Michelberger Music People – Vincent Moon & some of his favourite musicians

We’ve been watching and listening to Vincent Moon’s work for a long time. Vincent is an independent filmmaker, originally from France. He first became known for his innovative way of filming bands in the Take Away Shows project. After that he spent five years travelling the world, exploring the music rituals of the people he met for his Petites Planètes series. (If you’re staying with us, you can see some of these films on our Vincent Moon channel on the TV in your room).

Vincent travelled to five continents for this project, recording traditional music and religious rituals and looking into the relationship between music and trance. He relied on local connections through people he’d crossed paths with through earlier work and met some extraordinary musicians.

So we asked Vincent to help us put together the Michelberger music happening. Below are some of his favourite musicians from the world over, who he’s documented in his films, and who will be joining us next week. Vincent will be there also, bringing some magic to the walls of the Funkhaus…

Based in São Paulo, Metá Metá were praised as “inventors for the new-music scene in Brazil” by Afrobeat star Tony Allen. They’ve created a fusion sound which combines samba, experimental music, jazz, rock and Afro-Brazillian spiritual music.

When describing Manuelcha Prado, Vincent himself put it best: “…Manuelcha Prado is a grand master. Maybe the greatest guitarist in South America for the past twenty years.

But as almost any grandmaster who has been there for a while, people tend to forget. As soon as his fingers touch the guitar, the whole style of ‘Ayacucho’, his region of origins, comes to life.

When he starts singing, his voice carries thousands of years of history. Reaching back in its Quechua language the origin of something, in the relationship between human and nature…”

Senyawa are a band from Indonesia consisting of Rully Shabara and Wukir Suryadi. They mix Javanese musical traditions with experimental music practices and add a nice dollop of punk attitude!

The music of Soema Montenegro, from Argentina, has been described as like the sunrise: ancient and new every time. She’s already put her hand up to be part of the women’s choir, an idea which has been bubbling along in these days before the festival…