Christer Irgens-Møller
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music researcher, composer
musician: electronic music, avantgarde, improvised, african traditional & popular
conducts (photo from Warsaw Autumn 1998)
instruments: keyboards, piano, guitar, vocal
research: Afghan musik: Hazara & Nuristan
photo: Jan Rolke, Warsawa
Groups with Peter Friis Nielsen and Claus Bøje (Clinch), Peter Friis Nielsen and P. O. Jørgens (Ghost-in-the-Machine) and John Tchicai.
Guest soloists: Pierre Dørge, Peter Brötzmann (D), Mihail Dresch (H), Paul Rutherford (GB), Radu Malfatti (A), Alan Tomlinson (GB), Biggi Vinkeloe (S), Peeter Uuskyla (S), Claus van Bebber (D), Evan Parker (GB)
Tours in Hungary, Germany, Poland, Italy, Sweden and Slovenia.
CV - short
When he was 8, Irgens-Møller started tuition on the recorder, later on the piano. He learned the guitar at 14 of age and started writing songs in his midteens.
In 1971, he chose to study musicology at the university of Copenhagen and started a rock band which evolved into progrock and later transformed into jazzrock. In 1981 this trend evolved into the trio Clinch playing freejazz - improvised music. Along this group he formed jazzquartets in the mid-80s.
I 1986 he joined the group Zebra - playing African traditional and popular music.
In 1989 he joined Skræp - an association of musicians and composers. This forum gave way to any experiment one could make up.
CIM exploited several musical concepts: vocal performances, conducting improvising ensembles and writing partiture music for an array of diffent ensembles. Also, maintaince of improvising combos, occasionally with international guest musicians.
In the 1990s, as a consequence of the international network built by Skræp, he travelled Europe with performances in clubs and for festivals.
In 1999 he joined a dance band (Shake) being fed up with arty-farty concert audiences.
Sensation disturbances 2002 in the right hand compelled him to give up live performances on a regular basis, including the danceband.
Later, he played sporadically soundscapes to Spoken Word with poet Ole Lillelund.
Fortunately, he was commisioned by Moesgaard Museum to write about recordings from 1950s in Afghanistan. In 2009, this resulted in the publication "Music in Nuristan" financed by the Carlsberg Foundation. Initially, he investigated recordings of the Hazara music (available on this website).
He took up the viola in these years. A stroke in 2021 resulted in servere disabilities - sensation disturbance in the left hand and problems in the left leg making plain walking an issue.
C V detailedafro · skræp · musician 2000- · festivals
Clinch & Ghost-In-The-Machine
In 1981 he formed the group Clinch with drummer Claus Bøje and bass player Peter Friis Nielsen. The group released FriFreiLibre in 1986. Clinch played frequently at the clubscene in Copenhagen in the following years.
Christian Kyhl organized a concert at Göttingen Jazzfestival in Germany with himself as soloist (as in the prior band "4 el 5 Avantis", likewise with Friis Nielsen and Claus Bøje). Following, he set up ballet music in cooperation with solo dancer Mette Ida Kirk for Danish television with the Clinch combo. A number radio broadcasts included EM-suite in 1988 - a salute to the successful Danish football team in the European Cup.
A co-operation with sax player John Tchicai led to the release Tchicai/Clinch in 1988. Prior to the release and a tour to Hungary, Claus Bøje left the group and was replaced with P.O.Jørgens. For a time, the group performed as Clinch but changed name to Ghost-in-the-Machine. This group played in the 1990s with a number of international soloists such as Peter Brötzmann (D) and Pierre Dørge (DK), Mihail Dresch (H), Paul Rutherford (GB), Evan Parker (GB) a.o.; Martin Klapper (amplified objects, theremin and toy instruments) regularly performed as sideman.
In 1995, the group was on two extended tours performing school concerts in Jylland and Slesvig. Soloist was T.S.Høeg (sax).
In 1996 was Evan Parker with Ghost-in-the-Machine released by LeoLab, London. A second CD "New Excursions" on P.O.Jørgens' label, Ninth World was released in 1999.
