Il était une fois une nymphe… Une nymphe est une divinité féminine associée aux forces de la nature, représentée sous la forme d’une gracieuse jeune fille. C’est l’image qui s’impose à moi quand je pense à Ivana Mer. Une ambiance intimiste « Le concert est en sous-sol » m’annonce le personnel d’Onyx. Je suis la direction indiquée et descend les escaliers vers une salle dont je ne soupçonnais pas l’existence. La lumière naturelle nous parvient par les pans vitrés de part et d’autre de la salle éclairant faiblement les murs noirs. Dans le clair-obscur, j’aperçois le bar et les tables installées devant l’espace scénique. Le public a pris place sur les chaises et attend patiemment, autour d’un verre, l’entrée des artistes. Le cadre me rappelle vaguement les cabarets clandestins des années folles… les flots d’alcool frelaté en moins ! Une voix enchanteresse Les musiciens prennent place. Ivana Mer sort discrètement des coulisses pour saluer l’assistance et entonner les premières notes. Sa voix est enchanteresse. Je l’associe à un personnage féérique telle une sirène ou une nymphe… Métaphore renforcée par la projection de vidéo botanique illustrant la douceur de sa voix. Sa voix, elle la maîtrise. Elle la module. Douce et légère, elle envoûte le public rapidement convaincu par sa performance vocale. Elle chante a capella. Soudain, sa voix devient grave comme si la chanteuse était possédée par une âme qui s’exprimerait par sa bouche. Le public est bluffé. Dommage que l’abus de bandes son sème le trouble, crée de la confusion, alourdit le son et perd l’auditoire. L’équilibre entre la voix d’Ivana et la musique est alors déséquilibré. La musique, trait d’union entre tous Aux côtés d’Ivana Mer, la Slovaque Nina Marinová accompagne sa compatriote au violon. L’Argentin Cristian Estrella assure la musique électronique et les effets visuels. Les textes sont en slovaque, anglais, espagnol… Ivana Mer s’adresse à nous en français. Cette formation est résolument ouverte à la diversité culturelle mondiale. Ce sont des citoyens du monde, ce monde inspire leur musique, ce langage universel. Entre les titres, elle nous explique le thème du prochain morceau. L’artiste se dévoile clairement dans ces textes : une amie décédée, la recherche de soi… Les sujets abordés sont personnels. Elle les partage volontiers avec son auditoire. Elle semble réservée mais s’efforce d’interagir avec l’auditoire allant même jusqu’à nous demander de faire les chœurs sur une chanson… avec plus ou moins de succès. Ivana Mer est une belle découverte que j’apprécierai de retrouver sur d’autres scènes. Je lui souhaite de nouer avec le succès tout en préservant son identité musicale. Vimety En savoir plus sur…
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The edition of "Early Works" issued in February 2016 through the Slovak label Slnko Records, brought Ivana Mer's compositions to the international scene. Her songs continue in the cosmopolitan spirit in which they were created and reached various djs and producers around the world. A year later this album reborn, full of astonishing and powerful collaborations from intercontinental artists. Japan, Argentina, Australia, Greece and Uruguay. Fresh visions of her music. From the dreamlike versions and downtempo into a dubstep and furious beats chained with the precision of surgeon. This is the journey proposed by the participants of the album. PONCHO+CASINO TART · Osaka · Japan
Poncho+Casino Tart is a Japanese electronic music duo consisting of producers Ugh and Vinylman from Osaka left-field juke group Satanicpornocultshop. They have also release "rosebud e.p." from KOOL SWITCH WORKS 2016 and are working on "Stars are never linking e.p." for this year. LE FREAK SELECTOR · Buenos Aires · Argentina Musician, Dj, Producer & Official Reactable Performer. Martin Nardone aka Le Freak Selector studied electroacoustic music composition at Quilmes University, Buenos Aires, his hometown. Martin moved to Barcelona on the year 2001, where he has been composing & remixing music for la FURA dels BAUS, Etnotronic, Mensey & Reactable Global Sound. He´s been resident Dj at the legendary Sala Apolo & City Hall for 5 years, he has developed the already famous Barcelona cosmopolitan urban sound mixed with electronic underground tendencies. Martín has been cover for the magazine Computer