Title: [proper website coming....]

Gender: Male

Age: 32

Sun Sign: Sagittarius

Chinese Sign: Fire Dragon

Location: Urban Rituals // Berlin

„A surfer with five telephone numbers and a conductor with as many personalities, Nathan Fuhr aptly mocks the polite conventions followed by a lot of today’s experimental music. His engagement with both audience and performers is raw, ludic and consistently high-energy, begging the boundary between music and ritual. Enter any of his performances, and you’ll likely find yourself swept away in a surge of genuine collective passion. I have no doubt he is in command of some diabolic, martial, joyously benign energies.“

Fabian Faltin, April 2008
www.popmetzger.com

,,…Nathan Fuhr keeps Cobra super fresh, continually breathing new life into it by finding the most fascinating cutting-edge musicians at any given time and sharply focusing their collective creative energy… Music that is up and down and all over the place but clearly focused in its 360-degree peripheral vision.”

“Berlin: Take My Breath Away”
Roddy Schrock, March 2006
www.newmusicbox.org




Vlucht Magazine, April 2004
(unabridged version of print text)
text: Francisco Gonzalez
photos: Nesrine Khodr
www.vluchtmagazine.nl

Collision Palace’s Nathan Fuhr

SERIOUSLY PLAYING

“I created Cobra to make beautiful music. I quit doing it because it makes monsters out of people.” - John Zorn to Nathan Fuhr (March 1999, New York)

I finally met Nathan Fuhr (27) by chance in Amsterdam at OT301, where I spotted him behind the DJ table for a dance festival closing party. He is the leader of Collision Palace, a large collective of musicians (and dancers too on occasion) from a genuine mix of stylistic backgrounds, whom he directs in the exploration of different improvisation languages. He has played bass in Cobra (John Zorn's most notorious “game-piece”) with Zorn himself in New York, before moving to Europe and instigating the Amsterdam-based Collision Palace (an apparently democratic endeavor, as he admits to not being keen on the name of the band, but was out-voted!). I attended some of their rehearsals before seeing them live in two splendidly different Cobra performances in 3 days, at the Bimhuis and OT301.

Nathan is the artistic director and (a classically trained) conductor of the ensemble, but to my eyes he is much more a performer himself. His way of gathering the band members’ energy and redistributing it back via specific signals and movements has more to do with dance, martial arts, or even shamanism than with simply prompting (Zorn’s term for the DJ-like director of Cobra). This is not free or even interpretive improvisation; the visceral clarity and physicality of his directing almost seem to declare war on the well-run territory of improv sans language, which is not to say that he does not balance such command with moments of making himself fluid or invisible, trusting players’ own commands, letting the music just breathe, or even sharing laughter (with people on and off the stage). He brought Cobra as it should be but rarely is; not as a demonstration of a game system (which is admittedly very entertaining and engaging in itself) or a representation of its legendary creator, but fully present and recognizing the immediate unique chemistry and latent interactive potential of 13 diverse creative individuals assembled on the stage in front of him, and using Cobra as a language through which intensely energized group dynamics are guided into a single, focused synergized flow.

And there is a certain social alchemy at work here too in the way he brings these people together, in that these are all first-class musical personalities well-known from different respective scenes in Holland (including commuters from Paris and New York) who otherwise might never be found in the same room together. It is from the beginning a highly combustible presentation of personal comfort zones shared, stretched, resculpted, or sometimes simply violated until their individual borders are transcended into the birth on an elevated (occasionally even ecstatic) collective level of “comfort zone” redefined. Nathan has independently conducted Sufi ceremonial trance research in Africa, and there are moments in performance where that influence manifests itself like a force of nature. This presentation was framed and drawn into harmony by his way, upon entering the space, of establishing terms in non-verbal communication with audience and his ensemble alike, palms together just below present eyes, with the grace and selfless air reminiscent of an Indian classical musician— a balancing ritualistic yin to the red-hot yang energy of the performance itself.

Upon my observation in one of our conversations of energy as a core aspect of the work, his face lit-up, because although Collision Palace is playing via different preconceived improvisation systems (they also include works by Pauline Oliveros, Frederic Rzewski, and a premiere by Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth in their repertoire, and have done projects with Fred Frith, Alison Isadora, and Robert Ashley, with whom Nathan continues to work closely as a vocal performer), you can tell Nathan is slowly developing his own language, and it is definitely through the concept of energy.

