RUISKAMER: Tashi Dorji / Clara Levy & Ruben Machtelinckx

Clara Levy & Ruben Machtelinckx built up a well-deserved reputation as adventurous improvisers on the jazz circuit. For Ruiskamer they will play a duo set together for the very first time.

Ruben Machtelinckx is an active member of the Belgian and European scene for improvised and experimental music both as a guitarist and composer. His catalogue of releases exceeds ten records as a bandleader, with collaborators such as Evan Parker, Arve Henriksen, Ingar Zach, Nils Økland, Frederik Leroux, Toma Gouband, Fredrik Rasten, Thomas Jillings, Hilmar Jensson, Joachim Badenhorst and Bonnie "Prince" Billy.

Machtelinckx’ music has evolved from gentle melodies and folk influences to a sound world where friction and a hidden discomfort reside, without letting go of the power of songs and strains. In extension of his musicianship he runs Aspen Edities, an independent record label for contemporary music that issues both improvised music and compositions, often combined in a peculiar interplay.

Clara Lévy is a French violinist and improviser, whose career is mainly focused on what is commonly called « new music ». For the past few years, she has been developing solo projects, questioning in turn the conditions of listening and the dramaturgy of the concert (Outre-Nuit), or the sometimes blurred edges between interpretation and composition (13 Visions).

Besides her own projects, she is regularly collaborating with European ensembles such as ONCEIM (Paris), Ictus (Brussels), Hanatsu Miroir (Strasbourg), Contemporary Insights (Leipzig) as well as the following composers: Erika Vega, Eva-Maria Houben, Clara de Asis, Jurg Frey, Karl Naegelen, Kaija Saariaho, Szymon Brzoska, Klaus Lang... Passionate about contemporary dance and performance, she performs on stage with Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui (Sutra) and works with choreographers such as Vera Tussing, Jan Rohwedder.

Born in Bhutan and based in Asheville, North Carolina since 2000, Tashi Dorji's trajectory towards his deeply personal language on the guitar has been informed by a vast array of influences tumbling over one another along the day. Soaking up the usual Metal, Punk and Rock leanings in his teen years, Dorshi took the path from there to free jazz, avant garde and free improvisation, with an epiphanic encounter with Derek Bailey's music proving to be particularly pivotal. Without binding to such guiding lights, Dorshi's playing takes an intuitive approach that feels both lyrical and feral, hinting at tangent references that disappear through improvisations on both acoustic and electric guitar.

With a sprawling discography dating back to 2009, Dorji's first improvisations on acoustic guitar came to life on a number of tapes that found him exploring its properties and boundaries between melody, texture and the unknown. A mystifying vision that continued throughout a number of solo and collaborative albums with such luminaries as Susie Ibarra, Mette Rasmussen, Michael Zerang or Tyler Damon on a number of labels like Ben Chasny's Hermit Hut, Bill Orcutt's Palilalia, Astral Spirits or Feeding Tube. Following the vinyl reissue of two long sold out early tape releases and the 'Stateless' LP in 2020, 'we will be wherever the fires are lit' marks his return to Drag City with a collection of improvised instrumental "torch songs" for acoustic guitar, that balance the delicate and fierce in its intimate execution, imbued with a pathos of resistance. Or, as he succinctly put it, "strumming in opposition to the towers". 

With support by GAME, the Ghent Advanced Master Ensemble, consisting of the musicians and composers of the MANAMA Contemporary Music programme. They share a desire for dialogue, creation, interdisciplinarity and curiosity about the latest developments in contemporary music.