Cibelle & The Colorist

In 'The Colorist', a six-person orchestra conducted by Aarich Jespers and Kobe Proesmans experiments with and searches for new registers and timbres for popular music. Homemade, primarily acoustic melodic percussion instruments play a central role, conjuring up a world of sound linked to modern classical music. A number of traditional instruments are also used in unorthodox ways to achieve a new sound. There is no clear division of roles: percussion, bass and melody are tightly interwoven to create interlocking scores. During the project’s development, the work of artists such as Harry Partch, Luigi Russolo, Moondog, David Byrne and Tom Zé played an important role.
This first concert features the Brazilian guest singer Cibelle Cavalli and, for part of the performance, The Colorist functions as an odd sort of backing band. Cibelle has enjoyed a long and exciting career with a mix of neofolk, electronica and other styles, which she describes as ‘tropical punk’. The programme features in-house compositions and a number of remix versions of Cibelle’s music. When creating these rearrangements, Kobe and Aarich work like cartoon or film colourists: they start out with the existing contours of the song, and colour them in in their own unique way.