Kwiaty brzmiące i brzdące
We invite you to an exceptional concert and shared creative activity for families with children aged 5–7.
What makes sounds in the grass and how is it even possible that we don’t hear the sound of flowers in our daily lives? Like bells, for example. Winding or straight stems, leaf patterns, the shapes and colours of flowers: this entire diverse world of colourful chalices, cups, and goblets, the art nouveau of plant shapes — these are ready-made graphic scores, i.e. notes that an experienced contemporary musician can read and play.
So perhaps a piece by contemporary Estonian composer Arvo Pärt will turn out to be a multi-petalled daisy, and a magnificent red poppy will sound like a clarinet? Or a guitar will turn into a Spanish purple rose? Perhaps in a piece by Swedish composer Karin Rehnqvist, cornflowers and bells will sing in a blue chorus? What we hear will depend to some extent on the imagination of the participants and performers of our concert.
What is certain is that we will check whether ordinary grass can turn into a wind instrument (like a clarinet, for example). We will also create our own graphic scores in the shape of flowers and find out whether the artists present at the concert can play and sing them. It will be colourful, creative, and quite out of the ordinary. We invite you to the last ĄsąBąble concert before the summer holidays, in the garden of Hashtag Lab.
During the event we will be using poster paints. In the event of bad weather, the concert will take place inside the Hashtag Lab Contemporary Music Space building.
Performers:
Maria Małgorzata Złotek voiceAdam Eljasiński clarinetKostek Szemraj guitarAnna Kierkosz hosted by
Anna Kierkosz — educator in art and contemporary music, art educator, curator of the Mała Warszawska Jesień Festival, the “Smykowizje” series of the “Muzyka jest dla wszystkich” Foundation, and curator for education and projects at Teatr Lalek Guliwer. Author of poems, song texts, and books for children, mother of Róża.
About the series:
ĄsąBąble are performative concerts with new music for families with children aged 0–7. Each one is built around an original script in which listening to music, interactive play, and educational value are of equal importance. In a space friendly to the very youngest, audiences can hear music by leading contemporary composers, in a version and proportion adapted for small ears. The theatrical format of the concerts encourages concentration and allows listeners to be enchanted by the sounds, while the invitation to join in group improvisations releases children’s natural need for expression. In the spirit of Janusz Korczak’s words “There are no children, only people,” all participants are treated with respect and have a share in how the event unfolds. The series presents only 20th- and 21st-century music. A permanent feature is the presentation of a recording of a symphonic work or a work from the field of sound design and electronics.
Although each edition of ĄsąBąble takes musical texture as its starting point, it is also rich in non-musical contexts close to Hashtag Ensemble’s practice: literary, visual, and social. The events are interdisciplinary: invited artists who have long worked in proximity to children’s imagination also contribute — dancers, performers, illustrators, and writers. Theatre is the natural arena for new music, which is why the ĄsąBąble series also incorporates acting training for musicians as part of its educational character.
The curator and host of the series is Anna Szawiel — an actress and narrator who specialises in interdisciplinary cultural and educational events. She likes working at the borders: between concert and performance, education and play, physicality and abstraction, always in connection with children’s imagination. The concert programmes are co-created by the musicians of Hashtag Ensemble.
The ĄsąBąble project creatively develops the concept of the “Smykowizje” series by the “Muzyka jest dla wszystkich” foundation, in the context of which in 2016–2022 Hashtag Ensemble and Anna Szawiel performed together more than 130 concerts and mini-performances, exploring the most interesting ways of presenting new music. The creator and curator of Smykowizje was Anna Kierkosz. It was the first series of events in Poland addressed to the very youngest, in which contemporary music played the leading role.
The Hashtag Lab Contemporary Music Space is co-funded by the City of Warsaw.
The partners of the series are ZAW Stoart and the Warsaw Branch of the Polish Association of Musical Artists. The media patron of the ĄsąBąble series is Kosmos dla Dziewczynek.