Defonija

Contact

This logo is missing!

If you have it, please email it to us.

Defonija

Nominally put, Defonija is a concert cycle dealing with free and unbound musics, around which gravitate signifiers like free and avant jazz, improvisation, experimental music, avant-rock, noise and other similar musical aesthetics. In 1999, Defonija started as a weekly series of DJ evenings, where interesting, peripheral and challenging music was presented to the interested crowd. With time, these "defonic" evenings evolved into a regular, if sporadically set series of music events, that contextualised themselves into something beyond a mere concert cycle.

The elusive and often unpredictable musical selection by the concert series organiser and presenter Miha Zadnikar brought to Slovene audiences a palette of outstanding, fresh, intriguing and 'in-between' music. As such, the Defonija evenings has xx expanded the cultural scopes of its relatively small but dedicated audience and also contributed to the field of musical journalism, enriching the abstraction of musical forms and competences... Besides that it also acts as an archive, as it recorded and stored concerts almost since its start, making them available to the performing artists and setting up a historical fund.

Defonija also transcends the concert definition by presenting not only sonic artists but bringing also those dealing with the visual and cinematic. Furthermore, the type of music hosted on its stage and the intimate concert setting of Klub Gromka, where Defonija has settled (and only occasionally ventured to other [[Metelkova mesto Autonomous Cultural Zone|Metelkova]] venues) constantly defies a one-way presentation with a more interactive, lively and spatialised musical communication.

Hosted artists

Presenting the currents of musical history in the making as well as artists of historical importance, a random selection of hosted acts by Defonija could include Charles Gayle, Joëlle Léandre, Marc Ribot, Trevor Watts, Ingrid Laubrock, The Ex, Otto Lechner, Peter Brötzmann, Gerry Hemingway, Assif Tsahar, Eugene Chadbourne, Ken Vandermark, Henry Grimes and Jérôme Noetinger. Sometimes almost seen as residents of the club and thus seperately enlisted are also a few excellent Swedish artists like Mats Gustafsson, Ingebrigt Håker Flaten and Paal Nilssen-Love (who, in 2010, released a record containing excerpts of his two evenings long Defonija concert with Frode Gjerstad). Of the few local musicians that are up to Defonija's standards, Zlatko Kaučič, Bratko Bibič, Vinko Globokar, Tomaž Grom, Alzheimer 3, Lolita and Kraški Solisti appeared on 'defonic' evenings.

Considering a limited budget and DIY approach, the aforementioned intimate concert setting and acoustics, alongside the knowledgeable crowd, a well connected organiser and an artist friendly policy amount a lot to the the relatively 'big' names that were brought to the stage of Klub Gromka.

Collaborations

Besides collaborating in some years with City of Women Festival andvstavljena into their programm, one evening of Defonija is since 2009,also integrated into the program scheme of Ljubljana Jazz Festival. Defonija also associates itself with other protagonists of intruiging music and thus works and promotes the advancment of the scene.

Marc Ribot live at Klub Gromka, Slovenia. by sabinadogic on YouTube

A short video of a 2011 Defonija performance by Marc Ribot.

See also

• Klub Gromka
• Metelkova mesto Autonomous Cultural Zone
• Ljubljana Jazz Festival
• City of Women Association for Promotion of Women in Culture

External links

• Interview with Miha Zadnikar, xx of Defonija (in Slovene)