On January 28th Norwegian artist Hild Sofie Tafjord performs in Athens. – Her live sets are simply explosive, says Artistic Director of the music festival, Thanasis Kaproulias.
'Explosive' at stage, and apparently in other arenas too;
Hild Sofie Tafjord's previous visit to Athens was also affected by a harmless, but possibly slightly embarrassing 'explosion'. The curious incident occurred at The Norwegian Embassy in Athens.
– I ran into the glass door at the Norwegian ambassador’s office, Tafjord explains.
It has been a while since her last visit to Greece; the incident occurred when she was a child, long before she was an artist and composer. This time she is here to share her music which occasionally happens to sound like crunching glass.
International scene
– Hertz is a festival dedicated to cutting edge sonic and audio visual acts, explains General and Artistic Director Thanasis Kaproulias.
The festival aims at creating an international arena for experimental music, something that is clearly reflected in the program. Finnish Mika Vainio, Swiss Antoine Chessex, Sweedish BJ Nilsen and Norwegian Hild Sofie Tafjord are some of the performers entering the scene.
The Hertz Festival also arranges children's activities at 11:00 Saturday 29th. Photo: Hertz Festival
– Hild Sofie Tafjord’s work presents a ‘reconfiguration’ and ‘redefinition’ of a traditional instrument, the French horn. I think that she is a stunning composer and performer, says Kaproulias.
Tafjord considers the Hertz Festival a real boost for herself as a musician.
– This is a great festival with a very good program, she says.
Indefinable music
When asked, the director does not want to define to the audience what kind of music genre they are about to experience at the festival.
– I think it would be risky and irrational to try to specify which ‘music-genre’ is being represented at Hertz. In fact, I think that the term is useless, when talking about innovation and extreme forms of sound.
However, he can reveal that the audience will listen to cerebral and visceral soundscopes, which could be drone and ambient but also noisy and harsh.