PETER KOWALD’S GLOBAL VILLAGE

Global Village is the name for a variable formation of musicians who - all of them improvisors - more or less evidently are related to their own musical heritage, bringing the specific sounds, melodies and rhythms of their local tradition into context with free improvised music.

Peter Kowald

For Peter Kowald, steps on this path were the recordings of the GLOBAL VILLAGE SUITE - IMPROVISED, Tokyo 1986, with >Danny Davis, New York saxophonist and flutist of the Sun Ra Arkestra, and Takehisa Kosugi, violinist, composer, performance- and installation-artist (Fluxus) from Japan, for many years main composer next to John Cage for the Merce Cunningham Dance Company.

DUOS EUROPA / AMERICA / JAPAN, recorded over the period of 7 years continued this idea: short pieces with alltogether 30 partners on 3 records (and CD) of the Berlin FMP label made a marvellous record and an ideal introduction to contemporary improvised music (Penguin Guide of Jazz on CD 1996).

WHEN THE SUN IS OUT YOU DON’T SEE STARS with Swiss saxophonist Werner Lüdi, New York cornetist Butch Morris and Sibirian singer Sainkho Namtchylak(also FMP Berlin 1992) is a later example of bringing together musical worlds far apart (this music is in all of us, and with ist help we can reactivate something within ourselves (Markus Müller)).

Taking part in projects of Global Village have been the above mentioned as well as YILDIZ IBRAHIMOVA (Ankara), INDIA COOKE (Oakland), FLOROS FLORIDIS (Thessaloniki), SEIZAN MATSUDA (Tokyo), ZEENA PARKINS (New York), LE QUAN NINH (Toulouse), KAZUE SAWAI (Tokyo), SAVINA YANNATOU (Athens), OKAY TEMIZ (Istambul), CARLOS ZINGARO (Lissabon), MUNEER ABDUL FATAAH (New York), ILIAS PAPADOPOULOS (Thessaloniki), OKAY TEMIZ (Istanbul) and others.

At present, Global Village names an ensemble based on a trio with Wuppertal violinist GUNDA GOTTSCHALK and XU FENG XIA from Shanghai, Ghuzeng and other traditional chinese instruments - with more possible guest soloists.