Rant explores the possibilities of duo playing to the extreme and has developed a singular musical identity. The interlocking musicianship of Merle Bennett (drums) and Torsten Papenheim (guitar) creates an exciting balance between precision and playfulness, groove and looseness, sound and song. Each piece creates a very specific musical world.
Since 2004 Rant has released three beautiful albums on the Berlin label Schraum and played numerous tours in Germany and elsewhere.
In their first work, entitled “Uthlande”, Bennett and Papenheim trade instruments and fill the entire room with many different musical stations (tape players, samplers, contact mikes, percussion) as well as different sources of light, which are switched on or off during the piece. This first work premiered in January 2013 in Berlin and was performed on numerous German stages in recent years. In November 2015, Rant released its fourth album called “Margo Flux.”
Featured will be sections of “Uthlande” together with new compositions, putting the focus
on abstract sounds having a rather collage-oriented approach.
Jan Jirucha is a skilled trombone player, arranger and composer. In 2003, he founded the Bucinatores Sextet, which was inspired by the aesthetics of musical humour in such bands as The Bad Plus, Sex Mob, and Bonerama. Barová Feat was founded in 2012, the year in which Jirucha also won the “Best Jazz Composition Award” for his long piece, “Preludium for Jazz Orchestra”. In addition to the Bucinatores, Jirucha has also collaborated as an arranger with the Gustav Brom Big Band, the Konstatin Ruchadze Band, and the Agon Orchestra.
As a trombone player, he plays in the Bucinatores, the Concept Art Orchestra, the Gustav Brom Big Band, the Matúš Jakabčic CZ – SK Big Band, the Agon Orchestra, the Points Octet, the Petr Kalfus Sextet, the MCH Trio, Takin’ Off, and Los Rumberos.
