Mariam Rezaei © Malthe Ivarsson

Kobe Van Cauwenberghe, Mariam Rezaei & Sakina Abdou - The Simultaneity Principle

10.03.2025 — 14.03.2025

In their first residency, this new comes together to explore and record new material

“I’m writing a piece of chamber music. Thought I might call it The Simultaneity Principle. [Several] instruments each playing an independent cyclic theme; no melodic causality; the forward process entirely in the relationship of the parts. It makes a lovely harmony.” - Ursula K. Le Guin - The Dispossessed

A new groundbreaking trio formed by guitarist Kobe Van Cauwenberghe (BE), turntablist Mariam Rezaei (UK) and saxophonist Sakina Abdou (FR) will come together for the first time during a residency at STUK to explore and record a set of new original compositions. Point of inspiration is Shevek’s theory of ‘Simultaneity’, from Ursula K. Le Guin’s classic sci-fi novel “The Dispossessed”, which challenges traditional ideas of sequential causality, suggesting that past, present, and future are all happening simultaneously, though human perception can only experience them sequentially. The trio will explore its conceptual and musical implications by experimenting with linearity, repetition, variation and improvisation. The turntables represent the cyclical process of time, melodic and harmonic movement in

the guitar and saxophone creates sequential linearity. But these roles are never set. As a hybrid trio they operate in between cycles and sequences, lines and circles, past - present and future all at once, non-linearity as default yet all in one simultaneous forward process. In doing so the broader social implications of Shevek’s theory will impact the musical process as well, touching on themes of freedom, determinism and the interconnectedness of people and events.

Credits

Mariam Rezaei, turntables
Sakina Abdou, saxophones
Kobe Van Cauwenberghe, concept, guitars and electronics

Saxophonist Sakina Abdou is one of the few female jazz and improvised music artists in Northern France. Based in Lille, she explores jazz, free improvisation and contemporary and experimental music with artists such as Eve Risser's Red Desert Orchestra, Raymond Boni, Yacouba Moumouni, Satoko Fujii, and the daring experimental collective Muzzix. As a solo artist she developed a raw, powerful sound, both precise and raw, that stubbornly explores perspectives between rage and appeasement, drama and irony. She draws on all her influences to anchor herself in the present and history, reformulating her own language and making her voice heard.

Mariam Rezaei is a multi-award winning composer, turntablist and performer. She previously led experimental arts project TOPH, TUSK FRINGE and TUSK NORTH, and in November 2022, she received the Paul Hamlyn Foundation #AwardsForArtists, in recognition of her contribution to music composition. Her music has recently been described as ‘genuinely ground-breaking’ (London Jazz News 2022) and ‘high-velocity sonic surrealism’ (4* The Guardian 2022). Recent release BOWN (Heat Crimes) charted no.6 in The Wire and no10 in The Quietus’ best albums of 2023 and was The Quietus album of the week. Boomkat described it as ‘harnessing extreme technical prowess - phenomenal stuff’. She also performs in the turntable trio with Evicshen and Maria Chávez and in the band The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters (with Mette Rasmussen, Gabrieli Mitelli and Lukas Loenig).

Kobe Van Cauwenberghe is an acclaimed guitarist, improviser, and researcher. He is a founding member of the electric guitar quartet Zwerm and a regular collaborator with the Brussels-based Ictus ensemble. As a freelance guitarist, he has performed with numerous groups and ensembles across Belgium, France, the UK, the US, and other countries. In recent years his research on the music of Anthony Braxton led to the highly praised solo album "Ghost Trance Solos" (ATD10, 2020) and the double LP "Ghost Trance Septet" (eNR105, 2022), the latter of which was named "Album of the Year" by Avant Music News.