producing a gritty, cavernous texture. It is probably more complicated than that, as each track has its own (if limited) sound palette. Track 4 features unexplainable and painful squeaks akin to a child playing the violin while applying way too much pressure on the bow. Track 2 is a delightful soundscape of rapid-flapping. Here the asmathic accordion plays a chord and is recognizable for what it is. When improvising with others, Monteiro sounds mysterious, his contribution often so strange it is hard to pinpoint among other improvisers also working within noise-based approaches. This solo CD clarifies nothing (to this reviewer’s delight), except that Monteiro has drastically redefined accordion playing the same way Axel Dörner did for the trumpet or Annette Krebs for the guitar.
François Couture, All Music Guide
A solo accordion cd. Not the Guy Klucevsek kind of thing. Monteiro choses for a totally different and far more radical approach of the instrument. In some pieces it is – for me – almost impossible to recognize the accordion. I suppose some treatment was done, although the information doesn’t tell. In the case of track 4 I’m almost sure some string instrument is involved, but again nothing of the like is indicated. «Rumeur» is subtitled ‘for solo accordion’, so I will stick to that.
One way or the other, Monteiro delivers one of the most radical accordion records I have ever heard. Players like Guy Klucevsek and Lars Hollmer always play in the context of folk music. And compared to the drones of Pauline Oliveros, Monteiro is much more obsessed with concrete sounds that can generated from this instrument.
Monteiro studied sculpture and multimedia at the Fine Art School of Paris with Christian Boltanski. Since 1995 he is involved in improvised music, and listening to this cd it is evident that investigating sound is his thing.
In the past he played with musicians like Peter Kowald, Manuel Mota, Burkhard Beins, Phil Durrant, Jakob Draminsky, Annette Krebs, Nikos Veliotis and many others. Monteiro was also member of Superelvis a band from Barcelona. Today he participates in Cremaster with Ferran Fages and I Treni Inerti. «Rumeur» is not the first solo work of Monteiro. It is preceded by «Rubber Music» (Hazard Records. 1999), «Les silences de la BnF» (Labofar. 1999) and «Paper Music» (Hazard Records, 2001). I’ve heard none of them. So I can’t make any comparison. But «Rumeur» is the product of a very capable musician. Nice sculpting with rich sounds. Delicate and elegant if you can say so.
Dolf Mulder Vital Weekly
Just an accordion. Should I believe this after listening to «Rumeur»? Here’s the first track, sounding like a microphone stuck in a room full of industrial mosquitos biting you to death before you realize there’s no insect powder around. After this, a cross between a triturated Steve Reich and an old coughing engine takes control, making feel you pretty uneasy; beautiful indeed and very hypnotic. The third segment is similar to a perforated lung trying to imitate the noise of cars passing at night on a freeway, listened with covered and uncovered ears with cupped hands – this goes on until a crackling, bottom-end «trouble» arrives and transforms everything into the broken roar of a perplexed lion drowning in a lake. New track, more dissonance…and I could swear that I heard contrasting shards of rubbing arcos upon strings disintegrated by a corrosive process; high-volume/headphones habituees, beware your hearing. The last seven minutes fuse someone ice-skating on a frying pan while discarding and chewing a chocolate snack. All of the above is great one-instrument concrete music that will cause Richard Galliano undergoing therapy against nightmares. It’s only an accordion, but I like it!
