Ingredients for Disaster
Directed by Julian Phillips (World Premiere)
Nik Bärtsch builds his music like a master architect creating impossible sonic structures around a central foundation of Groove. He and his working band, Ronin, mesmerize audiences all over the world, but how did they arrive at this unique sound?
This one hour documentary explores how these innovative Swiss master craftsmen can create such complex and intricate music that can still funk you up!
Nik Bärtsch is a pianist, solo performer, band-leader and composer of an unconventional, minimalist, hypnotic musical genre. He calls it ritual groove music.
The multi-award winning Bärtsch and his working band Ronin play uncompromisingly complex and polyrhythmic music which has groove at its heart. When in full flight, the band members orbit one another in a 3-dimensional musical space intersecting with vertiginous, unerring musical precision.
We ask how this eight year-old Swiss kid, fascinated with boogie woogie, has arrived at this unique musical landscape? We ask fellow musicians, critics, associates, even professors to take a shot at cracking his musical code. We visually capture the 3 dimensional qualities of the music, spinning in multiple time-signatures sometimes using geometry to fully describe what’s going on. It’s a one hour journey to a new musical frontier…
Runtime: 60 minutes
Conversation with Filmmaker following the screening on April 2nd.
