RHIZOMATIC MUSIC, WOLFGANG, & THE RIZOMATIC ORCHESTRA

When musicians first used the label “rhizomatic music” to describe their work, the genre was dominated by music that sounded discordant for discord’s sake.  The genre’s deconstructionist phase, dominated by players in France and Germany in the last part of the twentieth century, sought to break musical conventions and limits so that something new could be born.  Flash forward twenty years to Wolfgang Rehmert’s Rizomatic Orchestra and that something new is indeed being born.

Based on French philosopher Gilles Deleuze’s analogy of thinking like a rhizome v. thinking like a tree branch, the term “rhizomatic” is used to describe non-linear, non-binary thought and phenomena, such as intuition, creativity, improvised music, and the internet.  By embracing chaos and allowing a natural order to emerge, one prevents preconceived ideas from attempting to artificially control the moment.  By definition, controlling the moment breaks the flow of the moment, and when conditions are right, the flow of the moment is what creates the most intense musical magic

Based on the core concepts of rhizomatic music, Wolfgang Rehmert created the Rizomatic Orchestra in Eugene, Oregon for an outdoor summer festival during the summer of 2007.  Since then, the Orchestra has played in Northern Europe, Oregon, and California using a rotating cast of players and drawing from local talent and notable special guests including radio celebrity David Gans (Grateful Dead Hour), music scholar Christian Amigo, Steve Ashman (Zasu Pitts bandleader), and Prof. Jonathon Stoyanoff (Global Funk, Berklee Scholar).  Born in Frankfurt, Germany, Wolfgang has lived in the United States off and on since 2003 travelling between New York, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Arizona and California.  Looking to add to its already impressive roster, the Rizomatic Orchestra is currently recruiting players for gigs in the Pacific Northwest.  Its first studio-mastered live release, “At the Prospect Theater” is available for download online at www.rizomaticorchestra.com.  Wolfgang’s Rizomatic Experiments, a scaled-down version of the Rizomatic Orchestra concept, will be playing this Alberta Street Last Thursday event, May 28, at the Alleyway (2415 NE Alberta St., Portland).  For more information contact info@rizomaticorchestra.com.