ORGANZA RAY — Two Geese Flying

Performance
Presented by Yellow Solo at R50
Ritterstrasse 50, 10969 Berlin
(Club room in the basement of the residential  building)

February 10, Saturday
Door opens: 8 pm
Starts: 8:30 pm
Free admission

Organza Ray is a Berlin-based duo formed in the spring of 2022 by the truly wide-ranging artists Hilary Jeffery and Eleni Poulou. In addition to their own projects, the duo is characterized by collaborations with many other artists and musicians across the spectrum of the world scene. 

For the performance at YELLOW SOLO, Organza Ray will present a new programme consisting of their own compositions combined with several works by the American composer and experimental art legend Philip Corner, with whom Hilary Jeffery has collaborated as a performer for many years. Eleni Poulou explores situation based improvised lyrics in relation to poetry, song and lyric writing as a form of memory release and creation, describing her inner world as well as the outer.

Poulou and Jeffery are in a constant dialogue, speaking through their musical instruments. “Two Geese Flying” – composed by Philip Corner in 2023 – is a perfect score for their practice.

Their score book (published in 2023) will be available at the show, presenting visual scores – also a form of poetry – that can be adapted and used as instructions for communication by musicians, dancers or other creative practitioners.

Program: Philip Corner, Hilary Jeffery, Eleni Poulou

Organza Ray are Hilary Jeffery and Eleni Poulou, working together since the beginning of 2022. Early improvised soundtracks to spontaneous storytelling have transformed into future folk songs. Their work includes collaborations with many other musicians and artists, live and in the studio, connecting pathways of knowledge through sound. Their primary form of artistic practice is a form of musical conversation which they have evolved together and with others over the past two years. Their music is contemporary in the real sense in that it connects to many different styles and forms of music. Both Jeffery and Poulou have an immense experience of playing music in many contexts from new music to rock, improvised music to art installations. This broad palette provides a deep creative source which they crystallise into their own distinct and recognisable music. They are actively discovering shimmering entrances and underwater arches. 400 years of long notes, open bags and dancing butterflies.

rayanza.org
organzaray.bandcamp.com

Eleni Poulou has recorded and toured worldwide with many groups including The Fall and Shizuo, and is currently working with Wolfgang Seidel, Bomb Sniffing Dogs, and as ULR with James »Jeanette« Main. She hosts regular radio shows such as “Elope” on Cashmere Radio and “Kastra” on Stegi Radio, and has appeared on Montezpress Radio, Rinse France, RTM FM, Noods Radio and NTS with Ono Tesla. Eleni also DJs, writes poetry, creates sound collages, composes music and makes zines with like minded artists such as Theresa Patzschke. She is one half of NOHE NOSHE together with Petr Step Kišur and is part of the Berlin art collective Honey Suckle Company. She formed Organza Ray with Hilary Jeffery in 2022, her most recent solo album is “Karta” which merges Greek Pontic music with other sounds and beats.

elenipoulou.bandcamp.com

Hilary Jeffery has performed internationally in many settings including theatres, museums, jazz clubs, cathedrals, night clubs, festivals, dance studios, bars, cinemas, galleries, streets, forests and mountains. As well as composing Hilary plays trumpet, trombone, tuba, piano, electronics, and sometimes sings. In addition to Organza Ray with Eleni Poulou, his current projects include the brass trio Zinc & Copper, Etude (Ensemble Treffen Um Die Ecke), an ensemble dedicated to the music of Philip Corner, and Mullet – a modern jazz band with Tobias Delius and Charly Birkenhauer. The sense of silent space he experienced during a journey to the Sahara Desert in 1990 is a central and sustaining influence on Hilary’s work.

hiljef.com

Special thanks to Péter Barta, Maya Schweizer, Clemens von Wedemeyer, and to the residents of Ritterstrasse 50.