Music (Italy). Also has been interviewed many times for Rolling Stone (Arg). After 10 years travelling, now he´s back in Buenos Aires, giving DJ, Music & Reactable Technology masterclasses at SAE Institute (BCN), UNQ, UNSAM, EMBA, Manawa & Siesta del Fauno (BA). Sharing stage with international artists like: Perry Farrel, Weezer, Erol Alkan, David Guetta, Paul Van Dyk, Calvin Harris, Guy Gerber, Poncho, Catnapp, BadBoy Orange, Junior Lopez, Miss Bolivia, Fidel Nadal, Babasónicos, Kevin Johansen, Fauna, El Mayonesa, Super Guachín, Fauna, El Chavez, Paloma del Cerro, El Remolón, Los Palmeras, Villa Diamante, & more. Supported by international labels like: ZZK Records, DeepClass, 4line, Acktivism, Folcore, Post World Industries & SubKlub. Catch him at iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, Beatport & more. JOHN LE BON · Athens · Greece Yannis Michos —aka John Le Bon— was born and raised in Athens but operating now from Prague, where he lives during the last years. This is where he met Ivana and worked with her in early performances as composer/remixer. Yannis grew up in the 80s while electronic sound was becoming part of almost all music genres. That drove him to research synthesizers and music technology from the early 90s when still a teenager. He was amazed by the canvas of sounds one can produce using technology and kept experimenting with different genres. While his sound varies from project to project, his main forms are twisting around funk, reggae, techno and electro, sometimes dirty lo-fi and sometimes clean or blended. He is playing drums, percussion, bass, synthesizers and programs music software and hardware. He is currently busy producing and remixing for various artists through Europe, but also preparing his first multimedia show. DJ BEN JAMIN · Brisbane · Australia Dj Ben Jamin is one of the pioneers of the outdoor party scene, throwing events in and around Sydney since the mid nineties until the early naughties. After spending the last 12 years living overseas, he has returned to our shores with a new sound and a fresh outlook on the outdoor music culture. Originally a strict vinyl only trance dj when others played on dat tapes, Jamin focused on creating the most seamless journeys, taking partygoers on transcendental sonic adventures. These days he plays deep hypnotic techno, covering a spectrum of emotions; dark elements contrasting with lush soundscapes, you cover a lot of ground when you dive deep into his sonic playground. Interested in all things electronic, from dirty crunchy beats and breaks, tech house to techno, progressive to psychedelic trance, as well as some tasty fat chill and dub, with just one rule; it's got to be deep and take you on a journey. Jamin has toured and played alongside some of the world's finest underground electronic musicians, who over the years have invited him to play around the world; next to the ocean, on top of mountains, deep in the forest and outback in the desert. The parties and festivals he threw between 97' and 2005 in Sydney are still fondly remembered by many across the world and many of the artists featured were playing in Australia for the first time. FEDERICO DEUTSCH · Montevideo · Uruguay Federico Deutsch (1968) is musician, composer and producer. He began in the late 80's as a keyboardist in the bands Rrrr and La Hermana Menor, then he took part in the collective Innova (first collective of electronic art in Uruguay). He has edited three albums "Interferencia_ # 1" (Independent), "Astromelia" (Bizarro) and "My love I go to the bar only to see you" (Bizarro), on top of that participating in the national compilations Electro Summer 2005 (Montevideo Music Group) and Panorama (Contrapedal). In the performing arts he has composed music and soundscapes for dance shows and theatre plays, among which are outstanding "Greenland" (Nomination Florencio 2005), "El vuelo" (Tour of Cuba, Europe, México and Córdoba) (Nomination Florencio 2014). He composes and selects music for films and documentaries, "Gigante", "A bullet for Che", "Acne", "Vestidos en el aula", "Aging in Rivera". Currently he performs at concerts, festivals and events as a musician and as a DJ. MIRA TUS MANOS · Buenos Aires · Argentina Mira Tus Manos is the new project of Cristian Estrella, who was born in