Massimo Ricci Touching Extremes
Metade dos Cremaster (o seu projecto electrónico com Ferran Fages) e um dos ângulos, o de topo, do triângulo I Treni Inerti (os outros são ocupados pelos trompetistas Matt Davis e Ruth Barberán), o português radicado em Barcelona Alfredo Costa Monteiro tem aqui o seu primeiro álbum a solo com um acordeão. Acordeão, escrevi eu? Sim, pelo que é anunciado na ficha técnica do disco, embora nunca tal nos pareça – ou quase. Ouvimos os foles e o ar que circula, mas nenhuma nota denuncia com toda a evidência a sua identidade, pelo simples facto de que não são tocadas notas convencionais. Como, aliás, faz com a guitarra eléctrica, Costa Monteiro tem uma abordagem concretista do instrumento que aprendeu na juventude. Não há fraseados melódicos, nem harmonia (mas muito poderíamos dizer sobre a prática do contraponto, ainda que transfigurado) e o ritmo tem a medida, incerta, da simples pulsação. O que é costume ouvirmos na electrónica mais experimental, o autor deste «Rumeurs» faz com um instrumento acústico. E com um léxico de sons extraordinariamente rico e que parece infindável, no seguimento das ideias do futurismo e de Cage de que todo e qualquer ruído é musicalmente utilizável. Trata-se de “noise music”, então, mas totalmente “unpluged” – isso, se exceptuarmos a utilização de microfones, e a verdade é que a acção amplificadora destes é fundamental, ao registarem os mais pequenos pormenores.
Rui Eduardo Paes, JL
Come Alfredo Costa Monteiro arrivi a produrre certi suoni a partire dal suo accordion non risulta chiaro al semplice ascolto. Ovviamente dietro a «Rumeur» (for solo accordion) ci sono una serie di trattamenti che trasformano il suo strumento in una sorprendente (laddove infernale) macchina produttrice di rumori. Ma è nell’uso libero da sequencer che troviamo l’anima migliore di questo lavoro come nel caso dello splendido ostinato in trentaduesimi della seconda traccia (9:30 minuti), qui fotografato in una breve istantanea all’interno della sezione audio. Poco da dire in merito alla precisione e ai bicipiti del fisarmonicista… Altrove rombi, gorgoglii e suoni cavernosi ci allontanano definitivamente dall’immagine, anche quella meno stereotipata, della fisarmonica contemporanea. Anche questo è un obiettivo e, in questo caso, è pienamente raggiunto.
Michele Coralli, Altremusiche
Alfredo Costa Monteiro è musicista assai attivo nell’ambito della nuova scena portoghese di musica d’improvvisazione, categoria alquanto labile che definisce un vasto orizzonte d’esperienze, a comprendere musica colta e free jazz, elettroacustica ed elaborazioni più propriamente digitali, spaziando così a tutto campo fra le differenti aree della sperimentazione d’avanguardia. E’ proprio la Creative Sources l’etichetta attorno alla quale si focalizzano gran parte di queste energie e che bene si presta a dar voce al fisarmonicista-autore, attento alle ultime tendenze, al suo primo lavoro come solista, in una produzione che trasmuta le tecniche più tradizionali
(relative alle molteplici possibilità offerte dallo strumento) in un suono complesso e stridente, solo apparentemente elettronico, ottenuto esclusivamente per mezzo di microfoni ed amplificatori. Modulazioni estreme, inclini sia alla noise music, che all’astrazione ambientale, adagiate fra variazioni tonali, click e fruscii che riportano al glitch, in una sospensione di sonorità e d’intenti che è già stile a se stante.
Aurelio Cianciotta, Neural
The monotonous sounds and kitsch repertoire with which the accordion is stereotypically associated have doubtless convinced many that Ambrose Bierce was right to define it as «an instrument in harmony with the sentiments of an assassin». Alfredo Costa Monteiro’s remarkable solo CD may not serve to rescue the instrument from the opprobrium into which it has fallen, but what it does demonstrate is how this nineteenth century combination of expandable bellows, reeds and keyboard can be used to create vibrantly contemporary music at the start of the twenty-first century. Only one of the five tracks contains even the smallest remnant of the accordion’s conventional sound. In its place, Monteiro produces a range of flushing, grinding, sliding and hissing noises, deftly incorporated into what are often mutating patterns of unstable rhythms and complex textures. Like me, you may be left wondering how most of the sounds heard on this CD can possibly be teased from an accordion, but ultimately it is the fascinating unfoldings of Monteiro’s rich musical imagination that command attention.«Rumeur» is a excellent release that deserve a wide hearing.
