Blindman
Background
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| (Photo: Guy Kokken) |
Eric Sleichim founded Blindman in 1988. The inspiration for the name came from Marcel Duchamp’s periodical ‘The Blind Man’ (established 1917). This title embodied the dadaist idea of a blind guide leading visitors around an art exhibition. Sleichim’s aim is to convert into a musical language the artistic concepts that underlie the work of such artists as Duchamp and Beuys. Starting from the classical saxophone quartet, he concentrates on the development of unconventional playing techniques. In so doing he cuts across various artistic disciplines and expands the repertoire for the instrument in a highly individual way. Sleichim was also one of the co-founders of the Maximalist! ensemble.
Multidisciplinary
Blindman’s international renown is the result of its multidisciplinary approach. Eric Sleichim has received commissions from both the theatre and dance worlds and has collaborated with such artists and ensembles as Ivo van Hove, Jan Fabre, Ictus, Heiner Goebbels, Terry Riley, Gerry Hemmingway, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Guy Cassiers, Josse De Pauw, Paul Van Nevel, Collegium Vocale, Peter Verhelst and Steve Lacy. He also works on multimedia performances and has written scores for silent films by George Wilhelm Pabst, Buster Keaton, Jean Epstein and Teinosuke Kinugasa.
Discography
When this saxophone quartet made its own unusual interpretation of Bach’s ‘Choral Partitas’ in 2000, Universal Music decided to issue the CD ‘Blindman plays Bach’ worldwide. This release signalled the start of a long-term association with this record company and the beginning of a period in which the group for the first time explored early music. In this area Blindman created a trilogy of early polyphonic music on the saxophone, which resulted in cooperation with the Huelgas Ensemble led by Paul Van Nevel. In 2003 Universal Music brought out the first part of this trilogy on CD. It is called ‘Multiple Voice’, a bold vision of early polyphonic work created by electronic multiplication of the saxophones, and immediately won the 2003 Klara Music Prize. In 2004 Universal Music added a third release to the list. On the ‘Maximal Blindman’ CD, saxophones, percussion, pianos and cello joined in a performance that revived the legendary repertoire of Maximalist! In the eighties this Brussels sextet was part of the ‘Belgian wave’, whose pioneers were Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and Wim Vandekeybus. The Mozart Year, 2006, led to the issue of the ‘Mozart Machine’ CD. In this fourth Universal Music release, Blindman threads together vocal canons and instrumental fugues. The fusion of crystal-clear female voices and the brassy sounds of the saxophones once again opens up a new dimension in the ensemble’s range of sounds.
Theatre/Music-Theatre
In 2003 Eric Sleichim wrote and played the music for Jan Fabre’s video installation and performance, ‘The Angel of Death’, which has since toured the world. These two artists’ appreciation of each other’s work led to the original text that Fabre wrote for Sleichim’s music-theatre piece ‘Men in Tribulation’, a Muziektheater Transparant production based on work by the French writer and theatre-maker Antonin Artaud, with Phil Minton and Viviane De Muynck in the leading roles.
In his turn, Eric Sleichim wrote the music for Jan Fabre’s piece ‘L’Histoire des Larmes’, which opened the 2005 Avignon Festival. In 2007 Eric Sleichim worked with Ivo Van Hove for the first time, and wrote the music for the internationally acclaimed six-hour marathon production ‘The Roman Tragedies’.
Joint Ventures
Blindman sets up projects with various other ensembles so as to bring the saxophone face to face with a wide range of instruments. For example, in 2004 and 2005 Blindman performed with the Dutch Mondrian String Quartet, the young Duo XXI ensemble (thereby winning the prestigious KBC Music Prize), the Ensemble Musiques Nouvelles chamber orchestra and the Goeyvaerts Consort chorus. The main alliances in 2006 were with Collegium Vocale and the Quatuor Danel. Together with Champ d’Action, Blindman is giving the first performance of a work commissioned by deSingel from Helmut Oehring specially for the two ensembles. In 2008 Blindman created the ‘Critical Band’ programme together with Champ d’Action, which focused on standard works by James Tenney and other spectralists. In the same year, the ‘Secret Masses’ programme was put on together with the Blindman[vox] vocal quartet, which exposed the political influence on music and turned the spotlight on William Byrd.
Youth Work
In its ‘Blindman [4x4]’ project the ensemble is engaging four quartets of young musicians in a variety of programmes. In 2005, in ‘[4x4]sax’, young saxophonists were given a part in the performance of ‘Single Body Noise’ for the Klara Festival. In 2007 the strings, ‘[4x4]strings’, and singers, ‘[4x4]voice’, had their turn in ‘Intra-Muros’, a second production with Muziektheater Transparant, this time focusing on Pasolini. In 2007 the percussionists, ‘[4x4]drums’, also took part in a major Shakespeare trilogy Ivo van Hove directed at Toneelgroep Amsterdam: 'Romeinse tragedies'.
Recognition
Blindman is the house ensemble at Kaaitheater in Brussels, artist-in-residence at deSingel in Antwerp and Friend in Music at the Concertgebouw in Bruges. It receives subsidies from the Arts Department of the Ministry of the Flemish Community and from the Brussels Capital Region’s Flemish Community Commission.
Musicians
- Eric Sleichim, musical director
- Koen Maas, soprano saxophone
- Roeland Vanhoorne, alto saxophone
- Piet Rebel, tenor saxophone
- Raf Minten, baritone saxophone
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