THE EX - 45!FESTIVAL
BRAND! DAG 1
For 45 years, The Ex has been at the forefront of adventurous music. 45 years full of dedication, openness and energy. Seeking new alliances, taking on challenges. No pre-chewed fare, no repetitions, but discovery and surprise. For themselves and the audience. The Ex is a voracious sponge for diverse inspirations and a generator of ideas, a way of life, an ode to vitality and an outstretched hand. And they want to celebrate that in nona, on the eve of a new album recording, with a lavish party and a host of friends. Generous as we know them.
LINE-UP
Zea + Xavier Charles
Katherina Bornefeld + Frank Rosaly
Terrie 'Ex' Hessels + Ken Vandermark + Emma Fischer
Andy Moor + Marion Coutts
Han Bennink + Guro Kvåle
Misale Legesse
Etenesh Wassie
Lena Hessels
G.W. Sok
The Ex
The exact order of the performances will be shared later. The Ex will play last.
This festival-within-a-festival will not become a standard retrospective, not an homage to what once was, but a celebration of the now, live, in the moment, what organic interaction is capable of. Especially in the presence of friends and like-minded people who respond equally eagerly to challenges. This is how The Ex stays true to that one, indestructible slogan: forward in all directions.
You get to see a whole host of relatives, in various formations. This group of artists forms a cross-section of The Ex's large musical network. They are all free and authentic artists, from the United States, Ethiopia, France, Norway, Great Britain and the Netherlands. In these performances: free improvisation and new encounters, as well as for exciting pop music, poetry, visual art and traditional Ethiopian music.
“The Ex is punk, sure, but it's also jazz, noise, global and human synergy on a stage. Those who produce such shimmering and disruptive work, don't need old stuff. The Ex is now. Nobody sounds like them.
The Musicians
Han Bennink (NL)
A living legend of international jazz and free music. Co-founder of the pioneering Instant Composers Pool and one of the founding fathers of the free jazz & improvisation scenes in the Netherlands. At the age of 82 still a vessel of power and inspiration!
Zea (NL)
Solo project of Arnold de Boer, singer/vocalist with The Ex, hovering between songs in his mother tongue (Frisian) and infectious dance music. Also besides The Ex, he’s a true explorer, finding inspiration in many genres, disciplines and cultures, from the Kologo in Ghana to the gritty rock he grew up with in Friesland. Runs the Makkum Records label.
Marion Coutts (UK)
Sculptor, photographer, filmmaker, writer, installation artist, trumpet player and singer. Former frontwoman of avant-punkband Dog Faced Hermans (see also: Andy Moor)
Katherina Bornefeld (D)
Drummer of The Ex, known for her driving, unique rhythms and patterns. Besides that she is active as a sound healer, with a.o. singing bowls and gongs.
Terrie 'Ex' Hessels (NL)
Guitarist and co-founder of The Ex. Runs the Terp Records label with Emma Fischer. Lives and performs according to the punk ethos, but with a curiosity and musical horizon that ranges from free improvisation to Ethiopian music. Offered a home to a wide range of travelers, from Getatchew Mekuria, Sonic Youth and Konono No. 1 to Circus Debre Berhan.
Ken Vandermark (VS)
Renowned saxophone and clarinet player, composer and curator who has been a crucial part of the music scene in Chicago and besides that worked with top improvisers all over the world.
Emma Fischer (NL)
Visual artist who does al the graphic design for The Ex and the Terp Records releases. Now performs as a live painter.
G.W. Sok (NL)
Co-founder of The Ex and their instantly recognisable singer and text writer for thirty years. Now active with countless side projects and writing and reciting poetry and more.
Lena Hessels (NL)
Daughter of Terrie. Grew up with punk, free jazz and Ethiopian music, but musically went her own way. As a singer-songwriter, she makes layered pop music: from glittering, energetic electro pop to complex rhythms, from intimate piano music to a dark electronic sound.
Andy Moor (UK)
Guitarist, co-founder of cult band Dog Faced Hermans and member of The Ex since 1990. Since moving to Amsterdam, he has been very active in the Dutch music scene: from improvisation to modern composed music. Versatile musician who likes to step outside the boundaries of his discipline by collaborating with poets, dancers and visual artists. Co-owner of the label for experimental music and sound art Unsounds.