When I asked him to describe a CP concert in one sentence, he replied without hesitation: “We take risks, brew synergy, and go for blood (or Zen in the case of Oliveros or Isadora!)— and make sure to share as much joy as possible along the way.”





“… Some amazing talents there. John Zorn should be so proud of his idea for allowing this to all happen…. I don’t think he could have even known what direction it took off on. And you… you’ve done some wonderful things for these people…the members of the band / the audience / anyone involved really. You gave them a way to actually touch madness…total insanity for the musician.

The communication between the players is like an intricate game of chess…but a game only you all know where the pieces are at… “we” think you are all moving the pawn…and then… BOOM… checkmate. We didn’t even know… but this game isn’t between two… and it’s not between nine… it varies its players…some team up and attack another… and then later become allies again. And then… all of you become pawns and just live in the moment… it’s an amazing display.

And the power exchange too… love how one moment you are the virtuoso firey maestro… then the next just mirroring a player's own commands, or even letting them go for the driver’s seat altogether… I wonder if Zorn’s way with the language is so commanding, yet as well balanced by trusting and facilitating others' energies.

Us as the audience can only sit and marvel at the game that you all continue upon… and that, my friend… is intriguing… to anyone… marketing-wise (which I know isn’t a concern of yours of mine, just a point) you have something that can develop into great things for everyone… opening your souls up on stage… musicians as a whole do it always… but there is something different about it being used as a means of literal communication.

Spiritually you are all filling yourselves with a true passion…a passion that drives you mad with desire when you feel the energies around you. Such an eclectic group you have… so many views represented… and everyone… PASSION and madness for it.”





Nathan Fuhr (32, American/Senegalese, based in Berlin & Dakar) began his artistic life as a surfer kid in Florida, and his artistic career as a precocious and iconoclastic conductor of national acclaim. He received a high school diploma in bassoon performance ('95) from the North Carolina School of the Arts, and prior to his graduation from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music (B.M. with Honors '99), he had already become Apprentice Conductor of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Assistant Conductor of the Cabrillo Music Festival in California, Opera Theater Festival of Lucca in Italy, Denver Young Artists Orchestra, and Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestra, a nominee for the American Symphony Orchestra League National Conductor Preview, a finalist in the National Symphony Orchestra Conducting Competition, and separately the founder and director of the award-winning experimental and renaissance music collective COBRA Ensemble Cincinnati. He however soon grew to reject the conservative academic structures and narrow corporate predisposition of the American orchestral scene, in favor of a plurality of artistic influences, instincts, and collaborations, and thus accepted an invitation to work with John Zorn and moved to New York, where he soon conducted the world premiere of Lou Harrison's Simfony in Free Style at age 22.

A growing curiosity toward Europe and expatriation coincided with being offered a 1-year position conducting Ensemble M.Use in Holland, and he moved from New York in September 2001, just a few days before the world changed like wind on his back. In Holland he quickly became active conducting countless premieres as guest conductor for ensembles such as the Royal Conservatory of The Hague New Music Ensemble, Percussion Group The Hague, New Opera Academy, and Orkest de Volharding (for whom he was also later a finalist candidate for new chief conductor in 2005). In 2002, the jury of the renowned Darmstadt International New Music Institute awarded the highest prize to two premiere performances which he conducted, and have thus been released on cd. In Holland Nathan also initiated his own ensembles in development upon his work with John Zorn, specializing in the development of new group improvisation languages and game-systems, and enjoying collaborations with composers such as Pauline Oliveros, Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth, and Fred Frith, with whom he performed directing his ensemble Collision Palace in the Holland Festival 2003. In 2002 they were invited by the Steve Reich in The Hague Festival to realize a performance of Frederic Rzewski's minimalist-cum-maximalist classic “Coming Together”, in which Nathan created a system of conducting which combines physical direction and vocal performance, and in the same year a music theater collaboration with composer Alison Isadora for Gaudeamus Institute spawned his creation of a conducting technique using the physical and energetic language of Butoh dance. His voice performance work soon led him to the creative sphere of Robert Ashley, from whom he continues to draw influence and works closely, having initiated with the Maarten Altena Ensemble thus far two highly successful Robert Ashley Festivals in Holland 2004 and Switzerland 2006, in which Nathan sang the lead voice in the premiere of Ashley's Tapdancing in the Sand.

