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KNOWLEDGE
Out Now

Das erste Solo-Album von Konstantin Dupelius

auf LP und digital auf allen Musik Portalen

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LP: Knowledge

Limited Edition - mit Artwork von Sanja Vrzić

KONSTANTIN DUPELIUS

BIO & ALBUMINFO

Ursprünglich hat KONSTANTIN DUPELIUS mal Klavier studiert, ganz klassisch. Und noch ursprünglicher waren da die Anfänge als 11-jähriger naiv-ambitionierter Techno-Produzent. Oder die Rockband in den Mid-Teenies, Orchester, Chor & Cello … Der Ursprung von Konstantins musikalischer Sprache ist vielfarbig und hat zahlreiche Abzweigungen in seiner Biografie erfahren. Heute spielt Konstantin nach wie vor klassische Konzerte, er beschäftigt sich mit Musik aus verschiedensten Genres, elektronischer Musikproduktion, Improvisation, Musik vom Balkan und aus Ostafrika, Theatermusik und Komposition für klassisches Ensemble.
Die größte Inspirationsquelle seiner Musik ist nach wie vor klassische Musik, aber sie muss weiterentwickelt werden, in eine moderne Klangsprache übersetzt werden. Das jedenfalls ist die Quintessenz aus 7 Jahren Klavierstudium, dass Musik nur lebt, wenn sie ständig weitergedacht und weiterentwickelt wird, egal wie alt, egal wie traditionsbehaftet, egal wie museal das Konzertleben strukturiert ist. Um das klassische Klavier bilden nun Synthesizer, Laptop, E-Cello und die eigene Stimme eine Klangburg, in die Konstantin abtaucht und nach musikalischen Antworten auf große Fragen des Lebens sucht. Nach dem Ausweg aus der Einsamkeit der modernen Welt, nach Dekolonisierung und der Frage, wie viel Kultur der weiße Mann in der Welt geraubt und unwiederbringbar zerstört hat, nach Auswegen aus Krieg, gesellschaftlicher Spaltung, Klimaungerechtigkeit, nach Inspiration und spiritueller Verbundenheit in der Natur …

Für sein erstes Solo-Album KNOWLEDGE hat sich Konstantin mehrere Wochen lang in einen eigens organisierten Silent Retreat in die Oberlausitz begeben. Ganz nah am Wald und fernab von zivilisatorischen Störgeräuschen, in den Studios seiner Kollegen und Freunde Falk Schönfelder, Leo Schöning und Chris Fischer, entstanden 10 Kompositionen als Ergebnis von Klang- und Kompositionsforschung und als Antworten auf große Fragen. Dabei entstand sowohl Klangkunst und Musik zum aktiven Zuhören, die Räume zur Selbstfindung und Einheit mit der Natur anbietet, als auch Fragen und Antworten zu gesellschaftlichen und politischen Debatten aufwirft, ohne dabei viele Worte zu verlieren. Vielmehr versucht Konstantin diese Erzählungen, Fragen und Antworten in seiner musikalischen Sprache und dem bewussten Aussetzen von Klang und Ton auf emotionale und spirituelle Weise herzustellen.
So zum Beispiel ganz dringlich in der Komposition LA FAMILLE, in der es darum geht, wie viel Kultur, Knowledge und sozialen und politischen Zusammenhalt der weiße Mensch in Kolonialismus und Neokolonialismus in Afrika zerstört hat und das immer noch tut, in voller Abwesenheit medialer Berichte und politischer Debatten darüber.
LACRIMOSA FOR SARAJEVO ist Ausdruck der Traurigkeit, die Konstantin regelmäßig umgibt, wenn er in seine absolute Lieblingsstadt Sarajevo reist. Eine Stadt, die seit eh und je für das friedliche Zusammenleben verschiedenster Kulturen steht und daraus einen unfassbaren Reichtum an Kultur und Kreativität geschöpft hat, seit mehr als 30 Jahren aber durch nationalistische und segregationistische Politik in Krieg, Stagnation und Depression entrissen wird.
In A DELICATE BALANCE geht es um die Zerstörung der Natur durch den Menschen und darum, der fragilen Balance der Natur zuzuhören, ihr zu geben, was sie braucht. Überhaupt sind Naturthematiken insbesondere im Sinne der inneren KNOWLEDGE der Natur wiederkehrendes Motiv auf dem ganzen Album, so z.B. auch in PRELUDE & AIR, LA FAMILLE oder DANK.
Musikalisch fand Konstantin besondere Inspiration in der Neuschöpfung klassischer Klaviermusik, besonders zu hören in den beiden Solo-Klavierstücken INTERMEZZO & PRELUDE sowie in den Rekompositionen klassischer Klavierwerke 2512 & THE TEMPEST. Daneben ist die Musik des Albums stark beeinflusst von elektronischem und experimentellem Sounddesign (LACRIMOSA FOR SARAJEVO & AIR), von Samples und Rhythmen aus Togo und Kongo (LA FAMILLE) und von sinfonischen Kompositionen mit nostalgisch-düsterem Prog-Touch (DANK & A DELICATE BALANCE & WAVES).

