reiheM präsentiert: Mariam Rezaei / Edward George

Mariam Rezaei, born in 1984 in England's North East, is an improvising turntablist and composer. She honed her listening and finger skills as a 15-year-old in hip-hop battle arenas, but realized early on that the turntable as an instrument there was far too often forced to tell the same stories of excellently-exercised speed. So she began to incorporate her interest in free improv and extreme noise into her art, as well as performing in a jazz context and asking herself "how to make the record player sound like Roscoe Mitchell, Peter Brötzmann or Guttersnipe". She recently demonstrated this at both the London Jazz Festival and the London Contemporary Music Festival, during a residency at Café Oto and at the Darmstadt International Music Festival - four appearances that outline her range quite well. Rezaei now holds a doctorate, has won various prizes and works with artists such as Joan La Barbara, Evicshen, Maria Chavez, Pat Thomas, Lasse Marhaug, Rhodri Davies, Mette Rasmussen, Elaine Mitchener, Julien Deprez, Will Guthrie and Elvin Brandhi.

A fairly recent collaboration is with the author, filmmaker, photographer and not least radio artist Edward George. Born in London in 1963, he is co-founder of the Black Audio Film Collective and author of the groundbreaking science fiction documentary Last Angel of History. His radio series The Strangeness of Dub, which goes far beyond the classic announcement-play binary structure of many programs by incorporating critical theory and social history, has now found offshoots in book publications, live performances and - also with a doctorate - lecturing activities, including at the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne.

For this evening, Mariam Rezaei and Edward George will perform solo and as a duo.

reiheM - Concert Series for Contemporary Music, Electronics and New Media - Cologne is organized by Mark e.V. and supported by the Cultural Office of the City of Cologne and the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.