Dzama Stories, new CD release of music by Ed Bennett.
Dzama Stories is a collaboration between the award winning Irish composer Ed Bennett and the legendary British saxophonist Paul Dunmall. Featuring an ensemble of ten exceptional performers, ( including the Decibel), Ed Bennett’s composition draws influence from the work of the “outsider” Canadian artist Marcel Dzama. Through the combination of pre-composed and freely improvised sounds, Bennett and Dunmall have created a work of huge energy which spans from the wildly rhythmic, noisy and chaotic to music of great subtlety and quiet reflection.
“It is elusive music. Music that grows from the cracks in the usual categories. Music that questions. As the first few elongated notes stretch out of my speakers I feel a kind of fear. Lured into an addictive, unsettling and mesmerizing world I feel as if I am being secretly hypnotized. Like all great music it exists on many layers. Ed and Paul have succeeded in making something that even in its recorded form seems to create a new experience of emotion with every listen. Even now, after I’ve listened to this recording maybe a dozen times, I am still curious, still beguiled by its content and shape, still surprised.”
Composer, Brian Irvine.
After several formative years stacking supermarket shelves and working as a self-taught composer, Ed Bennett left his native Ireland and pursued composition studies with a diverse range of musical personalities and has lived in recent years in Paris, Berlin, London and Birmingham. His music, which has been described in the press as “anarchic” (Irish Times), “manic” (Classical Music), “brutal” (The Guardian) and “beautiful” (Gramophone) is often characterized by its strong rhythmic energy, extreme contrasts and the combination of acoustic, electronic and multimedia elements.
He has been commissioned and performed internationally by many diverse artists, ensembles and organisations including the BBC, RTE, PRSF, Music Network, Moving On Music, Integra and the arts councils of England, Ireland and N.Ireland. He also performs with and directs his own ensemble, Decibel, which is dedicated to the performance of new and experimental cross-discipline work.
Dzama Stories is available from www.quartzmusic.com from itunes and amazon worldwide.
Ed Bennett is represented by the Contemporary Music Centre.
For further information on Ed Bennett or Decibel:
please see www.edbennett.co.uk or contact edbennett@edbennett.co.uk