Music & clubs

Verbatim: Daniel Avi Schneider

The violinist of duo Avi & Ahmed on playing their eponymous debut album in complete darkness. They celebrate its release on Dec 9, 19:30 at Radialsystem V.

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Photo by Hannes Jung

The violinist of duo Avi & Ahmed on playing their eponymous debut album in complete darkness.

“A lot of what we do is about minimising. In the beginning, after moving to Berlin, we met for drunken jam sessions at the Kanal – just us on double bass and violin. That brought forth a kind of freedom and playfulness. The idea of playing in the dark came to us four years ago, and the fi rst time we did that on stage was also at Radialsystem. We turn off the lights and put mats on the fl oor to create a very intimate acoustic setting. We thought it would be cool if people lay down during our concerts to calm down and relax, and that everyone could open their hearts and ears more easily without being distracted by all the other senses. The visual aspect takes a backseat and, at the same time, the sound of our instruments is brought to the foreground. You automatically listen more closely to what we are doing. With a desire to capture this vibe, we withdrew to the countryside for a week to record our debut album in January. We put up a lot of microphones in a beautifully wooden room and played our songs over and over again. We wanted it to sound live and refrained from manipulating it afterwards. It so happened that all versions we chose for our debut album were recorded before nightfall.”

Avi & Ahmed Dec 9, 19:30 Radialsystem V, Friedrichshain