DeutschIncense of Music 35
Kakaliagou/Schmoliner — Nabelóse
A multisensory concert – Sunday, 12 May 2019, 5 pm
Ingrid Schmoliner: piano, voice
Elena Kakaliagou: French horn, voice
Incense: Juniper, Cedrus Deodara
Salon Dreiklang, Paul-Robeson-Strasse 47, 10439 Berlin
"Whispering, Drones, Witches and a Funeral March…" Song cycle. New and old. Greece & Austria. Deep sea. Deep mountains. Welcome.
As an offspring of the trio PARA, the duo Kakaliagou/Schmoliner presents the LP "Nabelóse," a composed song circle based on folk tunes and tales from Greece and the Alpine area, interspersed with extended techniques on the piano, the horn, and voice. The album was composed during their time together as artists in residence in St. Johann in Tirol and was released in March 2017 by Berlin's Corvo Records, followed by successful concerts in places like Ausland Berlin, Tonhalle Hannover, and Bunker Ulmenwall Bielefeld. The duo's music also features in the documentary film "Araf" by Didem Pekün, which was nominated at various festivals in 2018 and 2019. Additionally, we will burn juniper and Cedrus deodara.
Artists
Ingrid Schmoliner — piano, voice
Austrian musician, composer, and pedagogue Ingrid Schmoliner performs in various international and interdisciplinary projects. She is the founder of the Raum_4 concert series and curates the New_Adits Festival for Contemporary Music in Carinthia. Schmoliner distinctively expands the tonal language of current avant-garde music with her striking piano preparations and the multilayered combinations of her compositional patterns.
Elena Kakaliagou — French horn, voice
Elena Margarita Kakaliagou is a Greek-Austrian French horn player and performer, currently based in Berlin. Starting out with piano lessons, she moved on to the French horn at the age of 18. After completing her studies in Athens with Vangelis Skouras, she continued her education at KUG-Graz under the teaching of Hector McDonald. Instructed by Erja Joukamo-Ampuja, Elena obtained her Master's degree from Sibelius Academy in 2010 in French horn and chamber music. During her career, Elena has received scholarships from Klangforum, Impuls Academy, and Ensemble Modern, with teachers including Mike Svoboda and Bill Forman. Elena's field of specialization is free improvised and contemporary music, alongside classical chamber music. She has performed premieres with ensembles including Ensemble Linea, Schallfeld, and KNM Berlin at festivals such as Ultraschall Berlin, MaerzMusik, Randspiele, Musica Nova (Finland), Lá-bas (Finland), Musica (France), Warsaw Autumn, New Adits (Austria), Ultima (New York), Kaleidophon (Austria), and Sound Live Tokyo. She has worked with individual artists including Riikka Innanen, Phill Niblock, James Andean, Ingrid Schmoliner, Katharina Klement, CC Hennix, Robin Hayward, Simon Martin, Matias Guerra, and Thomas Noll. Elena is co-founder of the Helsinki-based Rank Ensemble, the Austrian trio PARA, the duo Kakaliagou/Schmoliner, and the duo Guerra/Kakaliagou, and is a member of Zinc & Copper, zeitkratzer, and the ensemble of CC Hennix.
Incense
Common juniper is a hardy, often low-growing conifer with the largest natural range of any woody plant on earth — spanning from the Arctic down through temperate mountain regions of North America, Europe and Asia. Its needle-like leaves grow in whorls of three, and its berry-like, blue-black cones take around eighteen months to ripen. The slow-growing, dense wood is prized for its pleasant scent and decorative grain.
Across much of Northern and Central Europe, juniper smoke has traditionally been used to cleanse spaces and ward off negative influences, a use closely related to frankincense that earned it the folk name "German sandarac." In Kashubian tradition in northern Poland, boys have traditionally chased girls on Easter Monday, gently whipping their legs with juniper twigs to bring them good fortune in love. The tart, blue-black cones, known as juniper berries, still flavor meats and gin today — the word "gin" itself derives from an Old French word for juniper.
Burned as incense, juniper gives off a clear, resinous-fresh scent with a faint, berry-like sweetness — invigorating yet grounding.
Cedrus deodara, also known as the Himalayan cedar, is a large, evergreen conifer native to the western Himalayas — eastern Afghanistan, northern Pakistan and northern India, and Tibet and western Nepal — occurring at altitudes of 1,500 to 3,200 metres. It is the tallest-growing of the true cedars, reaching 40 to 50 metres, exceptionally up to 60 metres, with a conic crown of level branches and characteristically drooping branchlets. Its wood is particularly fragrant and resin-rich.
Its Sanskrit name, "devadaru" — a compound of deva, "god," and daru, "wood" — means "wood of the gods." In Hinduism the tree is considered sacred, referenced in numerous legends and associated with Shiva. Thanks to its insect- and rot-resistant, aromatic wood, it was used for centuries in the construction of temples and sacred buildings across the Himalayan region. Its essential oil has also long been used in Ayurvedic medicine.
Burned as incense, Cedrus deodara releases a warm, woody, sweet-balsamic scent, related to common cedarwood but softer in character. It is associated with spiritual grounding, meditation, and the creation of sacred space, and remains part of Hindu and Buddhist ritual practice across the Himalayas today.