The most experimental music of Joan Miquel Oliver, Mateu Malondra, and Toni Toledo will join the verses of Josep Maria Llompart, recited in his own voice, thanks to a recording, and in that of the poet Jaume C. Pons Alorda, in what promises to be a dialogue between different artistic disciplines, organized within the framework of the ME_MMIX festival. This sound and audiovisual experience will take place this Thursday, November 20th, in the courtyard of Can Balaguer, at 9 p.m., and in it “anything can happen,” says the Antònia Font composer and guitarist.
What they have prepared will be a tribute to the author of Mandràgola, but also an opportunity to listen to music that is anything but conventional. The three musicians, in collaboration with Pons Alorda, curator of the Llompart Year, and Xavier Malondra, in charge of the audiovisual aspect, will offer the audience a sonic and sensory journey through the poems of Josep Maria Llompart and based on four of Joan Miquel Oliver’s most experimental compositions, which he will perform for the first time before an audience. From there, each participant has had the freedom to contribute to the project. “What we wanted was to create an environment that was creative, in a free format, a dialogue between disciplines, and made by people from the Balearic Islands—in this case, Mallorcans—following the idea of sound research through language, through their own tongue, which aligns closely with Llompart’s idea of preservation and looking toward the future,” explains Mateu Malondra about what can be heard and seen at Can Balaguer.
Oliver, Malondra, and Toledo have rehearsed together only a few times because they want to leave space for the creativity mentioned by the ME_MMIX festival director. “At the third rehearsal, when we saw that things were more or less clear, we decided to stop, not to make it too structured, to leave a bit of danger for the live performance, which always adds something; at least for musicians, it makes us stay more alert and improvise a bit, which is what keeps us alive, after all,” explains Toni Toledo, who has handled the rhythmic and melodic part together with Oliver.
The collaboration among the musicians arose from Malondra, who already had in mind doing something with Llompart’s poetry. For his part, Oliver sees this performance as an exceptional opportunity to play a type of composition that usually has few spaces available. “Experimental music is what really interests me most, both when I write and when I listen to music, because what I really want is to hear things that surprise me and that I’ve never heard before. And contemporary music, avant-garde music, is where you find all of these things,” says the composer. “People know me first because I write the songs of Antònia Font, second because I sing my own songs, and then, very remotely, because I make experimental music. Although my audience knows this and tolerates that I might do anything, obviously, whoever comes to listen to Hansel and Gretel will not hear it that day,” Oliver warns.
Surprising results
“This dialogue has been quite fruitful in terms of exchanging ideas, each person respecting their own interests and their individual personalities. And the truth is that the project is producing some rather surprising results, where none of us gives up our essence, but we have been able to create bonds, bridges that bring each of us freshness, nuance, and a different perspective,” summarizes Mateu Malondra about this team effort.
Jaume C. Pons Alorda has made an initial selection of what he considers Llompart’s “best verses,” citing as examples Paraules a Maria, Petita història familiar, Els diumenges a la tarda rebíem visites, and Cançó d’anar de putes, among many others.
