Ensemble Nist-Nah

Das Ensemble Nist-Nah arbeitet mit Gongs, Klangschalen und Glocken. Will Guthrie führt das Kollektiv durch polyrhythmische Strukturen, die sich von indonesischen Vorbildern inspirieren lassen, ohne dabei in akademische Muster zu verfallen. Die Musik setzt auf resonante Metalle und eine stetige klangliche Entwicklung. Acht Musiker nutzen ihre unterschiedlichen Hintergründe, um ein Geflecht aus Perkussion und improvisatorischen Elementen zu erzeugen. Ergänzt wird der Abend durch Shouji Hara. Der in Berlin lebende Gitarrist widmet sich dem bewussten Zuhören und dem Raum zwischen den Klängen.

Ensemble Nist-Nah Will Guthrie, Charles Dubois, Mayomi Moreno, Elora Antolin, Sven Michel, Julien Ouvrard, Ellen Pelé Gamelan, percussion, drums Ensemble Nist-Nah was formed in 2019 as a hybrid Gamelan / percussion ensemble, led by Nantes-based Australian drummer and percussionist Will Guthrie. The music of Ensemble Nist-Nah is influenced and inspired by traditional musics from Indonesia and gong based musics from South east Asia, however the music aims to distances itself from dry academic discourse or questionable exoticism. Rather, sonic and interactive issues are at the forefront, and the band since it’s inception, has aimed to produce music that is continually evolving, relevant, respectful and adapting to the current members and their current interests. Ensemble Nist-Nah develops out of Guthrie’s extensive work with pitched percussion and resonant metals over the years, using gongs, singing bowls and bells as melodic and harmonic material, alongside polyrhythmic / poly-metric rhythmic possibilities. The music presented is grounded in Guthrie’s travels in Indonesia and appreciation of various forms of Gamelan music, from the suspended temporality of the courtly Javanese Gamelan Sekatan, to the thuggish repetition that accompanies the Javanese trance ritual Jathilan, to the acoustic glitch of contemporary Balinese composer Dewa Alit and his Gamelan Salukat. Though Guthrie is broadening his palette to explore Gamelan instrumentation and pay tribute to his love of this sophisticated yet elemental percussion music, the influences are rich and varied, taking into account Roscoe Mitchell’s percussion works, Henry Threadgill’s multi-directional improvisatory music, as well as cross cultural adventures from the likes of Trevor Watts, Michael Ranta and Mike Cooper. Bringing together 8 musicians coming from eclectic and mixed backgrounds, Nist-Nah hosts a wealth of experience and expertise, and also regularly invites guests such as Jennifer Torrence, Sarah Hennies, Toma Gouband and Jessika Kenney. In 2024 the group enters into it’s second phase, bringing together younger Nantes based musicians, a new group and new music to go with it. In parallel to Nist-Nah’s artistic endeavours, various members of the group regularily organise workshops and teach Gamelan, using these incredible instruments and teaching possibilities, as a way to bring people together, old and young, beginner and advanced. 2025 Ensemble Nist-Nah released their 2nd full length album on Black Truffle Records, titled SPILLA. Shouji Hara A guitarist from Japan, based in Berlin. „Things that were there yet passed unnoticed and left behind. Things whose existence was controlled even before they were born. I want to be with these things,to experience their existence, and to celebrate it. Letting go of the idea of myself. Neither active nor passive, but in the space between, where things become friends with one another. My practice is an attempt to open the space where uncertain sounds, overlooked presences, and phenomena that have gone unnoticed can simply be there. For me, music is not about asserting something. It is an act of listening, of making space, and of allowing what has always been there to reveal itself. And I believe that this does not happen only within the space. It also happens within the listener.“