Steamboat Switzerland
Lucas Niggli – GLUT1
- Experimental
- Pop / Rock / Singer / Songwriter
- Experimental Jazz
- Rock
Carte Blanche Lucas Niggli
In an interview, Lucas Niggli talks about playing with cards, fire and steam, his connections to classical music and about searching for and finding his own sound.
Not all drums are the same
Lucas Niggli was literally born into a life in and with music: Classical music was an early musical reference point in his parent's home, which has therefore also strongly influenced his jazz drumming.As a drummer, it is easy to choose your own recognisable sound, says Lucas Niggli, by choosing your own shells, heads, sticks or cymbals. But as enthusiastic as he was about the rhythm and complexity of jazz drumming, he always felt that the timbre factor was somewhat neglected - unlike in new and contemporary music. "The [jazz drums] are a rhythm machine and I missed the whole melodic aspect, the sonority, the variety."Since then, Lucas Niggli has pursued the goal of bringing these worlds together, colours from different geographical regions, from European classical or medieval music. "This is why I became interested in other cultures very early on, [...] always looking for these colours and other moods and trying to integrate these sounds into my drum set. And for years I have been, and still am, a hunter and gatherer of special sounds that I can then integrate into my drum set."
He also finds exciting combinations in his choice of ensemble partners: for example with Aly Keïta on balaphon, with Matthias Loibner on hurdy-gurdy, or Xu Fengxia on guzheng and sanxian. Lucas Niggli always sees music as a dialogue and avoids merely imitating his interlocutors. "I have played with so many musicians [...] who have their language and I have my language, [...] and it has worked."
Lucas Niggli's Carte Blanche at Moods
03.10.2024: GLUT1 – Steamboat SwitzerlandLucas Niggli kicks off his Carte Blanche series with one of his oldest projects. The band Steamboat Switzerland has been around for almost 30 years - they will be celebrating their anniversary next year. According to Lucas Niggli, the band, now an institution, was originally formed "out of a need to play highly complex, virtuoso contemporary music with the energy, power and sound of a rock band". Exposed to PAs, loud music, electronic music and the early days of raves, there was a lack of suitable literature. "We just started commissioning works from brilliant composers. And so, of course, we now have a huge repertory and a long list of collaborations."
This makes Steamboat Switzerland one of the pioneers of this sound. On 3 October, they will perform five such compositions, all of which feature this complex contemporary music with a rock aesthetic, including wild polyrhythms and time changes. "It will blow you away!"
26.10.2024: GLUT2 – Club Night in der Photobastei mit 60° Alliance, Zagara und Yuul
The three men have actually known each other for a long time, as the Niggli trio consists of Lucas and his sons Gaudenz and Felix. However, the band was only formed in the long winter of 2019, and the three musicians bring a good dose of groove into our everyday lives: Gaudenz Niggli spins big beats, drones, heavy whirring sounds and magical field recordings through the music mill. Felix Niggli keeps coming up with surprising melody lines, while Lucas Niggli plays his heart out with his hands and feet. Grooves and sounds are pulverised and reassembled. Then we dance with Zagara and Yuul until late into the night.
06.03.2024: GLUT3 – Jordina Millà – Barry Guy – Lucas Niggli
Barry Guy and Lucas Niggli have been friends for many years. "For me, he embodies the ideal musician," says Lucas Niggli admiringly. Barry Guy is a bassist in various projects, but has also played in many classical ensembles, including the renowned English Baroque Soloists, founded by Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Barry Guy is therefore very familiar with the historical, composed repertoire, but he also began to explore free improvisation at a very early age and eventually became one of the most central figures in the independent scene alongside fellow musicians such as Irène Schweizer, Tony Oxley and Evan Parker.
In 1970, Barry Guy founded the London Jazz Composers Orchestra. He composed many pieces for them in which orchestral, composed parts alternate with free jazz improvisations. He was one of the first to experiment with these new arrangements for large formations. "He definitely belongs to this really, really great, innovative European generation of musicians who move between jazz and composition, between free music and notated music. And he is actually one of the most important teachers for me. I have learned so much from him," says Lucas Niggli.
"He is an incredibly good craftsman on his instrument. He is a complete musician and has an incredible thirst for research and learning. And for me he is an incredible inspiration." As lead drummer, Lucas Niggli plays in almost all of Barry Guy's bands. So it was only natural that Lucas invited him to Moods for his Carte Blanche.
Jordina Millà completes the trio this evening. The young pianist is originally from Barcelona and now lives in Salzburg. The trio, however, is a premiere: Jordina Millà is a student of the pianist Augustí Fernández, with whom Barry and Lucas have often performed. A duo record by Jordina and Barry has just been released on ECM. Her compositions, as well as those of Barry Guy, will be heard on this evening.
17.04.2025: GLUT4 – Lucas Niggli Tomorrow Tribal Quartet
Four musicians - drums, keys, saxophones and more drums - and between them a table on which a strange card game is being played. The game is based on untranslatable terms, words that are wonderfully poetic in their own languages but do not exist in English and which we have to paraphrase: 'ukiyo', Japanese for 'living in the moment', or 'kephaloporosis', ancient Greek for a usually temporary state of mental confusion after intense stress. "That fascinated me," says Lucas Niggli, "because good improvisers have an individual language that you can hardly notate as a composer. How can I put down on paper what Gilles Grimaître, Brian Archinal, and Sascha Armbruster have to play on their instruments? No composer can do that." A playing card - a 'motif card' - therefore contains this untranslatable term and a related, abstractly described musical motif. Each musician has a deck of cards and can throw one at any time to determine a cue. The implementation varies from instrument to instrument, the overall sound of the band depends on the course of the game; the outcome of the game is always new and unexpected.
Carte Blanche Lucas Niggli: Die Konzerte in der Übersicht
Carte Blanche
Lucas Niggli – GLUT2: Club Night in der Photobastei
60° Alliance
Electronic / PartyJazz Modern CreativeElectronicPartyNu-JazzElectronic Jazz
Carte Blanche
Lucas Niggli – GLUT2: Club Night in der Photobastei
Zagara
Electronic / PartyElectronicParty
Carte Blanche
Lucas Niggli – GLUT2: Club Night in der Photobastei
Yuul (Regula Rec)
Electronic / PartyElectronicParty
Carte Blanche
Lucas Niggli – GLUT3
Millà – Guy – Niggli
Jazz
Carte Blanche
Lucas Niggli – GLUT4
Tomorrow Tribal Quartet
JazzContemporary Jazz
