14.09 — 15.09.2024

Raven Chacon: Tremble Staves

Ultima (NO)

For this Oslo version of Chacon’s acclaimed performance work Tremble Staves (2017–19), the Opera beach and roof transform into a ritual site.

Travis Andrews in Tremble Staves

Who owns the fjord? Pulitzer Prize-winning Raven Chacon is a composer and artist from the Navajo Nation. For this Oslo version of Chacon’s acclaimed performance work Tremble Staves (2017–19), the Opera beach and roof transform into a ritual site where musicians in mythical costumes extract sounds from musical instruments and the very water of the fjord. Texts, music, architecture and the coastal location provoke a reflection on human interactions with each other and the land.

Originally created for the ruins of a failed public bath project in the San Francisco Bay Area, Tremble Staves deals with the scarcity and sacredness of water. In Oslo, poet Sarah Zahid, a rising literary star and author of Bjørnholt vgs, evokes the presence of water in Oslo’s urban experience and the city’s collective imagination.

The piece is performed by Zahid and the experimental duo The Living Earth Show, featuring Travis Andrews (Terry Riley, Kronos Quartet and The National) and Andy Meyerson, a former drummer with Pussy Riot. They are accompanied by over 30 percussionists and electric guitarists from the Norwegian Academy of Music and Slagverkløftet.

More info here

Listen to an episode about Raven Chacon on Stegi Radio