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Robert RichLive atThe Gatherings Concert SeriesSaturday 1 May 2010 8:00pmSt. Mary's Hamilton Village3916 Locust Walk in Philadelphia, PA |
| Spacemusic pioneer Robert Rich returns to the remarkable setting of St. Mary's Hamilton Village and The Gatherings Concert Series on Saturday 1 May 2010 | |
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Robert Rich's music creates a world of primordial mystery and intense beauty. Electronics merge seamlessly with primitive instruments in lush atmospheres. Above it all float melodies played on bamboo flute and steel guitar. With the fabric of this hypnotic journey, Rich weaves a connection between human cultures both past and present, near and far.
A California native, Rich began experimenting with electronics at a young age. By the early 1980s he was recording and performing his own sustained sound environments and improvised music. His now legendary all-night "Sleep Concerts" typify Rich's aesthetic focus on psychoacoustics and the fringes of perception. His early Ambient recordings, originally released as audio cassettes, have been re-issued on CD: Sunyata (Hypnos) in 2000, Trances/Drones (Release) in 2000 and Inner Landscapes (Hypnos) in 1999. In 2001 Rich released the 7 hour DVD Somnium (Hypnos/Release), a studio distillation of the Sleep Concert experience. | 
Robert Rich - 16 June 2007
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Rich's subsequent work, such as Rainforest, Propagation, Seven Veils and Ylang, has sought to combine his interest in psycho- active soundscapes with more recognizable electro- acoustic elements. Blending influences from Africa, Indonesia and India with electronics, ancient tunings and the cyclic melodies of minimalism, Rich has defined a new style of electronic trance music.
Robert Rich finds yet another expressive voice in the vibrant interlocking melodies that characterized his works such as Numena, Geometry, Gaudi and Electric Ladder. With their seemless blend of analog modular synthesizers and acoustic tonalities, these albums weave a hypnotic spell - lush, ecstatic and seductive. Shimmering geometric lines grow more sharply etched with the clarity of just intonation tunings and the intelligence that pervades Rich's compositional vocabulary.
His impressive discography of over 20 titles includes numerous collaborations. This work has gained him significant recognition, particularly from the critically acclaimed and best-selling albums with tribal/ambient pioneer Steve Roach. Strata (Hearts of Space) in 1990 and Soma (Hearts of Space) in 1993 delve deep into the primordial mind. Forming a symbiotic artistic alliance where their signature sonic motifs have been abandoned for the sake of a collective sound, Roach and Rich utilized a balanced blend of organic and electronic instrumentation in an exploration of the human psyche that is simultaneously primal and cerebral.
More recently Rich has been collaborating with noted British Electronic Musician Ian Boddy. Their two ground-breaking releases, Outpost (DiN) in 2002 and Lithosphere (DiN) in 2005 are centered around Rich's signature lap steel guitar voicings and deep bass machinations of his analogue MOTM modular system while Boddy's presence is felt through his original sound design elements and their intermingling with delicate synthesizer textures.
Their third collaboration is the result of their first live meeting. React is a document of this duo's performance at the STAR'S END 30th Anniversary Celebration Concert. The 11 tracks include live versions of pieces from their two earlier studio CDs as well as new works conceived especially for their first outing.
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Robert Rich - 22 April 2006
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Rich's interests have grown to include just intonation (a tuning system based on the harmonic series), world music and minimalism. His talents have been applied to film, television and documentary soundtrack work as well.
Throughout his career, Robert Rich has performed in a variety of unorthodox venues, including caves, dormitories, radio studios, planetaria, cathedrals and art galleries, in addition to concert halls in Europe, Canada, Mexico and the United States. Rich first performed in Philadelphia in late 1996. His STAR'S END Radio Sleep Concert and subsequent live performance at The Gatherings Concert Series were among the most well received on that year's tour of North America. Rich has gone on to perform live in Philadelphia on four more occasions at The Gatherings Concert Series. He was also part of The STAR'S END 30th Anniversary Celebration Concert - both as a solo artist and in live collaboration with Ian Boddy. |
| Robert Rich returns to Philadelphia to perform live on Saturday 1 May 2010 at The Gatherings Concert Series.
Robert Rich: Live at The Gatherings 1 May 2010 : :
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Robert Rich Interview Excerpt:
Interviewed on the 10 February 2002 broadcast of STAR'S END, Robert Rich reflected on the inspiration behind his 2001 album Bestiary (Release), a linear sonic excursion through peculiar rhythms, odd harmonies and earthen melodies. Listen to the 6 minute interview excerpt by clicking the link below: Robert Rich interview: Lo Fi Version | |
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Ylang by Robert Rich
Pushing the boundaries of Robert Rich's melodic world-fusion vocabulary, such as on Seven Veils or Propagation, Ylang blends Rich's expressive steel guitar, shimmering organic electronics and yearning flute melodies with influences as diverse as south Indian Karnatic music, pulsing minimalism and pensive jazz; while its deconstructed drums and blurry guitar feedback might feel at home with Sigur Ros or Bark Psychosis. Rich enlists help for this undertaking from a circle of trusted musician friends. The rhythmic scaffolding for the album comes from two very different drummers. Ricky Carter adds his intelligent sparse drumming, fluid with syncopation but complex in meter. These rhythms could be a slow tempo homage to Jaki Leibzeit from Can. Post-processing transforms them into rubbery chuffing abstractions. The other rhythmic foundation comes from the Karnatic mrdungam playing of Sakthivel Muruganandhan, which also wanders into Rich''s sonic blender, shifting from time- stretched blurs into organic live duets with bansuri master Sunilkumar Sankarapillai. Lilting in and out of this heady atmosphere of South Indian music and minimalist space jazz, the wordless voice of art-pop virtuoso Emily Bezar adds a feminine intelligence to several pieces, and subtle melodic guitar additions from Haroun Serang augment Rich's soaring lap steel feedback. With acoustic bass from Paul Olguin and string additions from Forrest Fang and Hans Christian, the sonic texture warms to a glowing woody earthiness. Rich's audiophile production and delicate sound design glue the textures together into a seductive and inviting mossy nest. From these disparate elements, Ylang forms a sonic entity unto itself. - Press Information/Robert Rich website available February 2010 | |
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The Gatherings Concert Series presents Robert Rich live in concert on Saturday 1 May 2010 at 8:00pm (doors open at 7:30pm) in the church sanctuary of St. Mary's Hamilton Village 3916 Locust Walk (just east of 40th & Locust) on the Penn campus in West Philadelphia. Admission: $20 available at the door, night of show; $10 for full-time students with proper ID (available at the door). Please see below for info on Advance Tickets. Advance Tickets for Robert Rich on 1 May 2010 in Philadelphia are now available from TicketWeb. Advance tickets are highly recommended, discounted from the normal price at the door and can be obtained by either of these two easy methods:
please note: tickets aquired in advance are non-refundable and do carry a convenience charge
Advance Tickets are now available for the 2010 concerts. Along with the individual Spring concert tickets is a
Please click on the TicketWeb graphic to purchase tickets now.
Additional Material:
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For more about Robert Rich, please access the:
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The Gatherings Concert Series is presented by the all-volunteer staff of The Corporation for Innovative Music and Arts of Pennsylvania
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