Quilmes, Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1975. At the end of high school he directed several publishing projects linked to music, while developing his passion for drums, bass, guitar and piano. Self-taught, the groups included Sinfoninquietta, CEXXXA, Lucrecia Ugena, and Chrosman Turba (now Xrosman) —among others— always composing in parallel his own folk songs and experimenting with electronic music and organic sounds. From the end of 2015 he settled in Europe, playing keyboards, programming, producing videos and visuals with Ivana Mer. MARTIN KARAKACHOFF · Buenos Aires · Argentina Martín Karakachoff is a producer and musician, born in Buenos Aires in 1969. He studied guitar, flute, and piano. He integrated the group Peligrosos Gorriones with whom he recorded the albums "Peligrosos Gorriones" (1993), "Fuga" (1995), "Antiflash" (1997), "Vivo" (2014) and "Microbio" (2016), and counts among its milestones, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant at the Ferrocarril Oeste Stadium (1996). He was keyboardist in Leo García's band and realized collaborations with Sergio Pángaro. In 2011 he released his first solo album "Outsider" where he fuses different styles of electronic music. In addition to teaching music production, he still generating music for shows and different audiovisual formats. IVANA MER · Banská Bystrica · Slovakia For Ivana Mer music emerges from silence, inspired by the chants of the sea, forces of nature and by the inner world of the soul. Slovak born composer and singer, began her artistic journey in Prague while finishing her studies of cultural anthropology. Here she has produced her first electro-acoustic compositions that were used in the Belgian dance project Dancers! and got into the semifinals of the international electro-acoustic festival LEM Le Prix Russolo. Her musical activities are closely connected to travels, which besides opening new horizons, and are the source of collaborations with producers and talented musicians from Europe and the world. In 2015 she was nominated in the category "Discovery of the Year - RadioHead Awards" and her song "Diamond fields" created with producer Marc-Eric Laine was leading at the first position in Radio FM chart, Slovakia. Her singing voice is heard in the song "Tak sa stále pýtam" for the Slovakian film "Hrana - 4 filmy o Marekovi Brezovskom" directed by Patrik Lančarič. In 2016 her first album titled “EARLY WORKS” was released by Slovakian record label Slnko Records with very positive reception from the audience and critics in various parts of the globe. You can hear her music also in the dance film "Personal Pronouns" from the director Andrea Sudorová, awarded at the Dance Film Festival San Francisco, USA. For the year 2017 she is preparing the release of EP in collaboration with artist I AM PLANET (minimalistic, neo-classical music). You can listen to the first single "Eyja" known from the compilation "Ostrov Hudby" (”Island of Music”, Lala Music Export, tribute to the deceased journalist Juraj Kušnierik). She perceives life itself as music that includes all the genres, what naturally leads her to participate in wide range of projects from playing music for theatre performances, composing for video art, contemporary dance, singing for poetic rap and acoustic minimalism. |
Press notesThe music and thoughts of Ivana Mer around the world. Date released
September 2018
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Mystery Radio (USA)
About the song Blueanco: "This is a great track, beautiful vocals. mysterious and distant. lovely work that I would say would be a soundtrack for a creepy scary unusual movie. Ivana displays something special here. gorgeous and interesting as well as compelling engaging coolness." Gato Urbanski (Argentina)
musician in Aqualáctica & instruments designer “Beautiful and interesting. Ivana have a great career forward. It’s a pleasure to hear her.” Marc-Eric Laine (France)
musician, producer “From the dark deep oceans to the mysterious high skies, Ivana's voice connects us a little bit more with ourselves and mother nature, she's beautifully sensible, powerful, unique...working with her is...natural.” Juraj Kusnierik (Slovakia)
music journalist “Ivana is a great singer with perfect vocal technique, but not only: her songs are graceful trips into the mysterious lands.”. |