Meet the Artist: Bob Belden

No, el de dilluns que ve no és un concert normal. Bob Belden, un dels personatges més especials de la història del jazz, conegut com a músic i productor (ell és responsable de gairebé totes les reedicions de l'obra de Miles Davis, entre moltes altres tasques), fa el seu primer concert a Barcelona amb la seva nova banda, ANIMATION (així, en majúscules), dilluns que ve 26 de novembre al Conservatori del Liceu (20.30 hores), segona entrega d'un cicle que el festival ha anomenat Mestres. Giacomo Bruzzo, l'idealista italià que ha posat en marxa una discogràfica que no és com les altres, RareNoiseRecords, ens explica en aquest text dens i compromès per què Bob Belden és tan important i per què s'han de defensar propostes tan radicals com la seva.

Why contemporary fringe music and music genres have to be supported And Why we do what we do at RareNoiseRecords And Why Bob

By Giacomo Bruzzo 

I would like to thank Joan Anton Cararach for the opportunity of spending a few focused words on the objectives that underpin the work we do at our record label RareNoiseRecords and how this is connected to our more general philosophy about music and about the models we should try to pursue to survive doing what we think is right. 

RareNoiseRecords was founded by myself and Eraldo Bernocchi in 2008 with the aim of supporting and releasing music at the crossroads of genres, format (live and studio), cultural origin, epochs and to thereby foster the growth and development of a family of musicians who where, by nature of their work “sideways” in every conceivable sense yet able maintain a great emotional openness and communication towards possible audiences – This lead us to naturally gravitate towards music living on the fringes of commonly accepted canons, at least in the perception of sector operators - neo-jazz, jazz/prog/metal, electronic roots Mediterranean dub, Russian dub-techno, light and dark ambient music, oblique shoegaze rock, microtonal groove driven trans-jazz... This focus is a risky one, but is essential to us, for it tries to first of all capture the “crossbreed” nature of a lot of current music production (the child of the cut and paste world and the new networked society), but also because it serves the moral imperative of fostering the real engine behind the development of musical ideas. To quip: Applied Physics Research in CERN is expensive, but without it society might not have benefited of the networking revolution brought about by some peripheral work done at the Institute. By the same token, not fostering and helping the circulation of oblique musical ideas may deprive the mainstream of future practical "applications" and byproducts - thus of much needed future intellectual oxygen.  

As I said this is a moral imperative – one that social institutions and charities might be best equipped to deal with. In absence of such support one has then to work privately, with like-minded individuals and invest personal resources and time to achieve the aforementioned aims.Muß es sein? Es Muß. Also, we do it because it is really f-ing cool – which is where Bob Belden and Animation come in. Bob is a polymath, an Angelo Poliziano of his time. He is controversial and addresses the truth as a Shaman in New Mexico would. Bob is courageous, because he embraces the present with urgent abandon and with a brechtian gusto for social commentary, be it when he engages into tight social commentary on American culture and its Institutions or international relations or on how to embrace new technologies in the context of the development and performance of New Ideas, musical or otherwise, of which Animation is a brilliant example. Quoting Bob himself: “Animation in music and as a band is a reflection of the World as it IS, not as it used to be or is wished to be. The music comes purely fromthe heart and soul of each musician because music is all we have in our lives; we have nothing to lose. It is our 'nothing to lose' mindset that gives the music its edge and relevance. When we all have 'nothing to lose' things will change in the world.” Bob is a teacher, because he has brought incredible yet young musicians (Pete Clagett, Jacob Young, Roberto Verastegui, Matt Young) into Animation refreshing the notion of intergenerational flux of ideas. 

Oh, I forgot, Bob is an incredible composer and sax player, his toes planted in the Archives of Musical History, as his eyes gaze into the future. In many ways, Bob is RareNoise.