Current Improvisations by Werner Durand

On his first solo-release, Werner Durand presents six works all dealing with the buzzing phenomena. This phenomena is found in many musical cultures around the world as an integral part of the sound, e.g. with chinese and korean flutes, ethiopian and basque string instruments and also the indian tanpura. In some cultures, it is said that it brings out the soul of the sound.

After using traverse flutes with buzzers in the mmid-eighties, he started to experiment with other types of wind- instruments and eventually the use of resonators while working with percussionist Pierre Berthet in 1991. He also composed two pieces for buzzing ensemble including buzz-clarinets and -flutes, buzz-guitars, frame drums, tanpuras and the buzz-chime built by Bob Rutman.

All pieces are recorded in multi-track, sometimes using delays and loops without changing the characteristics of the original sounds. The instruments used here are pvc-pipes with sax-mouthpieces. Except for piece 3 "Honey", all buzzing effects are created using a pvc-tube as resonator with a plastic membrane (from a shopping bag) at the lower end. In "Honey", flower pots are used as resonators and tin-foil plates create the buzzing effect. On tracks 5 and 6 an iranian ney is added.