Project

SPOTLIGHT ON RUI FAUSTINO

by ARTCONNECT BERLIN'S BLOG 01 Oct 21:46

Field of work

Interview, music

Website

http://blog.artconnectberlin.com/?p=1520

Description

This week’s artist is a musician. Rui Faustino (http://www.artconnectberlin.com/RuiFaustino), originally from Algarve, Portugal, started playing the drums in 1991 and hasn’t stoped since. An extremely mixed path brought him to Berlin where he has been living since the year 2000. Now Rui plays drums in several projects, mainly free jazz and improvised music.

Rui, tell us about where you come from, musically.

I started playing rock in bands with friends. That was great fun. It needed commitment but was coming in a natural way. Later, I studied classical percussion in EPME Conservatory. That demanded much more discipline and constant work from me. I also studied jazz music in Lisbon and Berlin. I had some brief contact with “world music” instruments, by learning djembe from a master percussion player from Guinea and Tabla at the HfM department for Jazz and Popular Music.

ACB decided to know more about his musical improvisations and projects he is currently in.

I have a solo project called For Unaccompanied Drums(http://www.rui-faustino.com/index.php?/for-unaccompanied-drums). My classical percussion skills are very vital here; there is a high level of the awareness of sounds. I also play in many other projects like: F/R/E/N (http://www.rui-faustino.com/index.php?/faustino–roder–eberhard–neuser/), Triodorioderuido (http://www.artconnectberlin.com/RuiFaustino/projects/612) and TRIO K(http://www.rui-faustino.com/index.php?/music/trio-k/). I am also currently touring for a few shows with a very interesting world music/soundtrack project called Tek Tek Ensemble (http://tektek.com.au/bio.html).

But most of the projects you work in are modern/new/experimental Jazz? Why have you chosen this direction?

When I was 18 I did not know what Jazz really was. I come from a touristic place; culture is a rare thing there. Most of the industry is based on tourism. I began as a self-taught player on drums and quickly moved on to a more academic musical environment. These were totally disassociated worlds. Jazz, is something what can be identified as a dimension in between; it is a sophisticated way of playing music but the essence comes from the individual. I believe it is important to have a platform that allows abstraction, but also leaves room for you to express your visceral needs. Both aspects fulfill me artistically.

What were your main music influences in the beginning?

In a very simplistic way my development came from – Nirvana (http://www.nirvana.com/). Moved on to Einstürzende Neubauten (http://www.neubauten.org/), Steve Reich (http://www.stevereich.com/) and Ornette Coleman(http://www.ornettecoleman.com/) .

What is your ideology, the truth of art? There are many truths in art. Thousands of different paths, concepts, decisions. It is important to be connected with your intuition. My ideas can be heard in my music…

I've seen you using a wide array of objects in your playing. Would you say that you play drums and objects?

Classical understanding of what is a drum set has changed. Drums nowadays are not just a set of drums. My solo project is about reinventing the way you approach drums. Drums are a gathering of many instruments. Everything is questionable. For instance, Jazz is not only Afro American Jazz anymore, you do not have to re-label it, just reopen. Just do not get fixed at one idea: that has been a constant principal in Modern art.

On the 24 of September Rui Faustino with Tek Tek Ensemble is playing at Zur Wilden Renate, Berlin. More shows are listed on Rui’s homepage(www.rui-faustino.com) with extra audio and visual material.

http://blog.artconnectberlin.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/DSC0337.jpg http://blog.artconnectberlin.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Rui_1-1_600x800px-1.jpg http://vimeo.com/29480816

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