Edition·S – music¬sound¬art composer and percussionist Simon Christensen has collaborated with American filmmaker Bill Morrison onTRIBUTES – Pulse (2010-2011). The Spanish premiere takes place this weekend at the 2013 Punto de Vista International Documentary Film Festival of Navarra. Together the two explore the theme of "pulse" in both music and film - as a force that runs through life, civilization, and nature.
Christensen has an extensive background in a variety of musical genres, and as a result he creates music that is deeply informed by all of them. The resultant music he has been creating over the course of the past decade somehow transcends genre considerations entirely and is something completely fresh and new.
The work "TRIBUTES – Pulse" might be Christensen’s most important composition to date. The four sections of "TRIBUTES – Pulse" explore a variety of approaches to rhythmic pulse as is suggested by their individual titles: “Shifting” (slightest change), “Multiple” (simultaneously different), “Across” (different directions), and “Beat” (moving synchronized). Each of these sections was inspired by an important American music pioneer — Charles Ives, Conlon Nancarrow, Steve Reich, and Trent Reznor (of Nine Inch Nails). Christensen explains, “I chose these composers because they have opened my ears to a particular way of dealing with pulse and they have all made music that really matters to me.” It is produced by Edition·S – music¬sound¬art.
Bill Morrison has been called “one of the most adventurous American filmmakers”. He has built a filmography of more than thirty projects, often pairing archival film material with contemporary scores. In this collaboration Morrison delivers the visual arts for the work.
The music is recorded by the electronically based composer ensemble Kundi Bombo who occasionally invites guest musicians to perform with them. In this case the guest is the remarkable Danish violinist Christina Åstrand.
The showing takes place at Punto de Vista, Navarra, Spain on Sunday February 24 at 5 pm.