Clinch was reunioned in 2002. As a challenge, the group joined a competition for making a cross-over on poetry, visual arts and music; this led to a collaboration with Torben Ulrich in the concept, jazz & poetry. This combo had at first featured T.S.Høeg as a soloist and Steffen Poulsen as sound manipulator, Troels Bech as sound engineer, but transformed to a combo with Lotte Anker playing saxaphawne and Steffen Poulsen on live-sampling and mix. The latter recorded "Torben Ulrich in Clinch: Dice done" in 2004 after a completed tour in DK.
Morads Quartet ¤ MeYou
In the eighties Irgens-Møller formed the quartet Morads with Morten Carlsen (clarinet, bass saxophone), Christian Glahn (bass) and H.C.Mogensen (drums). The repertoire of this group was recorded on the CD The Garden Is (Olufsen 1991). On this CD, Lotte Anker plays sax, Jens Melgaard bass and H.C.Mogensen drums. Also included on the CD are three duos with Peter Friis Nielsen. Irgens-Møller plays prepared piano on these pieces.
The two continued their duo work and recorded MeYou (Olufsen 1994) which is a collection of improvisations, often with prepared piano. The release contains additional recordings of solo piano, also prepared.
The jazz quartet appeared as Mellemrum with Frederik Lundin on reeds and flute replacing Lotte Anker.African Music
Following a stay in Ghana in 1985 with Christian Glahn (bass) and Michael Nielsen (sax), they formed the group Zebra, with the guitar players and vocalists Tchando (Guinea-Bissau) and Nguza (Tanzania), the drummer and percussionist Ayi Solomon (Ghana) and master drummer
Benjamin Afadi (Ghana). With the latter, Irgens-Møller also played in the group Afadi Bros with the Ghaneans Elvis Buzu (percussion and goje), David Ofori (bass and percussion) and Agarfa Amartey (dance and percusssion). Zebra played hundreds of school concerts along with club concerts and the band contained also from time to time, the musicians from Afadi Bros. Zebra dissolved in 1993, and Irgens-Møller left the group prior to the recording of a CD. Michael Nielsen played for a while with the Zebra name, but changed to the name Fulani.
After a trip to Mali in 2006 with guitarplayer and singer Per Nybo, Irgens-Møller took up the African music again. They formed the group Tanina Kono with Basiru Suso (Gambia) on kora.
Skræp
From 1989-2001 he was a member of SKRÆP ... - experimental music forum - a cooporative of composers/musicians organizing concerts often with the participation of international artists.
A large portion of the "works" of Irgens-Møller was performed in the yearly programmes of SKRÆP. This association was a community for promoting absolute freedom in for artistic expressions, labelled "experimental" - and had sufficient municipal and state support to pursue this intent in by streaming concerts and performances. Irgens-Møller got into doing vocal improvisations and planned out performances for larger units entitled "ovokal". Also, he participated as keyboard player in other constellations by Niels Winther, Søren Gorm, Jørgen Teller, Olga Magieres, Dan Marmorstein, Martin Klapper a.o. of SKRÆP.
SKræp, organized as a flat structured organization of visual artists (base democracy), provided opportunities to write music for classically trained units from "the other camp" - hired to perform works of "the unspoiled" Skræp members.Units such as "Duodenum", Scandinavian Wind Quintet and the guitar quartet "CORONA" performed compositions in unexpected localities in Copenhagen. As such, the association did a pioneer job in exploiting - not discovered yet, premises for concerts and events. Including, museums, cafes, art galleries and outdoor locations.
Copenhagen was EU Culturcity in 1996. Irgens-Møller organized a choir concert Skælvinger under hvælvinger, in Grundtvigs Church, Copenhagen in November which gave opportunity for him and other SKRÆP members to write for choir.
Furthermore, he participated in SKRÆP EIO, European Improvisers Orchestra (organized by Niels Winther); a culturcity project with participation of 4 SKRÆP musicians and 8 musicians from different European countries. This ensemble also played at Warsaw Autumn in 1998 (on initiative by keyboardplayer Krysztof Knittel).
In the culture city programme, with Søren Gorm, he organized "Concert for Police equipment" performed in the round yard of the main police station in Copenhagen. In this concert, all participants (except for the Police Brass Band) was invited to play on pieces of police equipment such as helmets, shields, boxes, employ sirenes etc., put on the attires of street fight (as the African dancer did!); stars of the international improvised scene such as Han Bennik (drums) and Sven Åke Johansson (performance and drums) appeared in excellent solo performances. This event was performed at the Roskilde Rock Festival in July same year.
