Molimo is the trio of performers comprising sax soprano, Chefa ALONSO, who also plays the Kacapi and small percussion instruments, Barbara MEYER, on cello, and Cova VILLEGAS, vocalist.
For over twenty years, they have collaborated in interdisciplinary projects with artists from very varied domains -theatre, dance, poetry, circus and plastic arts- and have taken part in the programmed activity of International Festivals of Improvisation: Hurta Cordel (Madrid); Imaxina Son (Vigo); WIM (Festival of Improvisation of Zug, Switzerland); Festival of Improvisation of Bucharest (Romania); at Dance Festivals: Madrid en Danza (Madrid); Situaciones (Cuenca); at Art and Poetry events: Poésie Dans Les Chais (France), Nombrando el porvenir (MUSAC, Leon); at different programmed cultural events such as Escena Contemporánea (Madrid) and at many Cervantes Institutes and Centros Culturales in Spain and Latin America.
The three are members of Orquesta Carníval, a project that is the brainchild of Chefa Alonso, which brings together improvisation (with or without direction), and pre-composed works, with the open, free-spirited incorporation of circus music, free jazz, electronic and experimental music, contemporary sound, poetry and dance. The "molimo", song of the forest, is a form of music sung by the Bambuti in their rituals. At times it is confused with the sound made by crickets, frogs and night birds; their sound merges with that of the forest. It is free and mysterious, it comes from far. It makes its indomitable way through the forest, appearing and disappearing as it pleases.
Molimo's work hinges upon their confidence with free improvisation and the experience they have in doing it, with special emphasis on the visibility of sound, on music being gradually visually revealed, upon the development of strategies for listening and proposals for composition that crop up along the way, here and now, inviting audiences to traverse different sound landscapes they can make their own. The members of Molimo play with encounter, and mis-encounter, whether consciously sought or the fruit of chance; with the ruptures, flights and dialogues emanating therefrom, as well as interaction with any given place or audience, which are an integral part of their performances. There is room for all types of music in their work. As there is for all the different modes of the poem, the collective imaginary of a lifetime and of art undergoing constant change, a perpetual journey. The music of Molimo, conceived without any preordained structures, or arrangements, becomes real-time composition, based on listening to the other and instantaneous discovery. It is an elaborate search; it is discovery that is constantly alert to the sound and creative possibilities of every moment.
The three creators base their strategy and training on listening, on the reception of that which is said and heard, on taking personal decisions that will lead to a solo, or more ensemble, focus; or to a show of absence and silence. The architecture of the sound materials chosen for each moment is built during encounter itself, and never repeated. What you are looking for appears under the guise of chance. You have to know how to recognize and identify the object of that search when it passes by you; that, more so, than strive to be an active, diligent treasure hunter. A look, a smile, the puddle that’s there waiting to bring joy to a child, the daily sound of a door being opened, anything can be that warning signal you’re waiting for, that thing that spurs you on.
For over twenty years, they have collaborated in interdisciplinary projects with artists from very varied domains -theatre, dance, poetry, circus and plastic arts- and have taken part in the programmed activity of International Festivals of Improvisation: Hurta Cordel (Madrid); Imaxina Son (Vigo); WIM (Festival of Improvisation of Zug, Switzerland); Festival of Improvisation of Bucharest (Romania); at Dance Festivals: Madrid en Danza (Madrid); Situaciones (Cuenca); at Art and Poetry events: Poésie Dans Les Chais (France), Nombrando el porvenir (MUSAC, Leon); at different programmed cultural events such as Escena Contemporánea (Madrid) and at many Cervantes Institutes and Centros Culturales in Spain and Latin America.
The three are members of Orquesta Carníval, a project that is the brainchild of Chefa Alonso, which brings together improvisation (with or without direction), and pre-composed works, with the open, free-spirited incorporation of circus music, free jazz, electronic and experimental music, contemporary sound, poetry and dance. The "molimo", song of the forest, is a form of music sung by the Bambuti in their rituals. At times it is confused with the sound made by crickets, frogs and night birds; their sound merges with that of the forest. It is free and mysterious, it comes from far. It makes its indomitable way through the forest, appearing and disappearing as it pleases.
Molimo's work hinges upon their confidence with free improvisation and the experience they have in doing it, with special emphasis on the visibility of sound, on music being gradually visually revealed, upon the development of strategies for listening and proposals for composition that crop up along the way, here and now, inviting audiences to traverse different sound landscapes they can make their own. The members of Molimo play with encounter, and mis-encounter, whether consciously sought or the fruit of chance; with the ruptures, flights and dialogues emanating therefrom, as well as interaction with any given place or audience, which are an integral part of their performances. There is room for all types of music in their work. As there is for all the different modes of the poem, the collective imaginary of a lifetime and of art undergoing constant change, a perpetual journey. The music of Molimo, conceived without any preordained structures, or arrangements, becomes real-time composition, based on listening to the other and instantaneous discovery. It is an elaborate search; it is discovery that is constantly alert to the sound and creative possibilities of every moment.
The three creators base their strategy and training on listening, on the reception of that which is said and heard, on taking personal decisions that will lead to a solo, or more ensemble, focus; or to a show of absence and silence. The architecture of the sound materials chosen for each moment is built during encounter itself, and never repeated. What you are looking for appears under the guise of chance. You have to know how to recognize and identify the object of that search when it passes by you; that, more so, than strive to be an active, diligent treasure hunter. A look, a smile, the puddle that’s there waiting to bring joy to a child, the daily sound of a door being opened, anything can be that warning signal you’re waiting for, that thing that spurs you on.