Guro Kvåle (NO)
Young trombonist, grew up as a musician in a big band, but caught on early to free music. Member of Gard Nilssen's Supersonic Orchestra, HELLO WORLD! and the Herman Hestbek Ensemble, among others.
Misale Legesse (ETH)
Ethiopian drummer / kobero player. Very active in the vibrant music scene in Addis Ababa and an expert of traditional Ethiopian music and Ethio-jazz, among others, but also seeks out experimentation with his traditional percussion instrument. Has been playing drums since he saw Han Bennink drumming on tv during one of The Ex's many projects in Ethiopia.
Xavier Charles (F)
Versatile clarinetist, well known in the international improv scene. Was part of the band Getatchew Mekuria, The Ex and Friends and made a duo CD with Terrie Ex, among others. Also plays regularly with Zea (Arnold). Organises the famous impro-festival Densités.
Etenesh Wassie (ETH)
A singer from Ethiopia who learnt the craft in Addis Ababa and displays an unlikely intensity. She forms an acclaimed duo with French bassist Matthieu Sourisseau. Their album Yene Alem is a modern classic that combines Ethiopian music raw and inventive with a multitude of influences.
Frank Rosaly (VS)
Frank Rosaly has been a linchpin in Chicago's vibrant improv scene as a drummer for many years. After moving to Amsterdam, he continued his musical quest: as a composer, performer, organiser and researcher of the music of his South American ancestors.
The Ex (the long story)
Few bands are as focused on potential challenges, on what is yet to come, as The Ex. Which is pretty remarkable for a band celebrating 45 years of existence, a turbulent journey filled with an impressive series of highlights. However, nostalgia has never been this band’s forte, as they like no other succeed in reinventing themselves, finding new alliances and fascinating challenges along the way. Stay out of that comfort zone for long enough and it just might disappear.
Take a look at the band’s story - an unpredictably winding road you can partly keep track of with the chronological series of reissues that they have been making available - and you’ll conclude that there never was any stagnation. What started with raucous punk, rooted in the squatting and punk movements of the late 70s, turned into an impossible-to-label range that made its mark nationally as well as internationally.
The Ex played more than 2000 concerts in 45 countries, often as a pioneer. In the 80s, they were one of the very first Western bands to explore Central and Eastern-Europe, from Hungary to the former Czechoslovakia, Poland and Russia. Only after that, Canada and the United States followed. A crucial link turned up at the start of the new millennium, when the band traveled to Ethiopia for the first time, backed by a VPRO tv crew.
It was the start of a unique chapter in the band’s history: several tours (on several continents), an intense collaboration with Ethiopian artists (from Getatchew Mekura, with whom they played more than 100 concerts, to dancer and cultural ambassador Melaku Belay, and many others) and lots of releases ensured The Ex also became a pioneer in the ‘crossover’ world, where music from different regions collides.
The pandemic was a standstill for many, including The Ex. Or perhaps it was more a kind of recharging, as the band is back on national and international stages with new music, ready to return to the studio. Once again, their versatility is evident. Whether you’re talking about a legendary rock venue in Amsterdam (The Ex played more than three dozen concerts at Paradiso, with a.o. an Ex Festival during its 50th birthday celebrations) or a festival in Austria where the best of the international free music scene gathers (in november the band plays the legendary Wels Unlimited): the band is so unique that it’s all possible.
Just like in the previous decades, new opportunities keep turning up. Only recently, Andy Moor and Terrie Ex contributed to a contemporary live soundtrack to Limite (a classic of Brazilian cinema), during the Holland Festival. Once again an illustration of the fact that the band is so much more than four musicians in a straitjacket. The Ex is still an eager sponge for diverse inspirations, as well as a generator for ideas, a way of life, an ode to vitality and an extended hand.
And they want to celebrate this, with a festival for their 45th birthday. It won’t become a predictable rearview mirror event, no tribute to what once was, but an opportunity to show what living, organic interaction can lead to in the moment. Right now. Particularly in the presence of friends and like-minded bands with a similar open-ness to challenges. As such, The Ex remains true to that one, indestructible adage: forward in all directions.