Sentralen Saturday Program

A total overview of all concerts at Sentralen Saturday 19th of August | Oslo Jazzfestival 2023

Aila Trio Forstanderskapssalen 18:00

Farida Amadou & Julien Desprez Hvelvet 19:00

Mats Gustafsson: Hidros9 Marmorsalen 20:00

Kristina Fransson: Coincidences Kronesalen 21:00

Benedicte Maurseth: Hárr Forstanderskapssalen 22:00

Theon Cross Hvelvet 23:00

Selma French Kronesalen 00:00

Aila Trio

Sentralen, Forstanderskapssalen

Evoking a dreamy state

Aila trio is an experimental jazz trio based in Norway. Their compositions, written by bass player Aila Georgia Mae Wartel Collins, can be described as storytelling melodies that evoke a dreamy state.

Based on Georgia's compositions, the three musicians create a shocking landscape of sound, with their punk-like free jazz beats and minimalistic improvisations. There is always room for their individual stories within the frames of the compositions, and the trio is seamlessly navigating the line between improvised and composed material.

In 2019, Aila trio published their debut album Aila trio with HOO-HA recordings. In 2023 their second album Shaped by sea waves will be published with the San Fransisco Bay area based label Edgetone Records.

Georgia Wartel Collins (bass and compositions), Karl Hjalmar Nyberg (saxophone), Andreas Winther (drums)

Concert starts 18:00

Doors 17:00

Farida Amadou & Julien Desprez

Sentralen, Hvelvet

Sharing the language of creative music making

Belgian-French bass and guitar virtuosos Farida Amadou and Julien Desprez do not just speak the same mother tongue, they also share the language of creative music. At the same time, their versatile artistic backgrounds couldn’t be more different, ranging from hip-hop and punk to avant-garde jazz and improvised music.

Once on stage, they perform as if they had been a duo for years. After their first spontaneous encounter in 2019, it quickly became clear that this high quality collaboration had to be continued.

Et voilà! Get ready for a hyper-dynamic overkill for nine strings and a hotplate of effect pedals, distilled to a beautiful wall of sound, somewhere between industrial, free form improvisation, and drone. Enjoy the sonic experience live when Amadou’s crunchy bass lines and pulsing noise patterns fuse with the stochastically shrieking fireworks of the guitar, culminating in a sheer listening pleasure.

Amadou/Desprez are not your everyday-freejazzers, they play music for the 21st century.

Farida Amadou (bass), Julien Desprez (guitar)

Concert starts 19:00

Doors 18:00

Mats Gustafsson: Hidros9

Marmorsalen, Sentralen

A free associative interplay between artists

Hidros9 is an interaction between graphic works, two chamber groups, four soloists, electronics, and the conductor. The piece was commissioned by Avant Art Foundation and composed by Swedish saxophonist Mats Gustafsson. The program is the result of cooperation between five organizations, including Oslo Jazzfestival.

This new piece is a deeper exploration and continuation of the previous piece Hidros o.T. (2019). The piece is layered with interaction, new musical perspectives, forms and frictions. All of them linked to the graphic scores and works of Austrian artist Mathias Pöschl as well as the conductive composing of Mats Gustafsson.

By controlling 3 different instrument groups: two chamber ensembles, the soloist group and electronics, the conductor is able to use 3 different kinds of graphics and models of conductions. Rules are set by the composer and executed live by the conductor in an instant conducting situation, where tempo, dynamics, density and other musical parameters are controlled by predetermined rules of conductions.

What will give the piece a special body, character and profile is the meeting between more traditional instruments, traditions and new technology - All in an instant conducting session where the groups and the soloists interact.

The project In Between Norway & Poland / Culture is financed by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the Norwegian and EEA Funds from 2014 to 2021 (The Culture Programme, Activity 2 “Improving access to culture and the arts”).

We can’t wait to experience this sensory musical explosion at Oslojazz 2023.

Mats Gustafsson (conduction)

NyMusikk Trondheim Ensemble: Eira Bjørnstad Foss (violin), Matilda Rolfsson (bass drum), Lars Ove Fossheim (guitar), Michael F. Duch (bass), Øyvind Engen (cello), Kyrre Laastad (percussion and electronics), Nicolas Leirtrø (bass), Daniel Formo (organ and prepared piano), Maren Sofie Nyland Johansen (accordion)

Avant Art Ensemble: Teoniki Rozynek (violin), Dominika Korzeniecka (bass drum), Szymon Wójcik (guitar and electronics), Rafał Różalski (bass), Magdalena Bojanowicz (cello), Qba Janicki (percussion and electronics), Paweł Romańczuk (bass), Barbara Drazkov (organ and prepared piano), Zbigniew Chojnacki (accordion)

Soloist group: Colin Stetson (amplified bass saxophone), Anders Nyqvist (trumpets), Hedvig Mollestad (guitar), Per-Åke Holmlander (tuba and cimbasso)

Electronics group: Dieb13 (turntables), Jérôme Noetinger (revox tape recorder), Mikael Werliin (sound)

Concert starts 20:00

Doors 19:00

Kristina Fransson: Coincidences

Sentralen, Kronesalen

Everything and nothing is a coincidence

USBL-jazztalent prize recipient of 2022, Kristina Fransson is making her debut as a band leader, trumpeter Kristina Fransson has gathered a group of friends and colleagues to honor the coincidences. With music based on every meeting, every serendipitous encounter, every hit and every miss that makes life life, this curious band highlights the unpredictable in every seemingly random choice made by the unconscious.

