Les Rabiates

Peter Apel

14/06/2024

Peter Apel has been working as a freelance composer and musician since 1980 and lives in Bremen. Early artistic stations: ….the formation ELECTRIC JAZZ GROUP OSTERTOR, ….the ethno-jazz trio COSMIC FUN, ….the composition of the music for the “Meditation of the Four Directions” by the Moroccan Sufi master Jabrane Sebnat, …..the avant-garde jazz formation SCHIEMANN GROUP (LP Stollenblues/Thein), with various festival appearances and radio recordings, including at the Int. New Jazz Festival Moers, …..the realization of his symphonic work “17.23h” by the 40-member KROSS ORCHESTRA founded by Peter Apel (premiered Breminale 1987), …..the pop and jazz musical fusion PELA (7’inch with the title “I’ve got you under my skin”), …..the hardcore electronic band THE DRY HALLEYS (LP/CD “Crash Landing Chemistry”/Dark Star/Freibank/efa-Vertrieb), …..the fake jazz septet SWIM TWO BIRDS (CDs “The Bloody Thumb Cookbook 1994”, “Apsion 1992”, “Not Serious” 1990), …..the jazz trio PETER APEL KOMBO, with tours in East and West Germany (MC “Don’t pay that bill” edition collage/STB-records), …..ENSEMBLE RAUM 19, which has performed various festivals and made radio/TV recordings as a jazz quartet and large formation (including the Nuremberg Jazz Festival, Interjazz Leningrad (presented by Vladimir Feyertag), Breminale, Vilnius Jazz Festival Lithuania, Würzburg Jazz Festival).

In 1991, the choral music collage HANSEATIKA was premiered in collaboration with the choir director and composer Hartmut Emig and the newly structured KROSS ORCHESTER as well as the choirs HART BACKBORD, BEGU-CHOR, GESANGSVEREIN ARBERGEN.

1992 Founding of the poetry/music duo ABROMEIT/APEL. Numerous solo concerts with various thematic focuses. Composition of the ballet music for the dance piece “Don’t call me, I call you” by Carmen Rita Maria.

1993 Founding of the Free Music & Lyric trio SOBOTTA/APEL/ENGELSMANN. Composition of the music for the dance piece “See You” by Carmen Rita Maria. Peter Apel composed/produced the music for the early evening series ARCHITEKTOUR for Bremen television. Sound installations on the subject of HUMAN-MACHINE (Kulturwerkstatt Westend, Bremen, autumn 93). Further solo concerts with his own works, with a tendency to cross genres in the direction of environment and with new electronic instruments such as the LASER HARP.

1994 joint work “Russian Roulette” with the painter and video artist Marikke Heinz-Hoek (Kunst-Chaos-Kunst-Festival). Audio image installation “deiche brechen nie nur irgendeinen” (premiere in KW Westend, Bremen). Installation “Einflüsterung” (Junges Theater, Bremen) as well as solo performances and concerts.

1995 Premiere of the oratorio “WAR END-END WAR” (Emig/Apel) for choir and small ensemble in Bremen town hall. Composition/production of the music for the school musical “Westendstory”. Soundtrack for the video installation “18./19.8.1944” by Marikke Heinz- Hoek (FilmFest Bremen ’95).

1996 Composer for the production “Leben wie die Schweine” (Schauspielhaus/Bremer Theater) and for the dance improvisation “Artaud” (Kontorhaus).

1997 Tour/studio guitarist for CRIBB 199, Perc’s ELECTRIC FAMILY, BETTERMEN, TELSTARS. Various performances with his composition “Eiserne Zeit” (for concert harp, guitar, electronics and tape), including in the Bremen town hall. Founding of the concert series WHO’S UNCLE MO? .

1998 Commissioned composition “Apel meets Eisler” on the occasion of the Hanns Eisler Days in Bremen (premiere) and live radio broadcast from the Junges Theater. Artistic director of the jazz revue “Moments Total Live” (Radio Bremen recording). Founded the internet information and event service MOMUSIC in cooperation with bassist and arranger Thomas Milowski. Concerts with the band of saxophonist Bernd Schlott.

1999 on tour/in concert with The Perc’s ELECTRIC FAMILY, saxophonist Frank Mead (UK), dulcimer player Remo Crivelli (CH), vocalist Sandhya Sanjana (India) and drummer Jörn Schipper. Founded various project bands. Successfully organized the anniversary party for the three-year non-stop existence of the cult Wednesday concert series WHO’S UNCLE MO? under the title “Mobiläum”.

2000 Artistic director of the jazz & lyric project “Wallking on Eggshells” (lyrics by Herbert Simmons, speaker Michael Pundt, saxophone Frank Delle) commissioned by Atlantik-Verlag (series: Soul Fiction). Founding of the concert series SOBOTNIK-EVENTS for the Bremen club “Oblomow”. On tour with Kojo Samuels and his West African band “Mister E.K.S.”. Concerts with the project “Apel sings Brecht” with the cellist Anka Hirsch. Electronic music between avant-garde and drum’n bass with the project ELECTRIC GROOVES INDUSTRIES (RB 2 live recording/MIBnightjazzfestival 01). Live film music for the historical science fiction film “Aelita” (Kino 46, Bremen).

