Jaap Blonk at Tonic July 19, 2003 PRESS RELEASE DUTCH VOCALIST JAAP BLONK IN RARE NEW YORK CITY APPEARANCE SATURDAY, JULY 19, 2003 AT 8 PM AT TONIC 107 NORFOLK STREET NEW YORK CITY <()=~ The Squid's Ear is psyched to present Dutch vocalist Jaap Blonk in a rare New York appearance. Blonk's enigmatic vocal style is as animated as his remarkable stage presence. He's an overgrown imp, a Tex Avery fever dream and one of the most unusual improvisors and experimenters on the face of this place. Among the many artists with whom he's collaborated are Paul Lytton, Mats Gustafsson, Michael Zerang, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Melvyn Poore, Paul Dutton, Nicolas Collins, the Netherlands Wind Ensemble and the Ebony Band. He also participated in a memorable a capella quintet with David Moss, Paul Dutton, Makagami Koichi and Phil Minton at this year's Festival du Musique Actuelle du Victoriaville festival. <()=~ JAAP BLONK BIOGRAPHY. . Jaap Blonk (born 1953 in Woerden, Holland) is a self-taught composer, voice performer and sound poet. His unfinished studies in physics, mathematics and musicology mainly created a penchant for activities in a Dada vein, as did several unsuccessful jobs in offices and other well-organized systems. In the late 1970s he took up saxophone and started to compose music, and a few years later a real breakthrough occurred: he discovered the power and flexibility of his voice. At present, he has developed into a prolific writer/composer and a specialist in the performance of sound poetry, supported by a powerful stage presence and an almost childlike freedom in improvisation. He performed in many European countries, as well as in the U.S., Canada, Indonesia, South Africa and Latin America. Besides working as a soloist, he collaborated with many musicians and ensembles in the field of contemporary and improvised music, like Paul Lytton, Mats Gustafsson, Michael Zerang, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Melvyn Poore, Paul Dutton, Nicolas Collins, the Netherlands Wind Ensemble and the Ebony Band. He performed in several compositions by the German composer Carola Bauckholt, including a piece for voice and orchestra. A solo voice piece was commissioned by the Donaueschinger Musiktage 2002. Blonk is the founder and leader of Splinks, a 15-piece orchestra playing his compositions, and BRAAXTAAL, an avant-rock trio with synthesizer and drums. He also has his own record label, Kontrans. His work for radio and television includes several commissioned radio plays. He also makes larger-scale drawings of his scores, which have been exhibited. Blonk is an energetic workshop leader too, who taught in many different countries, including a lot of work with children. A recent development is his involvement with electronics, in the form of work created by sampling and processing the sounds of his voice. Jaap Blonk keeps on searching the rich common ground between poetry and music. He is always after new sounds and combinations of sounds, without abandoning completely the semantics of language. His live performances are music, poetry and performance art all at the same time. For more information and photos, go to www. jaapblonk.com <()=~ The Squid?s Ear is an online magazine devoted to insightful coverage of unusual music. In the six months since it was launched by journalist Kurt Gottschalk and web developer Phil Zampino, SQE has featured articles about Susie Ibarra, Peter Kowald, Fred Frith, Phil Kline, Ikue Mori and Butch Morris, has run original essays written by Eugene Chadbourne, Jon Rose, Gary Lucas, Anthony Coleman, Ron Anderson and Carla Kihlstedt and Nils Frykdahl of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, and has run over 130 cd and concert reviews. SQE can be seen at http://www.squidsear.com . It is published by Squidco LLC, which also operates an online CD store, http://www.squidco.com . <()=~ Contact information: Kurt Gottschalk, editor ? kurt@squidco.com Phil Zampino, publisher ? zampino@squidco.com The Squid?s Ear SQUIDCO 160 Bennett Avenue, Suite 6K New York City, NY 10040 917.535.0265 Tonic ? tonic@tonicnyc.com http://www.tonicnyc.com 107 Norfolk New York City, NY 10002 212-358-7501 _________________________________________________________________ STOP MORE SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail