An Evening of Improvised Music w/Chris Cogburn, Mike Khoury, & Hesam Abedi

Chris Cogburn - Chris Cogburn is a percussionist, curator, and organizer based in Mexico City. Cogburn’s artistic practice and curatorial interests are rooted in the collaborative context of improvisation. Current music practices focus on the threshold between acoustic and electronic sounds, their differing timbral qualities, and their sites of resonance. Tensions between just intonation and the unfettered resonances of objects are a burgeoning concern informing his most recent work.

Current projects include A Spirale w/ Chris Cogburn with Italian experimentalists Mario Gabola and Maurizio Argenziano; Anáhuac, with Berlin turntablist Ignaz Schick and Mexico City double bassist Juan García; and Fear of the Object, an audio-visual project in collaboration with Norwegian video artist Kjell Bjørgeengen and an evolving cast of guest musicians including: Juan García (Mexico City), percussionist Ingar Zach (Madrid), Tubaist Martin Taxt (Oslo), and cellists Judith Hamann (Melbourne), and Aimée Theriot-Ramos (Amsterdam). He has released recordings on several labels, including: Astral Spirits, Another Timbre, INSUB, Simple Geometry, Balance Point Acoustics, SOFA, True Blanking, among others.

Beginning in the summer of 2003, Cogburn has hosted an annual festival of improvised music—No Idea Festival—showcasing collaborations between improvisors from around the world. Regarded for its curatorial process, No Idea Festival aspires to connect creative musicians, providing the space and time where creative process can flourish, leading towards new areas and approaches in the music. Based in Austin, Texas, No Idea events have been held in several cities in the US, Latin America, and Spain. 

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Mike Khoury: Mike Khoury is a Palestinian-American composer, improviser, and curator focused on performance and documentation. Khoury has worked to establish an Arab-American avant-garde and document the movement's intellectual heritage through presenting his own work, publishing on the topic, and presenting other artists' work. As a curator, Khoury has engaged in community building through his curation of the Entropy Studios space and the Entropy Stereo record label issuing music from artists such as Faruq Z. Bey, Wendell Harrison, Bobby Bradford and Griot Galaxy.

Khoury has performed across North America, in Europe, and the Arab World. In 2018, Khoury was awarded a Knight Arts Challenge Grant to create new work. In 2020, Khoury was named a Kresge Arts in Detroit fellow.

Today, Khoury conducts ethnographical, sonic, and historical research from his laboratory and studios in Redford, MI. He has authored a chapter on the composer Halim El-Dabh published in an anthology on the Arab Avant Garde by Wesleyan University Press. Khoury also divides his time between his improvisational work and the Redford Civic Symphony Orchestra, of which he is a member of the first violin section. Current active projects include the ensemble Spite of Darkness, a duet with percussionist Ben Hall, and a duet with dancer/choreographer Leyya Tawil.
Hesam Abedi - Hesam Abedi is a composer-performer and music scholar currently pursuing a PhD in Ethnomusicology at the University of Florida. His research explores the socio-political dimensions of improvised music.

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