We start the morning and are greeted with some beautiful music from Jonathan Stirner.
Jonatan Stirner in his own words: “I’m a guitarist and composer, whose musical expression is driven by improvisation, rooted in jazz and classical music. I have many years of musical studies from various folk high schools, and from an artistic candidate in improvisation from the Academy of music and drama in Gothenburg. I have composed for, and led a number of different projects, including the trio ‘Jonis Express’ whose debut album got uplifted in the Swedish national radioprogram ‘Jazzradion’.
I see improvisation as a tool to reach out, both to the listener and the other musicians – A language that is constantly taking on new forms, based on the moment and the context. Through this philosophy I strive to explore new musical possibilities, connecting different genres with improvisation as a basis.
More links:Â – An album by my trio Jonis Express
About the project:
“In this project I will perform a set of my own compositions and arrangements that are based on written and improvised parts. This concept opens up for a present musical experience, both for the listener and the performer. With the written material as a basis, I strive to create improvisational soundscapes that make the listener rock into the calm.”
I got the opportunity to capture this solo-project in a recorded live concert:
Spunsugar will close the Malmö Music Conference with a special 45 minute set. Spunsugar are a Malmö based trio Elin Ramstedt, Cordelia Moreau, and Felix Sjöström.
Their music transports you back in time to the echoes and brilliance of the UK underground scene of the ’70s, ’80s, and early ’90s.
Last year they released their first full length LP “Drive-Through Chapel”, which received good reviews and worldwide attention. Specifically, the album was described as a brilliant convergence of My Bloody Valentine’s escalating and jarring shoegaze, the Goth-rock of the Cure, and the pulsating darkness of Joy Division. This fall they will release an EP with four new songs and hopefully play some gigs in and outside of Sweden.
Cities need bottom-up spaces for music, experiment and creative expression. Does Malmö have enough of those? Newly appointed director of City planning will give us a sneak peek into the future of Malmö and the role of culture in it. Ingo Cando and Juni Karlsson will discuss the current challenges and opportunities accompanied by Lutz Leichsenring from Vibelab who can share his insights from a global perspective. The panel will be moderated by Ella Overkleeft who works with independent cultural spaces throughout Europe and has recently moved to Malmö.
Juni Karlsson aka Madura,
Madura has been part of the underground scene in Malm̦ for several years and has set fires to countless dance floors. With driving house tracks, deep baselines and minimalist beats, sprinkled with the occasional banger, she creates a sound that always keeps the floor moving. She is one of the creators behind the house collective Krux Рthat focuses on creating magical dance floor experiences whilst promoting equality in the scene.
Ingo Cando, Creator and Director of Wotever World and Cultural Director World Pride 2021
Ingo Cando, creator and director for Wotever World, a Queer Arts & Culture event organisation started in London 2003, and as of 2020 have a platform and seat here in Malmö. Wotever World do Create Community and MeetUps for LGBTQIA+ humans, and we do this via stage, live music and performance. There might be a Wotever Malmö opening soon.Ingo is 58, queer, non binary and Swedish, also worked as a cultural producer during WorldPride 2021.
Marcus Horning, Stadsbyggnadsdirektör Malmö Stad
Marcus has been the director of the city planning department in Malmö Municipality for the last two years. He previously worked in the same capacity in Lund, the neighbouring city of Malmö. Marcus has also been the chairman of Nordic City Networks for the last couple of years. Nordic City Networks is a network of nordic cities whose common challenges and possibilities are investigated collaboratively. As an urban planner with 20 years of experience, Marcus has worked with city development in all types of scales. From policy level to urban strategies and from development areas to urban design. Marcus has always worked with an interdisciplinary perspective in which technical, cultural, social, economic, and environmental perspectives and architecture are intertwined. This broad perspective is crucial in formulating sustainable strategies for creating dynamic, liveable cities for the future of cities in general and Malmö in particular.
Lutz Leichsenring, co-founder of the Creative Footprint
Lutz Leichsenring is the co-founder of the Creative Footprint and one of the world’s leading authorities on protecting creative industries. In 2018 Lutz co-founded VibeLab, an organisation that aims to engage, connect, inform, promote, and counsel cross-sector stakeholders to keep cities vibrant and flourishing after dark. Recognising that music venues are cultural assets that significantly enrich and improve society, the VibeLab network helps those who are seeking out new paths to make a change in their community. Since 2009, Lutz has been the spokesman and executive board member for the Berlin Clubcommission. He has fought tirelessly for the rights of Berlin’s vast underground club scene by organizing demonstrations, conferences, workshops and by speaking at round tables and parliamentary committees. Lutz started his career in nightlife immediately after high school, when he built one of the largest platforms for music event listings in Germany. He went on to run a nightclub and restaurant until 2010, and today is one of the chief shareholders of Berlin and London-based software company Young Targets. His role with the Clubcommission and the Berlin Musicboard has lead Lutz into the city’s Chamber of Commerce, where he frequently votes on development issues that protect creative space affected by gentrification.
Ella Overkleeft, Panel Host
Ella Overkleeft is concept developer, curator and consultant. Through various arts and culture projects she stimulates social innovation within urban and rural environments. She is the co-founder of The Night Mayor Foundation in Amsterdam and she is the Capacity Building Manager at Trans Europe Halles in Sweden, where she focuses on empowering independent cultural spaces all over Europe. Ella is as much an activist as a spiritualist, and with a set of strong believes and an holistic approach, she aims to push things forward by stimulating human interaction and connection.
Listen to a special performance by Johanna Knutsson and then a follow up interview with Ras Kjærbo.
Johanna Knutsson caught the music bug in 2008, she promptly moved to Berlin from her native Sweden, buying her very own set of Technics and a mixer along the way. Finding her inspiration Berlin’s people, clubs and surroundings, it wasn’t long before Johanna was well and truly entrenched in the city’s vast and varied music scene.
