Anna Sowa: Z rodziną najlepiej wychodzi się na zdjęciu/Auf Fotos sieht die Familie am besten aus

for 9 snare drums and electronics (2021)

»With the Family, it comes out best in the picture« is a Polish expression that is used to make the point that the family cannot be relied on or should know as little as possible.

A courteous conversation about the weather once in a while, a get-together on festive occasions, without much commitment, are sufficient family bonding according to the context of the expression.

The narrative-formal structure of the piece is inspired by the stereotypical behaviour of family members when feasting together. Dialogues, monologues, watching TV together, the eponymous communal photo, which appears several times in the course of the action of the composition. Aesthetically, certain elements are reminiscent of retro-style, black-and-white photographs to which elegantly dressed relatives posed during important celebrations.

These ‘family members’ are personified snares, which become: the ‘detached’ aunt who at one point states, without following the conversation of the other household members, that the weather is beautiful today; the grandfather who lectures his nephews or the uncle who utters his monologue in a serious voice despite the lack of any interest.

Anna Sowa

Polish composer Anna Sowa (*1987 in Tymbark) studied with Zygmunt Krauze in Łódź and with Caspar Johannes Walter and Johannes Kreidler at the Basel University of Music, where she now lives. Her work focuses on the exploration of instrumental electronic music with elements of performing arts. She is interested in artistic activities that oscillate between sound, movement, gesture and theatricality and strive for maximum synergy between them. Instruments are musical-theatrical elements in her works and she strives to consciously compose the musicians’ bodies in such a way that they are a powerful means of artistic expression. The body treated as an instrument is the motor, the energy to create new sound phenomena that she wants to subtly combine with each other. In doing so, she concentrates very strongly on the musical form, which should be balanced, logical and surprising at the same time.

More and more frequently, she takes up themes in her works that she presents in a distanced way through sarcasm or parody. The topics addressed are always important to her, but she deliberately wants to bring them closer to listeners in a playful way.

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Anna Sowa: Z rodziną najlepiej wychodzi się na zdjęciu/Auf Fotos sieht die Familie am besten aus

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