Impressions of A L'ARME! Vol. IX (updated)

Photo by Juliane Schütz 

The 9th A L'ARME! Festival kicked off Wednesday night at Zenner in Berlin's Treptower Park.  An open air event with DJs and drums, the event is a nod to normal, helping to welcome live events back, which tepidly have begun popping up throughout the city (and will hopefully continue... Daumen sind gedrückt.)

After the opening event, the festival heads back to its familiar stomping grounds, Radialsystem, an arts center build from a 19th century water pumping station, across the river in the Friedrichshain neighborhood.

The program for Vol. IX is an ever adventurous mix of experimental music, leaning towards electronics and avant-garde jazz. Including (in no special order or selection criteria) Lotte Anker, Stephen O'Malley, Lucy Railton and Kit Downes, among many others. The Free Jazz Blog cannot be there in person this time around, but we've made arrangements to give you an impression of the event through photos. We'll be updating the images here throughout the weekend, so check back! 

By the way, A L'ARME! 2020, postponed, moved, and finally rendered audience-less, took place as a series of professionally filmed performance videos, which have been popping up on social media and can be seen here.  

- Paul Acquaro

Wednesday, July 28th
Treptower Park, Berlin

Anika. Photo by Juliane Schütz

ARA. Photo by Juliane Schütz

Anika & ARA. Photo by Juliane Schütz

hÄK/Danzeisen, Bernd Norbert Würtz and Phillip Danzeisen. Photo by Juliane Schütz

Thursday, July 29th
Radialsystem, Berlin

A L'ARME curator Louis Rastig

Marcela Lucatelli. Photo by Juliane Schütz

Skultura: Nick Dunston, Ayse Cansu Tanrikulu, Eldar Tsalikov, and Liz Kosack. Photo by Juliane Schütz

Genevieve Murphy & Andy Moor. Photo by Juliane Schütz

Genevieve Murphy & Andy Moor. Photo by Juliane Schütz

Friday, July 30th
Radialsystem

Lucy Railton & Kit Downes. Photo by Juliane Schütz

 Terrie Ex & Peter Zegveld. Photo by Juliane Schütz

Julien Desprez & Farida Amadou. Photo by Juliane Schütz

Lapsus Lumine Plays Moondog Project. Photo by Juliane Schütz

Lapsus Lumine Plays Moondog Project. Photo by Juliane Schütz

Lapsus Lumine Plays Moondog Project. Photo by Juliane Schütz

Marta Del Grandi  — Vocals

Sabrina Oggero Viale  — Vocals

Erika Sofia Sollo — Vocals

Stefano Risso — Double-bass, Comp., Arr.

Feat.

Ernst Reijseger — Cello

Jim Black — Drums

Saturday, July 31
Radialsystem

Zbigniew Chojnacki. Photo by Juliane Schütz.

Unstumm – Supercritical Fluid. Photo by Juliane Schütz.

Nicola L. Hein (De) — Guitar, Electronics

Claudia Schmitz (De) — Live Moving Image Onto Sculpture

Axel Dörner (De) — Trumpet, Electronics Viola

Yip (De/us/hk) — Lightbulbs, Electronics

Lotte Anker and Mattias Bauer. Photo by Juliane Schütz.

  

Karkhana. Photo by Juliane Schütz.

Mazen Kerbaj (De/lb) — Trumpet, Electronics

Sam Shalabi (Cn) — Electric Guitar, Oud

Sharif Sehnaoui (Lb) — Electric Guitar

Tony Elieh (De/lb) — Electric Bass

Maurice Louca (Eg) — Organ, Synth

Umut Çağlar (Tr) — Reeds, Flute, Percussion

Michael Zerang (Us) — Drums, Percussion, Cymbal

 

Kali Malone Presents "Does Spring Hide Its Joy" Featuring Lucy Railton And Stephen O’malley. Photo by Juliane Schütz.