Mit dem Release am 23.06.2023 startet Konstantin damit, seine Musik auch als Solo-Künstler, abseits von Theater- und Festivalkollaborationen, auf die Bühne zu bringen. Mit Klavier, moog Synthesizer, Laptop, Ableton Live Controller, E-Cello und der eigenen Stimme lädt er das Publikum ein, gemeinsam in seine eigenartigen Klangfarben abzutauchen und mit auf die Suche nach der inneren KNOWLEDGE der Natur zu gehen.
Abseits seiner Solomusik ist Konstantin außerdem regelmäßig engagiert in Theaterproduktionen (u.a. Salzburger Festspiele) und Festivals (PODIUM Esslingen) und organisiert eigene Projekte in seinem Duo OMG Schubert, mit dem er die Werke und den Stellenwert klassischer Musikkultur hinterfragt (u.a. ITZ Tübingen) oder mit dem Kollektiv The Grey Stories, mit dem er Kollaborationen mit Künstler*innen aus Bosnien-Herzegowina und Ruanda organisiert.

KNOWLEDGE
by Konstantin Dupelius
Published on Ragusa Records
Distributed by Motor Entertainment

Mix: Felix Denzer, Berlin
Master: Nedim Zlatar, Sarajevo
Artwork: Sanja Vrzić, Sarajevo

All songs composed & recorded by Konstantin Dupelius
except drums on Track 2 & 3: Nedim Zlatar, Sarajevo
and additional percussion on Track 2: Roger Atkipo, Lomé

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LACRIMOSA FOR SARAJEVO - Konstantin Dupelius (Official Video)
06:21

LACRIMOSA FOR SARAJEVO - Konstantin Dupelius (Official Video)

