Usually live events are quite busy and excited spaces, even within our genre. Usually it is during the performances themselves that people become quiet and inspired by the music begin their very individual journey towards their very personal within. The performance Mathias Grassow and Carsten Aghte at [url=https://www.kloster-saunstorf.de/]Gut Saunstorf[/url] retreat on August 4 2012 was quite different. It marked the end of a annual [i]Silent Love Retreat[/i] offered by the former monastory, which is now led as a spiritual center for philosophical traditions open for members of all confessions and religions. During this special retreat participants cease speaking for the entire time, with the exception of two daily meditation meetings.

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This is what makes Ambient and Drone events so special: Ideally there is a lot of room for each participant to slow down, become quiet, to experience the music each in their very own way. Even in this regard this particular particular performance at Gut Saunsdorf was extra special. In addition some members of the audience had never encountered this kind of music before.

Note:
This performance by Mathias Grassow and Carsten Aghte from August 4 2012 is available for purchase. See below.




Mathias Grassow Report Gut Saunstorf 2012-08-05On Saturday Mathias was to perform at an event held at the Gut Saunstorf, a recently restored mansion in a farmland region of northern Germany. Hidden deep between rolling fields and alleyways surrounded by an army of trees, the Gut is now home to a retreat led by OM C. Parkin. The performance marked the end of a ten day vow of silence on behalf of the guests staying there.

During a reconnaissance visit on Friday the arrangements were therefore discussed in hushed and whispering tones. Quite an unusual environment for a performance I gather.

The local weather had been shifting between warm sunshine and chilly rain showers for most of the week. After inspecting various indoor locales Mathias opted to play at a large tent arena erected in the courtyard. The Saturday saw a heavy rain falling just before the concert, which seemed a given signal for all the region’s brown snails to come out of the woodworks and invade the arena, there were dozens if not hundreds of them present. It was quite amusing to watch the little creatures slither around on the wooden floor panels.

For this performance Mathias was joined by longtime collaborator Carsten Agthe (the two perform in the bands KarmaCosmic and Nostalgia together with Rüdiger Gleisberg for example) who had brought with him various forms of drums, including a wavedrum as well as a didgeridoo. Mathias mainly used a pair of Roland SP-808 samplers, a Roland Gaia synthesizer, a cd player and a frame drum.

As usual the music of Mathias was semi-improvised in that he worked with certain „basic tracks“ and then modified them, adding more layers, patterns, rhythms, voice or drums, all the while accompanied by Carsten’s percussion. The performance was mainly based on material from the recent „Wisdom Of Fate“ album, which means a very rhythmic approach which was also complemented by subdued drones from „Dämmerung“ which is normally a loud and powerful piece.

It was interesting to see the reactions of the audience, most of them being unfamiliar with Mathias‘ music. At the start there was an uncomfortable twist and turn here and there, though most listeners simply closed their eyes and allowed themselves to be transported far away by the opening drones. During the progression of the concert more and more onlookers began spontaneously rising from their seats and starting to sway to the tune of the rhythm. This also reflected back on Mathias and Carsten and during the second hour they began building a powerful and captivating pulsating rhythm that led more and more people to start dancing in random patterns and stomping their feet to the beat sending vibrations through the floor panels. It was a really magic moment and a new direction for the music of Mathias, something we can hope to see explored further within the Alchemy concept.

This very special performance is available for purchase. Includes spontanious bonustracks recorded live at the hotel room after the event.

Beyond The Silence - Mathias Grassov, Carsten Agthe Live At Gut Saunstorf 2012


Related releases as mentioned within the text:

Wisdom Of Fate
Dämmerung