2001 Successful re-location (February ’01) of the concert series WHO’S UNCLE MO? in the Bremen club “Studio auf den Höfen” (involuntary discontinuation of the series in October ’01 due to the gastronomic conversion of this unique live…

this CV is not complete

Peter Apel died suddenly in June 2024
RIP rock’n’roll never dies!

Ralf Benesch

14/06/2024

Band Members Swim Two Birds

Ralf Benesch

Guitarist, saxophonist and composer

born in 1962 in Nürtingen
started playing guitar at the age of 12. First radio appearance with SDR in 1976.
Participated as an ensemble member in the Darmstadt Days for New Music in the summer of 1978.
Concert tour through Thailand and the Philippines and workshops as a lecturer (1982).
Studied at the music academies in Bremen and Hanover.

In the 80s, numerous band projects, e.g. the large anarcho-punk formation Baalbek, the Kroß Orchestra (realization of collective compositions with Jens Ahlers, Thomas Mävers and Peter Apel), Die Kosmischen Bademeister (New Wave) etc.

1989 and 1991 tours through Finland and Latvia as a concert guitarist.

Since 1989, member of the jazz formation Swim Two Birds, appearances with STB at the international jazz festivals in Leverkusen, Brindisi (Italy), Wiesen (Austria). Tours through Brazil, Bulgaria, Romania and Finland at the invitation of the Goethe Institute.

1992 Founding of the Music Recycling Trio (jazz experiments)

1994 Arranger and interpreter with Trio Beaux Rivages (20th century classics) with Andree Schmid (clarinet) and Dirk Lüking (double bass).

Compartment 6: Music performance in Bremen Central Station.

1995 JazzGegenGeld with Mark Scheibe.

Annual appearances as a soloist at the International Literature Festival “Poetry on the Road”.

Several engagements from 2003 as a guest musician (guitar and banjo) in musical and opera productions with the orchestras of the Bremerhaven City Theater, the Oldenburg State Theater and the Goethe Theater Bremen.

In August 2006, guest at the MutterOrchester under the direction of Michael Gross, on the occasion of the Brecht Gala in the Berliner Ensemble with Milva, the Kessler twins and Katharina Thalbach.

Autumn 2006, performance of the Canto General by Mikis Theodorakis and Pablo Neruda with the Oldenburger Chor Bundschuh in Santiago de Chile and Temuco at the invitation of the Mapuche Parliament.

April 2008, concert with “Das Wilde Fest” at JazzAhead Bremen.

2009 performances with the folk-jazz-rock crossover project KOHARAPAYL in Yerevan and at the Beirut Jazz Festival.

Autumn 2010, European tour with Rolando Villazón and the Bolivar Soloists.

February 2013, recordings for Deutsche Grammophon with Pacho Flores (trumpet) and

the Konzerthausorchester Berlin.

April 2013, recordings for Deutsche Grammophon with Avi Avital (mandolin),
“Between Worlds”

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Our friend and long-time fellow musician died in April 2019.

The stylistically versatile musician Ralf Benesch died unexpectedly on April 11th at the age of 57 after a serious illness. The guitarist and saxophonist was active in many areas of Bremen’s cultural scene: He felt just as at home in unbridled, wild jazz projects such as the band Swim Two Birds or Benesch’s own formation Das Wilde Fest, as well as in countless groups of the Bremen Musicians’ Initiative, as he did as a guitarist in relaxed, grooving bossa nova groups (Miss Groovanova).

He was also interested in electronic music and the avant-garde. For many years, Benesch was also responsible for the sensitive and sometimes tongue-in-cheek intermezzi at the Poetry on the Road literature festival. Last but not least, Ralf Benesch has played and composed theater music at various theaters, including the theater version of Joseph Moncure March’s long poem “Das wilde Fest,” which fascinated him so much that he named his quartet after it. Ralf Benesch has always been interested in the combination of music and literature. He worked with the poet Artur Becker on Swim Two Birds and their follow-up band Les Rabiates, and in the duo Dos Ulises he devoted himself to setting modern Spanish and German poetry to music. Ralf Benesch was born in 1962 in Nürtingen, Württemberg. He began playing the guitar as a teenager before deciding to study music at universities in Bremen and Hanover. In Bremen he worked as a freelance musician and music teacher. Now a versatile and creative musician is missing from the Bremen scene.

Swim Two Birds

10/06/2024

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Swim Two Birds Artists

10/06/2024

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The band Swim Two Birds is surely one of the most outstanding discoveries in the German scene this decade. Traditionally critics and audiences except New York to exhibit the latest metropolitan hipness in avant-garde-music…
Swim Two Birds have drawn their own conclusions: their sound is explosive, risky, rebellious. A critic once named their music: “No Wave Jazz Punk Noise Funk Call It Anything” … and he was right.

22/05/2016

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LES RABIATES

New Single Available Now

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Germany based artist and producer Les Rabiates
just released his new SINGLE. “Lovely How I Let My Mind Float” by Swim Two Birds off their album “No Regrets”, released in 2001. A beautiful showcase of the bands musical depth and Gu’s lyrical abilities. Remastered August 2024 by Achim Gaetjen and Steff Ulrich.