Jakob Nierenz: Speaking in Tongues

In the organizer's words:

Jakob Nierenz: Violoncello, Composition & Artistic Direction

(Beethovenfest Fellowship)

Cassie Kinoshi: saxophone & composition

Hanna Mbuya: tuba & composition

Lukas Akintaya: percussion & composition

Titus Underwood: Visualization

'Black music' - collaboratively created cross-genre new compositions interwoven with texts by authors from the African diaspora

"Speaking in Tongues" - this title refers to a phenomenon in which people speak in languages seemingly unknown to them. Beethovenfest Fellow Jakob Nierenz brings together musicians from the African diaspora who deal with feelings of home and foreignness, belonging and exclusion. They work on new compositions in several intensive sessions. They are inspired by the dynamics of this togetherness as well as by the musical legacy left behind by Afro-diasporic people in the USA, Europe and worldwide. In an equal exchange, experimental and open-ended, they integrate music from the countries of their family roots: Nigeria, Kenya, USA, Germany and Great Britain. With improvisation and text samples about black identity, they create transitions - the result is a rousing performance.

A production of the Beethovenfest Bonn