Her first release “Heavy baby†(featuring a Minilogue remix) was released on Klasse Recordings in March 2011. Soon after she remixed the award winning Swedish band This is Head’s track “De Trop†. 2012 saw the release of her second EP on Klasse “Support EP†with remixes from both Esther Duijn and Sacha Robotti an was promptly followed by a string of well received collaborations with Hans Berg on various labels such as Fullbarr, Klasse Recordings and The Free Spirit Society. In between all this Johanna hosts a monthly show in National Swedish Radio (called Musikguiden) as well as a bimonthly Sweat Lodge Radio show.
More recently, Johanna and Klasse Recordings head Luca Lozano have founded vinyl only cult label Zodiac 44, releasing the likes of Dungeon Acid, Analogue Cops, John Heckle and more.
Listen to Ras Kjærbo as he explores the power of music and the relationship it has with us as humans. This will be a inspiring session that will involve words and live music.
Ras Kjærbo is an Ableton Live, Push, Tractor, Complete, Improvisation, Mixing, Production Music technologist and neuroscience enthusiast.
Ras Kjærbo, is one of the Nordic region’s few certified Ableton Live teachers. He loves sound, technology, the brain and pesto, is a trained biomedicine from Roskilde University, music producer from Dubspot, New York and most recently studied the cognitive neuroscience of music at Goldsmiths, University of London. Since the establishment of his first teaching company in 2008, Ectopic Beats Music, Ras has been around the world with his workshops; from India to America, across Poland, Germany, Nepal, and especially around Scandinavia. In 2015, the trip came to Rumkraft.
A panel discussion moderated by Stephen Holmes aka EBlo about the barriers in both the music industry and when creating music. From the creative flow in the studio or on the laptop, or on a more larger level across the industry where key challenges must be faced to develop a more diverse and inclusive industry from label to artist.
Stephen Holmes aka EBlo, Music and Video Producer
Stephen Holmes (EBlo) is a Malmö based music and video producer. Stephen is originally from London and moved to Sweden back in 2013. Stephen has always a wide and deep imagination ever since he was a child, his fascination with music and film have always been something that has driven and often distracted him from his traditional career path in sales and marketing. Back in 2017 he released his debut album “Timeline†a raw collection of 12 songs heavily inspired by his love for movie and tv genres that explored the sci fi and dystopian worlds of Blade Runner and Stranger Things. In more recent years Stephen has started to produce more ambient and atmospheric tracks more akin to movie and tv soundtracks. Plus in 2020 he started producing imaginative and story driven videos for artists such as Paul Kalkbrenner, Booka Shade, Simina Grigoriu, Matt Sassari and for Malmö based label House Music with Love.
Felix Sjöström, Spunsugar
Felix musician from Malmö based band Spunsugar. The trio describes themselves as ‘an alternative rock band with shoegaze influences’. Their music has a higher tempo than that of their peer shoegazing bands. The room for guitar riffs and the use of a drum machine further define their sound.
Cordelia Moreau, Spunsugar
Cordelia is one the founders of Malmö based band Spunusgar. Cordelia first met lead singer Elin in the village where they lived when they were 13. She liked twee pop, jangle and grunge. Elin liked heavy metal, hardcore and post rock. From there they continued to write songs and then met Felix some years later in 2018 when he joined the band and they recorded their acclaimed “Drive Through Chapel” in 2018.
Ludwig Boss, Record producer/Songwriter//Artist and member of the illustrious Volkspark.
After more than 20 years in as artist,songwriter and producer has had the pleasure and honor to travel all over the world and work with wonderful and talented people. Just to name a few, the last years he had the pleasure to produce and play with artists like Alphaville, Band of Horses, Hank and cupcakes, Hideki Kaji, Rusty anderson and Justin Meldal jonsen. “The art of music and producing is to me as complex and simple as life it self, and has as to have a heart and soul to be able to connect and touch others.”
Yasmine Baramawy is an Egyptian musician, Sound Artist, Oud performer.
Yasmine Baramawy is an Egyptian musician, Sound Artist, Oud performer and Composer based in Malmö, She develops an original sound universe around her practice of the Oud (modified and augmented by a low string) but also around concrete music and other electronic experiments. She plays one of the world’s oldest instruments yet she manages to work with a curious blend of different approaches and genres like Oriental, Rock and Classic Music. She builds sound installations mingling with poetry and spoken word added to her Oud live manipulations, her approach is characterized by a permanent sound research exploring both the acoustic tradition of the oud and the adventurous and transversal sound practices. She composed and performed live with experimental and dance theatre plays and wrote scores for film production in the alternative scene in Egypt.
Nalija, Musician and Creator
Inspired by the instrumental communication of Latin and African music, the melancholy of jazz, the storytelling of hip hop, the vulnerability of soul and the sensuality of R&B, Nalija has found herself in the heart of this musical puzzle that reflects her journey as a woman and artist – a musical space where poetry meets contemporary drum sounds, trumpets are worshipped, and sensuality celebrated.
‘Free With Me’ is the debut-single off her upcoming EP and the start of a musical journey and project that has been lived and written over a lifetime of experiences.
Film composer / Curator Nathan Larson conducts a conversation on cosmic sound. Cosmic or Transcendent sound is pan-genre. It includes any musical or sonic form which encourages a greater sense of connectedness, and inspires a relationship to self, community, “spiritâ€, and something universal. How can we apply sound as a means to counter the crushing effects of capitalism and the modern condition?
Nathan Larson musician, author, curator, award-winning film music composer and founder of the Lumen Project. He has played in many bands, including A Camp, Shudder to Think, and Girls against Boys.
