Otto

OTTO’s music is minimalist in vocabulary but intense in energy. The three musicians play the same instrument: the tapan, a Bulgarian percussion instrument with only two skin tones, and metal percussion (gong, bronze plate). The group’s musical interest lies in seeking to develop an idea with a very limited sound palette, so that musical construction depends more on the timing and interweaving of the three instruments. The set is in two linked parts, with some very fixed sections and others totally improvised. The beginning is a long progression on a traditional Bulgarian seven-beat rhythm, which, through successive shifts from one tapan to the next, reveals increasingly complex polyrhythms. The transcendental repetition of the cycle also gives rise to variations in timbre, rhythm and color which, depending on the space, can be highly variable. This long ascension bursts forth when the unison returns, albeit furtively, seeming to relieve the tension that arises again with the appearance of the metallic timbre, brought by the gong, powerful, round and grating, giving way to a long improvisation for two tapan and gong that is as mechanical as it is jerky and noisy.