These projects, along with an accumulation of experience creating and directing music for dance, marked Nathan's entry into interdisciplinary performance, dance/choreography, and dramaturgy; the development and fruits of which are detailed in a seperate bio available upon request. Highlights include studies and/or performances of his work at the European Dance Development Center Arnhem, Institute Jacques Dalcroze Geneva, School for New Dance Development Amsterdam, DasArts Amsterdam, Festspielhaus Hellerau Eurhythmikwerkstatt Dresden, Danswerkplaats Amsterdam, Mousonturm Frankfurt, Kunstvlaai Festival Amsterdam, Mobile Academy Berlin 2004, Holland Festival AnAcademy 2005, Mobile Academy Warsaw 2006, with Meredith Monk and Ensemble, and collaborations in Holland with choreographers Sara Wookey, Laura Moro, Ji-Hyun Youn, Helen Pokrovskaia, and David Hernandez, directors Ragna Aurich and Jirka Blom, video artist Mendel Hardeman, and sound artist Roddy Schrock.

During this period of interdisciplinary development and voice performance, Nathan created an installation performance in collaboration with friends for his own birthday party in December 2001, based on the work of video artist Bill Viola, via whom he thus became acquainted with Sufi philosophy. This influence, and that of the writings of Paul Bowles, along with a continued investigation into a certain language of energy which is manifest between conducting and dance, accounted for the birth of an evolving research of trance and ritual dance, commenced a year later in Morocco via a non-touristic language of presence, fluidity, and respect. This led to active musical engagement in otherwise private ceremonies and jams with groups such as the Gnawa Brotherhood of Marrakesh (in their trance healing ceremony Leila), the Master Musicians of Jajouka, and the Berber of Essaouira over the course of three journeys from 2002 to 2004. A year later he traveled to Senegal to study traditional and modern African dance with Germaine Acogny at her L'Ecole de Sables, and extended his time there to embark upon independent research of the matriarchal animist trance healing ceremony Ndeup. During this time he discovered like an intoxicating force of nature the Wolof sabar dance (in which the dancer is not unlike a conductor of the drummers), which he found himself soon performing in street and club rituals and in spectacle with Dance Company Jallore. This research continues to inform and exchange resonance with his own western performance work and development of choreographic and musical languages of improvisation and ensemble synergy. Upon his return from Senegal in the spring of 2005 he was invited to lecture on the subject of trance at the Braunschweig Art Academy, who has subsequently published a text of his.

Since 2005 Nathan is based in Berlin where he directs the Berlin Cobra Series in collaboration with a rotation of curators, teaches yoga on occassion, practices Vipassana meditation, moonlights as a DJ, and continues to work with the Mobile Academy on topics such as non-academic and performative modes of knowledge transfer, non-verbal communication, rhythm and play. During 2005 Nathan lead workshops in rhythm and trance for Meg Stuart/Damaged Goods Dance Company, with whom his choreographic time-schemes were presented in residency at Pact Zollverein Performing Arts Center Essen. Concurrently, Nathan recieved the blessing from Sabri Saad el Hamus to lead western publics in the Egyptian Sufi Zikr trance ceremony, outside of traditional settings and embark upon his own recontextualization of the practice, at Western dance/theater festivals and parties, for example. (a role, by the way, which from the first moment manifested no small amount of resonance with the energetic language of leading a symphony orchestra).

Berlin highlights of 2006 include dance performances with Company Felix Ruckert, critically accclaimed Berlin Cobra #05 curated by Margareth Kammerer at Ballhaus Naunyn, and the co-creation with Chris Newman of a site-specific concert series at HAUS 19 of Humbolt University. Elsewhere, he participated in the dance division (under Xavier Le Roy and Meg Stuart) and led a Zikr at the Mobile Academy Warsaw, led a 1-week workshop-performance for musicians and dancers at Festspielhaus Hellerau Rhythmikwerkstaat in Dresden, directed concerts of John Zorn's Cobra and his own improvisation languages on the Festivalet d'Hivern 2006 in Barcelona, and ventured to Egypt to commence engagement with the Sudanese-descended matriarchal animist trance healing ceremony Zar, and go deeper into Zikr.