LACRIMOSA FOR SARAJEVO is an expression of the sadness that regularly surrounds me when I travel to my absolute favourite city, Sarajevo. A city that has always stood for the peaceful coexistence of the most diverse cultures, from which it has drawn an inconceivable wealth of culture and creativity, but which for more than 30 years has been snatched away by nationalist and segregationist policies into war, stagnation and depression. Composed & Recorded by Konstantin Dupelius in 2018 in South Tyrol and Sarajevo, for the theatre production UNCONSCIOUS COLLECTIONS . What about Bosnia? Drums (Audio & Video): Nedim Zlatar, Sarajevo Video & Edit: Lamia Šabić, Sarajevo Locations: Academy of Performing Arts Sarajevo, Hum Tower Sarajevo, Sarajevo City Mix: Felix Denzer, Berlin Master: Nedim Zlatar, Sarajevo https://bfan.link/lacrimosa-for-sarajevo https://www.instagram.com/konstantindupelius https://konstantin-dupelius.de/ --- Sarajevo is my absolute favourite city. No other city has been able to give me the same feeling of love, energy, beauty and craziness. Every year I have to go there, at least to recharge my Sarajevo batteries, and to immerse myself further in the many stories, culture, music and nature in and around the city. But when I think of Sarajevo, I also think of the sadness that lies over this city like a cloud of depression. The frustration of my fellow Sarajevans who report every year that things are getting worse. I think of the unending migration abroad, the economic stagnation and the segregationist, nationalist policies that have been destroying this city and the entire country of Bosnia-Herzegovina for more than 30 years. My composition LACRIMOSA FOR SARAJEVO is an expression of this sadness, of the tear I always cry for Sarajevo. For a city full of culture, liveliness and craziness, where a sweet juice full of creativity, interculturality and inspiration wells up from every street corner, but which has been poisoned by misanthropic ideologies for 30 years. It is a tear for all my friends and colleagues in this city who are not allowed to experience their full potential and the potential of the city, and perhaps never will in the long run. And it is a tear for all those who lost their lives, family members, friends and faith in humanity in the war and the almost 4-year siege of the city between 1992 and 1995. When I travelled to Bosnia in 2017/18 on research for a music theatre project, the professor of electronic music at the Academy of Music in Sarajevo told me that his most moving concert experience to date was the concert that the Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra played in 1994 during the war in the already destroyed Vjećnica, now Sarajevo City Hall, conducted by Zubin Metha. Mozart's Requiem was on the programme. For him, it was not so moving because the musical and interpretative quality of the concert was particularly high, no, because despite and during the war, during the siege of the city, the need for art, for music, for coming together and experiencing community was so high that events like this concert overshadow everything else to this day. Similarly, my friends and colleagues from the city tell me that the concerts and parties during the siege of Sarajevo, whether punk, classical or theatre, were the most intense experiences of their lives. Inspired by these conversations and by Mozart's Requiem, I composed LACRIMOSA FOR SARAJEVO at the beginning of 2018, first in the artistic research of our theatre project in South Tyrol, and then produced and completed it in Sarajevo with my friend Nedim Zlatar, drummer and producer from Sarajevo. The piano melody is a quotation from the Lacrimosa from Mozart's Requiem, which I reharmonised and based on which I freely improvise on the new harmonies. The second part of the composition is based on the same material, but this time with the support of Nedim Zlatar on drums, who increases the Tear for Sarajevo to a dramatic scream. To this day, it is the composition with which I identify most, which is why I also decided to produce a music video - and of course it had to happen in Sarajevo. (Konstantin Dupelius)
AIR - Konstantin Dupelius (Official Video)
03:50

AIR - Konstantin Dupelius (Official Video)

AIR is a simple song in which the instruments of the air sing and evoke the highest feelings as a hymn to nature. It tells the story of redemption from darkness after long months of winter and waiting, stretching out towards the sun and uplifiting into the air. Composed & Recorded by Konstantin Dupelius in the summer of 2019 in the forests of Upper Lusatia with special thanks to Falk Schönfelder, Leo Schöning and Chris Fischer. Video & Edit: Lamia Šabić & Luciano Perez Savoy, Sarajevo Mix: Felix Denzer, Berlin Master: Nedim Zlatar, Sarajevo https://bfan.link/KD-air https://www.instagram.com/konstantindupelius https://konstantin-dupelius.de/ --- AIR awakes in me the feeling of ecstasy, freedom and transcendental fulfilment. In terms of my whole album, it is the long-awaited release from darkness. While all the pieces before dealt with dark themes, gloomy melodies, beats and harmonies, the sky clears with the accompanying piano piece PRELUDE, and finally the sun shines with AIR! Air is the first and only composition in a major key on my album, and as pure as it can be, in C major. The longing for redemption from climate injustice, destruction and disregard for nature, segregation and nationalism, colonisation and destruction of culture and families, loneliness, lack of support, lack of identification ... all this finally finds redemption and that in nature and especially in the air. Air is the central element of this composition. It all begins with a recorded ventilator sound that dissolves more and more into effects and finally reappears as music transformed into synth pad and bass and determines the composition until the end. Around this "sounding air", piano, synthesizer, drums and other melodies generated from the ventilator samples gradually join in. An epic, drawn-out chord sequence establishes itself as a hymn to nature, to the air and also to earth and water, to the knowledge of nature and the healing power of nature. The chord sequence repeats itself like a mantra, is enriched with increasingly ecstatic bubbling instruments until it literally flies into the sky in transcendental fulfilment, surrounded by all the beauty of nature. Lamia Šabić from Sarajevo also created a music video for this composition. It tells the story of redemption from darkness in images from the forests of Bosnia-Herzegovina, which, after long months of winter and darkness, stretch out their arms towards the sun and spring again, carried by the air surrounding them. The title also contains a small reference to my love of classical music. Air - a very old musical genre of a simple, song-like aria (hence the name Air, derived from Aria), but instrumental, without vocals - made especially famous by the famous Air on a G String by Johann Sebastian Bach. And so my piece of music is also an air in this spirit, a simple song in which the instruments of the air sing and evoke the highest feelings as a hymn to nature. (Konstantin Dupelius)
A DELICATE BALANCE - Konstantin Dupelius (Official Audio)
05:01

