Rara Avis
www.raraavis.ca

photo by Anna van Kooij
Recorders, percussion and electronics revolve in a wonderland where old and new may not be what they seem. Rara Avis, the odd birds, hunt pretty ones in many styles, eras, and cultures, and swoop down to combine and/or force them into their abstract folk patchwork.

Terri Hron and Robbert van Hulzen met roaming eclectic Amsterdam. Discovering that their very different musical worlds (medieval versus free improv, contemporary classical versus Javanese gamelan) rubbed against each other in many ways, they started experimenting together in 2004. In various projects, the duo added electronics, guest musicians, and ideas collected from friends. One Fell Swoop gathers a selection of pieces resulting from these sound investigations.

"In bridging the awesome gap between the recorder and percussion, Rara Avis also bridges the medieval world and the postmodern, creating a quirky soundworld of noise-rimmed folk songs and atonal estampies that sounds like it never existed, but should have." -- Kyle Gann