Mechanical Music Mashup

The popular music of the past meets contemporary experimental musicians in Mechanical Music Mashup. Heather Frasch, Hainbach and Joseph Kudirka interpret the mechanical musical instruments of Museum Pankow's exhibition »Musica di Strada« and present their results in the sonorous old water reservoir in Prenzlauer Berg.

Heather Frasch not only works with the exploration of sounds associated with specific objects, but is also concerned with what might be called »sonic memory«: how sounds and the history of their perception shape the personal memories and relationships of listeners.

Hainbach has his own relationship with historical sound generators, and he is particularly interested in how their histories are shaped - how they and their outputs change and even deteriorate over time. He doesn't see these changes as something negative, but finds ways to appreciate the particular beauty of what might have seemed broken, worn, or crooked to the instruments' original creators.

Joseph Kudirka has direct experience with mechanical instruments: he builds wind-up music boxes from parts of mid-20th century Swiss music boxes. Recently he has been recording pieces by contemporary composers (e.g. Christian Wolff, Maya Verlaak, Eleni Poulou) for hand-operated music boxes.