·

CURRENT PROJECTS > Josep-Maria Balanyà - Ramon Lopez

JOSEP-MARIA BALANYÀ, piano, chanting
RAMON LOPEZ, drums, tabla

Absolute freedom and innovation in the hands of two powerful musical personalities.

This project, with its roots in jazz and ethnic music, got off the ground in the Crazylane, Private Music Room Brussels, in July 2018. Subsequently, Balanyà and López made a recording at the Dada Studio in Brussels. Mastering at FCM Barcelona. The CD, with the title “Furious Yellow” appeared on January 2020 with the label Creative Sources.

The career of the Catalan pianist JOSEP-MARIA BALANYÀ, born in Barcelona, with 28 CD recorded, has taken him from the classical music and jazz until his specialisation into the field of improvisation and the new contemporary music, experimental music and performance. Internationally recognised, Balanyà is also composer, conductor of improvising orchestras, sound artist and painter. He studied in the Swiss Jazz School and in the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Bern (Switzerland), he attended composition workshops, led by Helmut Lachenmann, Walter Zimmermann and Ivan Fedele, and improvisation workshops by Borah Bergman in New York. 
His catalog includes more than 140 works. He has developed his most imaginative actions at the boundary between music and performance, such as a recital in complete darkness at the Sendesaal of Bremen or the concert for the bells of Trier’s cathedral (Germany). His works as a solo pianist reflect his interest in complimenting the pure sound of the piano with pieces for the prepared or extended piano.

Born in Alicante, Spain, the drummer and composer RAMÓN LÓPEZ began to play in the mid-1970’s. Witnessing a Max Roach solo concert in 1980 was a turning point that fundamentally changed his understanding of music. In 1985 he moves to Paris, where he became increasingly involved in the experimental scene. At the same time, he developed an interest in Indian music and studies tabla for many years in France and in India. From 1994 to 2001 he teaches tabla at the Paris Conservatory CNSMDP with Patrick Moutal.
From 1997 to 2000 he was the drummer in the renowned French Orchestre National de Jazz. He has performed at concerts and festivals around the world. He has recorded a hundred albums and is currently one of the most respected European musicians in the area of contemporary jazz and improvised music. The French government named him Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters in 2008.  www.ramonlopez.net

Josep-Maria Balanyà and Ramón López have worked with top musicians, like Joachim Kühn, Hans Koch, Franz Hautzinger, Walter Quintus, Hannah Marshall, Paul Rogers, Mark Sanders, Hannah Ma (dance), Andrew Cyrille, Sonny Fortune, Barry Guy, Daniel Humair, Joelle Leandre, George Lewis, Roscoe Mitchell, Michel Portal, Enrico Rava, Louis Sclavis, Archie Shepp, John Surman, Mal Waldron, Christine Wodrascka and many others.

Video