A DELICATE BALANCE - Konstantin Dupelius (Official Audio)

A DELICATE BALANCE tells about the destruction of nature by man and about how important it is to take action now and not to wait longer. Listening to the fragile balance of nature, the inner KNOWLEDGE of nature, means understanding that nature is what we need. Protecting nature means protecting human life on earth. Composed & Recorded by Konstantin Dupelius in the summer of 2019 in the forests of Upper Lusatia with special thanks to Falk Schönfelder, Leo Schöning and Chris Fischer. Mix: Felix Denzer, Berlin Master: Nedim Zlatar, Sarajevo Spoken Word Sample: Harrison Ford Cover & Photo: Sanja Vrzić, Sarajevo https://bfan.link/a-delicate-balance https://www.instagram.com/konstantindupelius https://konstantin-dupelius.de/ --- A DELICATE BALANCE is one of those pieces that I was particularly inspired to write during my silent retreat in Upper Lusatia, on the edge of the forest and far away from the noise of civilisation. It deals with what is probably the greatest threat to humanity, the destruction of nature by man and man-made climate change. It tells of effects that are already being felt, missing harvests in Europe, burning forests in California, dying fish in the ocean, persistent droughts in East Africa. The quote from Harrison Ford that frames the composition is simple and naïve, and that's what excited me about it. Just as naively as we humans believed and still believe that we can control and dominate nature, that civilisation and mobility, progress and prosperity, as we understand them in globalised capitalism, will bring us to the goal of a fully fulfilled life, nature answers us just as simply and naively that this is only possible by living together with it. "Nature doesn't need people, people need nature." We live in eternal connection with all living beings around us. No matter how civilised we think we are, how better off we humans think we are compared to all other living beings, nature knows how it really is, it has its inner knowledge that all life lives together in a delicate balance and that we can only support each other in life if we are aware of this balance. If the balance gets out of control, we destroy each other, nature and human beings. In my work with West African nature religions, I was particularly inspired by the humility that is practised there towards nature. The attitude that what nature gives you must also be given back, through gratitude and a life lived for nature and the care of nature. Because of this, in the research for writing the lyrics of A DELICATE BALANCE, I dealt with African wisdom around nature and man, and incorporated some of it into my lyrics, partly in the original, partly slightly modified. Musically, I have tried to depict the fragile and delicate balance of nature in different, finely related rhythms and overlapping patterns. The basic beat of the piece is a 12/8 bar, but it is based on a permanently repeating S-O-S Morse code motif in 9/8 time in the bass. Above this, first a synthesizer in 7/8 time, later a concise guitar motif in 4/4 time, is set duolically opposite the eighth notes of the basic beat. Further synthesiser voices condense polymetrically and finally, in the cathartic middle section, an elegiac melody is superimposed on all the other instruments, which is the only instance that makes concrete reference to the basic pulse. The composition only works if all voices are aware of what the other voices are doing and that as soon as they step out of line, the whole structure starts to falter. And so we humans should also learn again to listen more to the different voices of the nature surrounding us, to get away from our arrogance and to become aware of the delicate balance and knowledge of nature. (Konstantin Dupelius)
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