The band consists of musicians from different backgrounds, strung together by Fransson’s versatility, both instrumentally and genre-wise. At this concert, jazz and improvisation meet pop and electronica in a playful performance where everything and nothing is a coincidence.

Kristina Fransson (trumpet and electronics), Georgia Wartel Collins (bass), Leah Engevold (keys and vocals), Jomar Jeppsson Søvik (drums and electronics)

Concert starts 21:00

Doors 20:00

Benedicte Maurseth: Hárr

Sentralen, Forstanderskapssalen

One of the best folk music albums in the world

Benedicte Maurseth is a well-established and esteemed performer and composer on Norway’s music scene. Maurseth and her Hardanger fiddle has toured extensively as a soloist and in collaboration with others, both in Norway and internationally. Maurseth has written music for theater and film and other commissioned works for festivals as well as her own albums.

Håkon Stene is an awarded Norwegian drummer that specializes in modern music and early music. He has been one of the country's leading percussionists for 15 years, but has also been recognised internationally. Mats Eilertsen is a Norwegian bass player, composer, and band leader. He is featured on more than 100 albums, and known as an emotional, melodic, and lyrical musician with emphasis on ensemble play. Norwegian pianist, producer, and composer Morten Qvenild is recognised for his artistic breadth and openness. He has been an active musician within european jazz and other similar genres since 1998 and has been touring internationally for all of these years.

These four musicians will be performing Maurseths latest album Hárr (2022), which was awarded «Best Nordic album of the year» and received the prestigious Nordic Music Prize for 2022. It was also highlighted as one of the ten best folk music albums in the world by The Guardian. 

Benedicte Maurseth (Hardanger fiddle), Håkon Stene (drums), Mats Eilertsen (bass), Morten Qvenild (piano)

Concert starts 22:00

Doors 21:00

Theon Cross

Sentralen, Hvelvet

Reinventing the tuba in light of diasporic bass culture

Theon Cross is one of those rare musicians whose vision has redefined their instrument. Through his combination of technical mastery, studio smarts, and expansive vision, the power and originality of Theon’s playing has reinvented the tuba’s place in modern music. The flexibility and power of his sound has made him an indispensable presence across the current UK jazz scene, and beyond jazz he has worked with grime megastar Stormzy, and played alongside major musical figures across genres.

Exploring the tuba’s possibilities in the light of diasporic bass culture – ‘Afro-Diaspora Music’ or ADM, as he calls it – Theon has worked to develop the full sonic spectrum of his instrument, transforming it into a total 21st century sound-system, powered by breath. Using the instrument’s ability to produce sub-sonics, bass, mids, and tops, Theon creates complete sound-worlds, building up from rhythm and bass to arrive at melody.

Theon’s debut release, Aspiration (2015) led to a Jazz FM nomination as Best Newcomer, and a Parliamentary Award nomination for Best Instrumentalist. His new album, Intra-I (meaning ‘Within Self ’) syntheses the diversity of his musical art and experience to deliver an essential message to a world gripped by tribulation. ‘In a period of isolation, when our perception of control over our circumstances is in questionable condition, we seek moments of peace,’ says Theon of the album.

Theon Cross (tuba), Nikolas Ziakras (guitar), Chelsea Carmichael (saxophone), Patrick Boyle (drums)

Concert starts 23:00

Doors 22:00

Selma French

Sentralen, Kronesalen

Norway’s best kept musical secret

Selma French is a Norwegian singer, composer and fiddle player. She is already well-known on the Norwegian folk-scene as a member of bands such as Norwegian grammy nominated Masåva and Norwegian grammy winner Morgonrode. She has also toured and worked with artists like Frøkedal & Familien, Siv Jakobsen and The Switch.

Her music reveals an admiration for Norwegian and English folk music, as well as containing an airy energy from somewhere unknown. Her debut album Changes like the weather in the mountain, consisting of Selma’s songs wrapped in electric guitar, wurlitzer, fiddles and some high pitched choir voices. The album was released last year and received praise from the critics

Selma French (vocals, guitar), Anna Ueland (synth, vocals), Christian Winther (guitar), Andreas Winther (drums), Erik Sollid (fiddle, vocals)

Concert starts 00:00

Doors 23:00

Age limit 18 years