World Premiere

Cello Octet Amsterdam return to Rewire to present the world premiere of a new collaborative work with Kenyan composer and sound artist Nyokabi Kariũki titled Birdsongs from Kĩrĩnyaga. Having collaborated with composers such as Philip Glass, Sofia Gubaidulina, and Arvo Pärt, the Cello Octet Amsterdam have made a name for themselves as a distinguished chamber-music ensemble in the Netherlands and abroad. Kariũki is a composer, sound artist, and artistic researcher who performs with piano, voice, electronics, and several instruments from the African continent. In Birdsongs from Kĩrĩnyaga, Kariũki’s voice alternates with field recordings of East African songbirds and the deft playing of Cello Octet Amsterdam to foster a lively habitat of sounds which offers an interplay between nature and human heritage. Through her relationship with these songbirds, Kariũki examines humanity’s link with nature – seeking to expand the concept of “lineage” so that it might inhabit more-than-human lifeworlds.