DANIEL HIGGS & MICHAEL ZERANG

Event information

A rare duo performance from percussionist/composer Michael Zerang and guitarist/vocalist/banjo player Daniel Higgs (ex Lungfish) conjuring densely interwoven improvisations that draw on traditional forms but take them in defiantly unexpected directions. Both musicians will be familiar to OTO regulars - Zerang was here most recently last December with Joe McPhee's Survival Unit III alongside Fred Lonberg-Holm, and his gracefully rolling approach to the drums has provided a welcome, beatific contrast to PNLs full-on assaults in Peter Brötzmann's Chicago Tentet. Daniel A.I.U Higgs has also been responsible for some singularly memorable performances here alongside the likes of Maya Dunietz and Jennifer Walshe. His transcendental raga are sure to reach an even higher hypnotism in this pairing with Zerang.


DANIEL HIGGS

Daniel A.I.U Higgs is perhaps best known as the singer and lyricist of the now defunct band Lungfish. However, since that time he has carved out his own distinctive place as a solo artist with a number of solo records, that take in apocalyptic songcraft, raga banjo and hard to define artistry. Higgs is a prolific experimental songwriter, performer and poet, whose performances possess a unique essence of personal spirituality and create an ecstatic atmosphere which summons the audience to enter into the psychedelic world of his lyrics.

"Daniel Arcus Incus Ululat Higgs is a musician and artist from Baltimore, Maryland on whose behalf superlatives are destined to fail. It’s not that his artistic output – spanning three decades, numerous albums, books of poetry and collections of drawings – simply eludes classification, it defies it. Often we hear that a true work of art is meant to speak for itself, and with the work of Daniel Higgs the maxim rings truer than ever. His art is of the cosmos, we on Earth merely lucky that it happens to be confined to our atmosphere, in our lifetime." - Thrill Jockey

MICHAEL ZERANG

Percussionist, improvisor and composer Michael Zerang was born in 1958 in Chicago, Illinois. He has co-founded and performed with the musical groups Liof Munimula, The Neutrino Orchestra, Trio Troppo, The Wonderfuls, The Blue Angels, Sam Pappas' Tumbling Strains, Frozen Lucy, The Quirt Quintet, Musica Menta, The Vandermark Quartet, Dream Cheese, The Sputter Ensemble, In Zenith, and Broken Wire . In addition to these ensembles, Zerang currently performs with many innovative musicians including AACM co-founder Fred Anderson, Mats Gustafsson, Raymond Strid, Sten Sandell, Don Meckley, Jaap Blonk, Daniel Scanlan, Peter Brötzmann, Kent Kessler, Barre Phillips, Jim Baker, Hamid Drake, Ken Vandermark, Luc Hautkamp, and Fred Lonberg-Holm. He has recorded for Okka Disc, boxMEDIA, Kontrans, Southport, Quinnah, Eighth Day Music, Garlic, and Platypus, labels as well as many others.

"Michael Zerang is a genuine percussionist, his assured and energetic rhythmic sense couple with an ear for the melodic and coloristic potential of his instruments." - Julian Cowley, The WIRE