Radio Ensemble

Radio Ensemble invited UK and Indonesian sound artists and composers to perform together as an ensemble across parallel time and space, broadcast in both Indonesia and the UK.

Radio Ensemble was curated by Indonesia-based curator Ignatia Nilu as part of an exchange hosted by Abandon Normal Devices and in response to restrictions for musical collaboration over the last 12 months. These limitations have necessitated alternative modes and expanded possibilities for spaces of collaboration through art and technologies. Radio Ensemble combined analogue and digital technologies to connect multiple players; musicians, sound artists, composers and programmers from the UK and Indonesia in a speculative performance. Each of the ensemble players were guided in the performance by an auditive score composed by Indonesian composer Gatot Danar.

An accompanying installation for Radio Ensemble was available to explore at Bidston Observatory over the festival period, the work could be experienced via the analogue radios provided, either alone or as a group, by searching for the correct frequency.

Featured musicians:

Daniel Caesar is a drummer, percussionist, composer, live performer, improviser, musician and sound artist. Daniel is a self-taught drummer who then studied Music and Performing Arts under Drs. Agus Salimat at the Indonesian Institute of the Arts, Yogyakarta. He has gone on to perform with Ngesti Swara Ensamble. Daniel has collaborated with: Prof . Jeffry M. More, Peter Y.P.M.A, Kim Sanders, Bleir, Sebastian Captain, Simon, Agrillo, Ben Pasaribu, Wong Aksan, Gilang Ramadhan, Inang Noorsaid, Akira Jimbo, Wayan Sadre, Budi Ngurah, Vincent, Sawung Jabo.

Jonathan Hering is a performer and composer from Liverpool. Jonathan is a multi-instrumentalist, performing with Ex-Easter Island Head and The Aleph. He has performed throughout Europe, and as far afield as Japan, working alongside artists and composers as diverse as Christian Wolff, Anat Ben David, Trey Spruance and Phil Minton. Jonathan has also worked on projects and collaborations with Tate, Liverpool Philharmonic, and Turner Contemporary, among others. Jonathan is also heavily involved in inclusive music-making and education, working for Drake Music, DaDaFest, The Amber Trust and Soundabout.

Daniel Thorne is a composer and saxophonist, who is fascinated by the infinite shades of possibility that exist between the notions of acoustic and electronic, and composition and improvisation. This blurring of lines is at the heart of his music, creating a unique sonic world that obscures and detaches his instrument’s sound from its more-typical associations. Based in Liverpool, UK, he is known in the city for his work as the artistic director of acclaimed new music group Immix Ensemble, which champions innovative cross-genre and cross-art form collaborations. Parallel to his work with Immix, Daniel has been developing a unique compositional voice of his own. His debut solo album, Lines of Sight – an exploration of the idea of perspective that was inspired by aerial images and the juxtaposition of synthetic and organic – was released on Erased Tapes on March 15, 2019.