Wayne Spencer, Paris Transatlantic
Costa Monteiro, guitarrista, electrónico o acordeonista, improvisador de origen portugues afincado en Barcelona (donde forma parte del triunvirato IBA –Improvisadores de Barcelona Asociados- junto a Ferran Fages –guitarra, electrónica y responsable del sonido de esta grabación- y Ruth Barberan –trompeta-). Además de en diversas combinaciones con estos y otros improvisadores ya se nos había presentado (discograficamente) a solo, improvisando/creando con gomas elásticas o papel. Ahora le toca el turno “con su instrumento”.
Tocar, lo que se dice tocar, no es que toque mucho el acordeón, o por lo menos según el modelo de la famosísima Maria Jesus (la del) ya que lo suyo es la manipulación (¿no ha pensado dedicarse a ala política con semejantes maneras?). De lo que no hay duda es de que lo que ofrece es lo que anuncia en el titulo, ya que lo que podemos escuchar son cinco “rumores” (que no cotilleos). De lo que no cabe la menor duda es que más de uno no tendrá muy claro el explicativo entre paréntesis del “for solo accordion”. Pero eso, tal cual, es lo que hay. Un (cinco de hecho) “Rumor” creado con-sobre-desde… un acordeón (uno solo).
Jesus Moreno, TomaJazz
More unlikely instruments than the keyboard accordion for solo improvisations would be hard to find. Which is probably why Barcelona-based accordionist Alfredo Costa Monteiro decided to make this CD.
Organized so that timbres, tempos and pitches unlike the conventional ones sanctioned for the instrument on display, this CD would probably frighten traditionalists. However the Iberian is trying to find new solo roles for his respective instrument of choice the way American Greg Kelley has for the trumpet or Brit Jon Rose has for the violin.
Throughout RUMEUR’s graphically titled five tracks, Portuguese-born Monteiro, who is also a visual artist, shows how the accordion can be deconstructed into a sound source. Treating the bellows, treble keyboard, brass buttons, case and vibrating surfaces separately, he exploits each in turn, sometimes in different combinations.
At one point, for example, the unvarying chuga chuga of the bellows is used to produce reed vibrations with foot-tapping energy. Soon, as sonorous lower tones mix with a higher-pitched counter line, smacks on the squeeze box’s sides reveal a percussion instrument that produces a third overtone as the tempo accelerates at different pitches.
Two other tracks find him manipulating the accordion’s reeds in such a way that it actually seems if the colored air being expelled is coming from an oral instrument such as a bagpipe. Shriller-than-calliope notes arrive in one section as do grainy tones that resemble an agitated rooster crowing. Stretched squawks suggest heavy breathing, while stop-and-start rasps presage a replication of waves rolling onto the shore, which take up part of the final selection.
Here, after earlier passages that posit the idea of dragging abrasive shards of metal and wood along the ground, shrieks are traded for whispering rasps and growls, as if Monteiro was ratcheting and shaking undenominational percussion.
But there’s little doubt that Monteiro has produced his conclusive comment on solo playing. You can trace his progress with this CD.
Ken Waxman, Jazz Weekly
His solo accordion disc, “Rumeur”, also confounds expectations somewhat. That is, expectations derived from years of listening to relatively quiet improv. The opening track is quite aggressive, an apian swarm that I daresay few would be able to source as having been generated via accordion. The second cut (all pieces are titled by a series of dots) is substantially more squeeze-boxish and, in fact, sounds like something you might hear from Guy Klucevsek, churning out percussive puffs from the bass register, chugging along in strict mechanical rhythm like a creaky, steam-generated engine. The third’s a rough and tumble, very enjoyable freefall through various bangs and wheezes of the instrument while the fourth enters an area of high, microtonal keening that’s quite abrasive. In a good way. Monteiro closes with a fine selection of accordional detritus, the squishy, crunching tableau summoned from somewhere within the instrument’s bowels. Fine, gritty stuff.
[…] Everything heard here reinforces my ongoing conviction that some of the finest, most distinctive new music around is being created between Barcelona and Lisbon. Check it out.
