Founded in 2006 by Vincent Bertholet (Hyperculte), the Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp is a large-scale project. Designed as a real orchestra, the size of the ensemble has varied over time. Now with 12 members, 14 in the past or 6 at the beginning, the ensemble has scoured the stages of Europe to demonstrate that the formula “the more the merrier” has never been more true than on stage.
Whether in prestigious festivals (Paléo Festival de Nyon, Fusion Festival, Incubate, Womad, Bad Bonn Kilbi, Jazz à la Vilette) or on the four albums released since its launch, the group shows an incredible fluidity. The Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp (a mischievous title in homage to traditional African groups – Orchestre Tout Puissant Konono n°1, Orchestre Tout Puissant Polyrytmo etc… – and to one of the greatest dynamizers of 20th century art) embraces the forms of its musicians while pushing them to their limits. The result is a powerful, experimental, unstable and terribly alive, organic sound.
These characteristics can be found on “We’re OK. But We’re Lost Anyway,” fifth opus of the band. Built around twelve musicians, extirpated from their respective biotope, it develops a repetitive musicality which, deployed in successive waves, creates a feeling of trance. Mixing free jazz, post punk, high life, brass band, symphonic mixtures and kraut rock, their sound only goes beyond the limits of genre. Transcendental, almost ritualistic, the music is coupled with powerful lyrics, declaimed in rage against a world that is falling apart. Adorcist, hypnotic and post-syncratic, the Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp, far from Tzara’s manifesto, is somewhere between Hugo Ball’s phonetic psalms, a Sufi procession that turns into a brawl and a voodoo ritual, but always with a precision proper to the monomania of an asperger.
The Bandwagon Summer Series is a family-friendly outdoor cultural performance series running from early May through mid-October. More than 20 performances ranging from a diverse group of musical styles, circus arts, dance, and theater will take place at ballfields, farms, and parks throughout Windham County. Kids under 12 always get in for free, and a dedicated play area will be available at all shows. Refreshments are sold onsite, including the return of the hugely popular Barr Hill cocktails. Bring a picnic and a blanket or fold-up chair to enjoy our concerts.
The Next Stage Bandwagon Summer Series and Twilight Music present an evening of brass-fueled, swinging music of New Orleans by the Soggy Po’ Boys, on Sunday, October 8 at 3:00 pm at West River Park in Brattleboro, VT.
The Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) welcomes the public to a celebratory closing party for the exhibition “Anina Major: I Land Therefore I Am,” on Friday, October 6, during Gallery Walk.
Next Stage Arts presents Internationally renowned composer and 2018 Guggenheim Fellow Felipe Salles’s groundbreaking multimedia work “The New Immigrant Experience”, on Friday, October 13 at 7:30 pm at Next Stage Arts, 15 Kimball Hill, in Putney, Vermont.
16th annual Domino Toppling Extravaganza returns to Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) on Sunday, October 8, at 5:30 p.m.
On Sunday, October 1, at 3 p.m., Kahn, in partnership with the BMAC, hosts “Forage to Feast,” a local expedition to look for—and eat—edible wild mushrooms that are abundant in New England every autumn.
Gordon Clark and his Vermont Comedy All-Stars return for a night of stand-up comedy at Next Stage Arts, on Saturday, September 30, at 7:30 pm.
