Cave Of Rebirth
Cave Of Rebirth is a live action music video starring jazz man Tigran Hamasyan. Fractal animations unravel an imaginary world of algorithms initiated by a semi-improvised piano play.
“From these mathematical formulas and improv-music, the unending landscapes appear to eventually take on more familiar biological forms, and finally taking us back to the beginning; to a musician playing his piano...”
Armenian jazz & fractal equations
An Ancient Observer is Tigran Hamasyan’s eighth record as a sole leader and his second album for Nonesuch Records and you won’t be able to find anything else that sounds like it. Armenian melodies, based on modal scales and enriched by frequent yet always discreet ornaments, are matched with harmonic and rhythmic restlessness, odd time signatures, tuplets and polyrhythmic sections. Ruben Van Leer translated the musical patterns into a fractal animated journey together with collaborator Julius Horsthuis. In the film we travel from a modern empty warehouse where Tigran starts playing and end up in an infinite mathematical landscape. As if the abstract visualisations come from Tigran’s imagination the camera turns 180 degrees and we land back next to the piano. The film is an affirmation for striving folk jazz music in a modern society increasingly governed by algorithms.
live at Cité de la Musique in Paris
Earlier Tigran Hamasyan’s music album "Shadow Theater" was imagined for live stage at Jazz à la Villette festival in Paris with supporting realtime visuals by Ruben Van Leer. Traditional melodies and typically Armenian rhythmic structures flourish in pop, rock, sometimes electro arrangements, while jazz improvisations arise throughout the music experience. The pianist joyfully devotes himself to his passion for singing, with the reinforcement of the crystalline voice of Areni Agbabian. Other accomplices on stage were Nate Wood (drums), Ben Wendel (saxophone) and Sam Minaie (bass). Projected on a large stage-wide screen, Van Leer processed the live video from spy-cams that he positioned on the instruments up-close to the musicians. The dynamics in music and physicality of the players were now augmented in a colourful scenography of moving images as a backdrop of the band. ARTE broadcasted this live event on their cultural channels blending the realtime stage visuals in an elegant multicam edit.
“Evolving between electrical and acoustic modes of expression, Tigran Hamasyan uses unusual instruments such as duduk, shvi, and zurna. His powerful improvisations, mixing jazz and Armenian folklore, give rise to music characterized by its originality and its desire to free itself from the usual rhythmic signatures.”
credits
| director: | Ruben Van Leer |
| music by: | Tigran Hamasyan |
| fractal animation: | Julius Horsthuis |
| cinematography: | Daan Bukman |
| stylist: | Imruh Asha |
| focus puller: | Kasper Stegeman |
| gaffer: | Marcel Brugman |
| best boy: | Thomas Born |
| grip: | Bjorn Schumacher |
| producer: | Philippe Avendaño Vera |
| makeup: | Faisa Sontodimedjo |
| colorist: | Efraim Gons (Hectic Electric) |
| produced by: | Truth.io |
filmmaker & media-artist