Brian Olewnick, Bagatellen
Alfredo Costa Monteiro urodzil sie w Portugalii, lecz od przeszlo dziesieciu lat, czyli od momentu ukonczenia studiów w paryskiej Akademii Sztuk Pieknych, zyje i pracuje w Barcelonie. Muzyka improwizowana zajal sie w polowie lat 90. ubieglego stulecia i od tej pory wspólpracuje zarówno z muzykami, jak i z artystami z kregu sztuk pieknych. Jest czlonkiem formacji stricte muzycznych Cremaster i i treni inerti oraz kolektywu 22a, zajmujacego sie sztuka wspólczesna. Jest równiez wspólorganizatorem miedzynarodowego festiwalu muzyki improwizowanej IMPROVISA, odbywajacego sie w Barcelonie.
«Rumeur» jest jego czwarta plyta solowa, a jak wskazuje tytul wypelniaja je nagrania, ktore powstaly za sprawa akordeonu. Specjalnie napisalem: «za sprawa» poniewaz sformulowanie, ze Costa Monteiro gra – pomimo tego, ze niewatpliwie tak przeciez czyni – na akordeonie, mogloby zmylic czytelnika.
Muzyk dekonstruuje nie tyle moze sam instrument, co nasze o nim i jego mozliwosciach wyobrazenie. Uzywajac go na wiele nietypowych sposobów, traktuje go jako przedmiot, na który skladaja sie elementy, które mogace stac sie zródlem dzwieku. Nie wiem, czy owa dekonstrukcja jest doslowna, czy Costa Monteiro demontuje instrument, czy wykorzystuje poszczególne czesci akordeonu oddzielnie, czy tez jako fragmenty wiekszej konstrukcji, ale cokolwiek czyni, przyznac nalezy, ze robi to w sposób osobliwy i wlasciwie niemozliwym – przynajmniej dla mnie – sie staje stwierdzic, jak «on to wlasciwie robi ?»
Z pieciu nagran wypelniajacych «Rumeur», wlasciwie w jednym tylko, mozna rozpoznac brzmienia choc po czesci kojarzace sie z akordeonem; tworzywem pozostalych sa dzwieki dalekie od naszych wyobrazen o mozliwosciach tego instrumentu. W utworze pierwszym slyszymy rój rozwscieczonych plastikowych pszczól atakujacych niedzwiedzia, który jezykiem szorstkim jak papier scierny wylizuje miód z przewróconych barci, w drugim odglos pracujacego silnika, którego tloki wygrywaja demoniczna wersje «Tanca z szablami» skrzyzowanego z glassowsko-reichowskimi repetycjami. Nagranie trzecie kojarzy sie raczej z «field recordingiem», dudnienie przejezdzajacych w oddali pociagów miesza sie z szumem wiatru hulajacego w opustoszalej hali fabrycznej, której
pilnuja powarkujace buldogi o trzewiach ze stali. Utwór czwarty to piesn skorodowanego metalu: upiorny akordeon traktowany (chyba, bom tego niepewny) jakims smykiem brzmi, niczym nienaoliwione wahadlo albo skrzypiaca hustawka. Calosc plyty wienczy utwór piaty, przynoszacy za sprawa nieustannych szmerów, szumów i trzasków nieco industrialne w wyrazie ukojenie.
«Rumeur» to nie tylko popis nieskrepowanej konwencjami wyobrazni jego twórcy, ale przede wszystkim kawal wspanialej i swiezej muzyki.
Zachecam do siegniecia po te plyte, moim zdaniem jest to pozycja obowiazkowa nie tylko dla milosników akordeonu.
Tadeusz Kosiek, Diapazon
Qui saurait dire a l’écoute seule qu’on entend là un accordéon? Monteiro possède d’immenses oreilles: que ceux qui ont lu Kerouac se souviennent de sa capacité à entendre et retranscrire les parlers. Le rapport avec l’écrivain Beat ne s’arrête pas là puisque cette musique toute de bruit a un pouvoir d’évocation et d’émotion étonnant, elle nous parle véritablement. Monteiro organise sa musique en couches multiples et mouvantes qui en font une sorte de kaléidoscope. Chaque morceau est une étude pour un son fondamental, souvent laid, auquel Monteiro donne une variété de visages étonnants, avec un sens parfait du tempo, ou plutôt de la mise en scène.
Noël Tachet, Improjazz