Burnt Friedman & Jaki Liebezeit

Jaki Liebezeit and Burnt Friedman share a preference for so-called Secret Rhythms, which means that the rhythms are not hidden but less common, often foreign to western culture. The artists have consciously turned away from Western European, Anglo-American regulated rhythm (based on 4) in order to enrich their vocabulary with all globally relevant rhythms.Jaki Liebezeit: “It possibly incorporated many elements of this earth without featuring any specific elements. The individual elements have been made abstract, no ethnic or national character remains, there’s nothing typical to Seville or Istanbul, but the properties held in common by all types of music have been abstracted and processed.” If it is still possible to establish a link with his past as a member of CAN, then it lies in the spirit with which he seeks, then as now, new musical forms. The post-CAN Liebezeit not only created his own cycle-based drum system but also developed an innovative drumset that concentrates on the essentials and permits a mode of playing that was already theoretically honed to be physically implemented in optimum fashion. Friedman’s programmed or played sequences and placeless sound particles adhere to the same understanding of rhythm, allowing the two heterogeneous sound generators to perfectly intermesh and form a unit – both acoustically and electronically, in terms of improvisation and concept alike. Friedman and Liebezeit came together in Cologne in 2001, having recognized that they were on the same musical wavelength and exploring the territory beyond the current style reproductions, that is to say: working remote from retro or recycling !