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Actually, this is more about culture than the event announced at the bottom. Since I spend my early mornings nearly unconscious and need some music to wake up, I decided that today is a good opportunity to introduce my favorite musician: Alexander Balanescu and his "Balanescu Quartett".

I guess it is not very special to be addicted to this string quartett which is famous for his vanguard approach to all sorts of music from pop to industrial, from jazz to folk and classics. The "Balanescu Quartett" is very well known and popular all over the world.

The vanguard characteristics of Balanescu's music are best schown in his adaptation of "Kraftwerk":

Das System der immer effizienteren Rechnerverarbeitungen in Speichermedien wird auf den Notenständer zurückgeholt. Zum ersten Mal spielen Musiker auf vorgefertigten, klassischen Instrumenten elektronische "Kraftwerk"-Konstruktionen.

The article (Ars Electronica 1993) opposes the mechanical and robotic music of "Kraftwerk" to the breathing and the body of Balanescu's string-quartett. Balanescu's music is full of breath produced in particular by the ambient noise of the fiercely moved fiddlesticks. Yet, to speak of the "body" as sexual body in Balanescu's music with regard to the female musician in the group is strange:

Allein die Tatsache, daß eine Frau im Quartett spielt, ist im direkten Vergleich mit "Kraftwerk" eine Sensation: Die menschliche Form: Frau, oder überhaupt die Gattung Mensch als Geschlechtswesen kommt bei Kraftwerk nur in der Simulation vor[.]

Again, the woman – not her male co-musicians - is defined here as being sexual.

"Balanescu Quartett" is especially international whenever they refer to Alexander Balanescu's Romanian provenance. Thus, "Luminitza", and obviously the most recent CD "Maria T" are inspired by Romanian folk-song motifs. "Luminitza" is an opus of unforgiving remembrance, too. "We want to be democratic", the refrain of one song, can be seen as motto for the whole CD. Thus,

Das Quartet verfolgt eine fatalistische Philosophie. Inspiriert durch den Kollaps des Ceaucescu-Regimes verarbeiten sie ihre ureigenen Rumänienerfahrungen: bittere Traurigkeit und totalitäre Unterdrückung, aber auch die strahlenden Funken der Hoffnung nach der rumänischen Revolution finden darin Ausdruck. Gerade so, als könnte Musik gleichzeitig These und Antithese sein, inzenieren sie die Brüchigkeit der Geschichte ihres Landes.(Kulturarena Jena)

Last, there is an event to announce: "Balanescu Quartett" is performing on the festival "Kulturarena Jena 2005" on August 6, 2005.