Images: Nik Bärtsch’s Ronin by Jonas Holthaus

Nik Bärtsch’s Ronin will be performing live online at Kolkata Jazz Fest on 19 December 2020.

With the zen-funk quartet ‘Ronin’ founded in 2001, Nik Bärtsch explores ritual groove music together with Kaspar Rast (drums), Jeremias Keller (bass) and Sha (bass/contrabass clarinet).

Despite the multiplicity of the band’s influences, Ronin’s music always possesses a strong individuality. They incorporate elements of disparate musical worlds, be they funk, new classical music or sounds from Japanese ritual music.

However, these forms are never merely juxtaposed in a post-modernist fashion but instead amalgamated into a coherent new style. Ultimately, these sounds and rhythms are highly idiosyncratic. The music consists of very few phrases and motives, continually combined and layered in new ways. Ronin thus creates a consistent aesthetic across all levels of musical expression. Composition, phrasing, sound structure, performance, and musical form all combine to form a system of interrelated elements.

More info at jazzfest.in