In SKRÆP, he has had opportunity to write music for classical ensembles such as (see works), Scandinavian Woodwind Quintet, Duodenum, Young Academics' Choir, Guitar Trio 1+2 og Corona Guitar Quartet. The latter played pieces by Irgens-Møller and other SKRÆP composers in the Round Tower in Copenhagen in September 1999.
In August 1999, he performed "Conducted Improvisations" for a larger ensemble including three bass blowers, Tony Bevan (GB), Jakob Draminsky (E/DK), Christian Kyhl (DK) and Michael Tosti, violin, Marie Wärme, accordeon, Hainer Wörmann (D), guitar and himself on harpsichord. The concert was a part of SKRÆP's CIEF festival (Copenhagen Internation Experimentalmusic Festival) that year.
Additionally, the project "Urban Jazz" with Jorma Tapio (bass clarinet) and Raoul Björkenheim (guitar) from Finland and Irgens-Møller's Trio Pi (Friis Nielsen and Lars Juul, drums) was presented as a SKRÆP concert in 'Huset in Magstræde' in October 1999.
Organizer
In 1999 he caught the idea for SCM (Symposium for Contemporary Music) Symposium in cooperation with Danish Jazz Federation. The Symposium took place at The Conservatory for Rhythmic Music. Co-organizers were Ole Kühl, Hasse Poulsen (AvArt) and Niels Winther (SKRÆP). Musicians who were also involved in organizing concerts were invited to exchange experiences in organizing festivals and concert tours. The participants also performed concerts in a number of different groups.
In 2000 he got the idea for the concert series "Katapult". Danish Jazz Federation organized concerts in cities in Denmark. He played with his own Trio Pi with Peter Friis Nielsen, bass, Lars Juul, drums, CIM, piano. The other groups were Sound of Choice with Hasse Poulsen, Lars Juul a.o. and Takuan m. Lars Juul and Flemming Agerschou (trumpet).
In 2000, he organized "SKRÆP GRANDE PRIS", a paraphrased music contest with members of Skræp and guests, who competed to get most audience votes and win a trophé. The performance was covered by the local TV station, TV-Stop, and the one-hour documentary of the show became a hit on the channel. It was broadcasted around 20 times.
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In 2001, Irgens-Møller organized a school concert tour for gymnasiums around Copenhagen. The trio, consisting of Peter Friis Nielsen, bass, Stefan Pasborg, drums and Irgens-Møller on keys, played 10 concerts in cooporation with the music teachers.
Musician 2000- .. Clinch & Ocs
In the summer of 2000 he performed solo in Stettin with electronic music and with the Polish group Stuckonceiling Robert Piotrowicz, guitar, Kacper, percussion) at the MOZG-Festival in Bydgosz.
In November 2002 and April 2003, he toured in Denmark with Torben Ulrich-in-Clinch - a multimedia show with poetry of Torben Ulrich framed by music of Clinch featuring Torsten Høeg.
This unit recorded material for the CD DiceDone, which was released in 2006 on Olufsen records. Lotte Anker replaced Torsten Høeg on saxophone, and Steffen Poulsen was added on sound manipulation and live-sampling.
In 2002, Irgens-Møller was commisioned by Moesgård Museum in Århus to investigate and analyze a large collection of recordings of music from Afghanistan i the 1950s. Manuscripts for two books were written in the following years. "Music of Nuristan" is published March 2010.
During 2007 he started to work with the poet and multiinstrumentalist Ole Lillelund and the programmer Steffen Leve Poulsen who made rhythm and sound design in PureData. This group "OCS" made their own release "Narrow Escape From a Shark", a double CD sponsored by DJBFA.
In July 2008 he conducted "White Nights Festival Big Band" in the Enav Cultural Center in Tel Aviv.
Festivals
• Göttingen Jazzfestival 1984. Clinch w. Christian Kyhl (sax and flute)
• Copenhagen Jazzfestival 1988. Clinch w. P.O.Jørgens and John Tchicai.