Highlights of 2007 include co-leading with Meg Stuart a research workshop at Kaai Theater Brussels, the theatrical directorship of Jennifer Walshe's new music theatre production for the Berlin Maerzmusik Festival, co-producing as voice soloist a cd of the music of Robert Ashley with the Maarten Altena Ensemble in Amsterdam, lecturing at the University of Bayreuth's “Shifting Centers” International Conference on Trans-African Artistic Positions, an invited participant in the British Council's international conference between artists and climate change scientists Tipping Point, a research exchange with choreographer Xavier Le Roy, presentation of Nathan's choreographic game-pieces and improvisation languages at the Institute Jacques Dalcroze quadrennial Eurhythmics Congress in Geneva, coaching collaborations with choreographers Antonia Baehr, Paul Gazzola at the Sophiensaele, and Toshiko Oiwa at Festspielhaus Hellerau Dresden, 2 nights of Berlin Cobra #07 curated by Alice Coltrane at Sophiensaele featuring also improvistion languages of Pauline Oliveros, Fred Frith, and a new system created for the event by Nathan himself, and the creation of a new ensemble of 6 drumkits and one conductor en cercle– Demonshaker– borne on September 11 in the spirit of protest for Berlin's Zentrale Randlage being shut-down by the city, and which wrapped-up 2007 with a winter solstice joybomb dropped at the closeout party of Tesla Berlin.

2008 commenced in Marrakech in continued collaboration with dancer Toshiko Oiwa, in a research residency with the Gnawa Brotherhood of Marrakech, followed by a creation residency at the Centre National de la Dance Paris in the spring, toward the premiere of the new creation Lilalalila with the Gnawa and Maalem Hassan El Gadiri at the Institute Francais Marrakech in May. February and March marked a return to the sabar dance, surfing, Ndeup research, and family of Senegal– where he also participated for the first time in the Grand Magal of Sufi Mouride trance singing. In April Nathan was at Ze dos Bois in Lisbon directing concerts curated by Rui Faustino of Cobra and Demonshaker.

In the second half of 2008, opportunities arose to explore the role of being directed. First, in June as a perfomer in the “Powell Opera” of his conceptual artist friend Franck Leibovici as part of the New LIfe Berlin Festival, then in July Nathan was a performer in “Settlement” of director Hans van den Broeck at the Impulstanz Festival in Vienna. His return to Berlin in September promptly resulted in an invitation to have Demonshaker as a surprise live act for the close-out party of Club103. Later in the month came the premiere of the installation/performance “Don't Touch”, in which he worked as a dancer at the invitation of choreographer Anna Konjetzky at the Muffathalle in Munich. Then directly on to Tallinn, Estonia for October and November, where he was invited to be an actor in “Is There Life After Capitalism?”, the new international production of director Peeter Jalakas at Von Krahl Theater. Upon return to Berlin in December, Nathan accepted a brief tenure as advisor for the new dance production “District” by Meierkord&Kim for the Tanztage Berlin Festival, and with Demonshaker again brought the year to a proper close, as the finale act of the Tanznacht Festival Berlin 2008 on Nathan's 32nd birthday.

Presently? Researching and concertizing in the Dakar dimension….
Happy new year, and see you at PRISMA Forum International in Mexico in June-July, for Demonshaker and Ideas from the Church– a new project under the influence of Robert Ashley, in collaboration with angelic Argentinian vocalist Lia Ferenese…..


[November 2006 / updated March 2009]


Demonshaker concept and converge:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/demonshaker/132810929667

Liminal Music concept (dance project):
www.wooloo.org/alicecoltrane/s3Blog.php#ANC_137

Zikr statement:
taken offline, available upon request

Berlin Cobra #05 images:
http://www.nza.zaadz.com/photos/album/4657

Berlin Cobra #07 images (more to come):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/-nza-/sets/72157607047882883/

Berlin Cobra #07 Gallery by Dennis Scharlau:
http://www.gegenfarbe.de/cobra

Demonshaker Tesla Berlin images [gallery]:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/-nza-/sets/72157607047303761/

Demonshaker Tesla Berlin images [raw]:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/-nza-/sets/72157614845301908/

Demonshaker 103Club Berlin images [gallery]:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/-nza-/sets/72157611567063652/

Demonshaker Tanznacht Berlin images [raw]:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/-nza-/sets/72157614866494648/

Demonshaker Tanznacht Berlin images [gallery]:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/-nza-/sets/72157618069492163/

Demonshaker PRISMA Forum Mexico images [gallery]:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/-nza-/sets/72157622456374111/

“Composition for Percussion, Loops, Blips, and Flesh” video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZVU_nQ4UCM

“Is There Life After Capitalism?” video:
http://www.vimeo.com/2442627

A small taste of Senegal:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/-nza-/sets/72157607044873250/


The Facebook thing is out there for you too, if that's more your style…




Robert Ashley Festival Zurich 2006
www.nzz.ch/2006/04/08/ku/articleDQM2R.html (German)

Berlin COBRA #05
www.geiger.dk/anmeldelser/anmeldelse.php?id=2470 (Danish)