•; Gaia festival 1992 (Rheinhardt Kreckel, Kulturgut). Solo voice. Gelsenkirchen, Ruhr
• Jazz at the Baltic (Håkan Andersson) 1993 with Roland Keijser (S) (sax), Bengt Berger (S) (drums), Peter Danstrup (DK) (bass), Skirmantas Sasnauskas (Lt) (trombone) Aug. 14th Karlskrona, Sweden
• Gaia Festival 1992 Films for Art 1994 1994 (Kulturgut). Solo piano. Gelsenkirchen, Ruhr
photo from article in the local newspaper
• Interazzioni 8 (Masimo Zanasi) Teatro Arka. Solo vocal and sound machinery. Cagliari, Sardinia
• The Meridian Crossings 1995. Piano in duo with Jindrich Biskup (CZ), floor percussion. Hermit Foundation Symposium, June 1995, Plasy, Chech Republic
• Artoll 1995 (Claus van Bebber) Art- and musicfestival. Soundsculpture. Bedburger-Hau, Ruhr-district
• Festival Of Musical Action 1996 (Tomas Ziburkus). Solo vocal and sound machines. Dec. 8th. Vilnius, Lithuania
• LEM festival Garcia Sonor 1997 (Victor Nubla). Synthesizer and voice. Barcelona
• European Echoes 1997 (arr. Biggi Vinkeloe), synthesizer with Giancarlo Locatelli (I), clarinet (I),percussionist Filippo Monico (I), drummer Peeter Uuskyla (S), Biggi Vinkeloe, alto sax (S) and Friis Nielsen, bass. Göteborg, Trollhättan Konsthall and Kungälv, Sweden
• Från Omberg till Tibet (From Omberg to Tibet) 1998. Art- and musicfestival, arranged in cooperation with visual artist Nes Lerpa (DK) and flowergardener Lennart Isaksson. Rök, Heda, Alvesta nearby Omberg. Choir pieces, piano in the Trio Pi, two soundsculptures. Ödeshög, Östra Götland, Sweden.
• Warsaw Autumn 1998, EIO orchestra, Warsaw
• SCM 1999 (SKRÆP, AvArt, and Ole Kühl, Danish Jazzfederation) Symposium for Contemporary Music, November, Cph.
• MOZG 2000. with the unit "Stuckonceiling". Bydgosz, Poland
• Copenhagen Jazzfestival 2008 Clinch
White Nights Festival, Tel Aviv, July 2008
review
Releases
Fri frei libre CLINCH 1986. Olufsen.
Christer Irgens-Møller, piano, voice, flutes. Peter Friis Nielsen, bass. Claus Bøje, drums
Tchicai/Clinch TCHICAI & CLINCH 1988. Olufsen
John Tchicai, saxophone. Christer Irgens-Møller, piano & synth. P.O. Jørgens, drums. Peter Friis Nielsen, bass.
The Garden Is CHRISTER IRGENS-MØLLER1991. Olufsen DOCD.
Christer Irgens-Møller, piano. Lotte Anker, saxophone. H.C.Mogensen, drums. Jens Melgaard, bass. Peter Friis Nielsen, bass.
MeYou CHRISTER IRGENS-MØLLER og PETER FRIIS NIELSEN 1994 (DOC1994)
Christer Irgens-Møller, piano. Peter Friis Nielsen, bass.
Evan Parker with Ghost-in-the-Machine review GHOST-IN-THE-MACHINE feat. EVAN PARKER 1996. LeoLab.
Evan Parker, saxophone. Christer Irgens-Møller, piano & synth. P.O. Jørgens, drums. Martin Klapper, electronics & amplified objects. Peter Friis Nielsen, bass.
Evan Parker with Ghost-in-the-Machine 1999. NEW EXCURSIONS. (Ninth World)
DiceDone CLINCH: TORBEN ULRICH IN CLINCH 2006. (Olufsen DOCD)
Torben Ulrich, voice & recitation. Lotte Anker,saxophone. Christer Irgens-Møller, DX-7 & VL-1. Steffen Poulsen, live-sampling and sound manipulation. Peter Friis Nielsen, bass. Claus Bøje, drums
Narrow Escape From a Shark OCS. Own production, sponsorered by DJBFA
Ole Lillelund, texts, vox, suona, cornet, percussion, devices. Christer Irgens-Møller, synthesizers (DX-7, Nordlead, M-1). Steffen Leve Poulsen, rythm design in PureData.
7x7x7 CLINCH 2009. Sonic Sound Records.
Music in Nuristan - traditional music from Afghanistan an investigation of the recordings of Klaus Ferdinand and Lennart Edelberg 1953, 1964 and 1970.