Taxi Salon: FUJI||||||||||TA + Amina Hocine + Mazen Kerbaj

Taxi Salon in November explores constructed and reconfigured instruments that utilize airflow, ranging from pipe organs and air compressors to extended trumpet techniques. The sound installations unfold throughout the space and serve as the basis for free improvisations. The series is dedicated to contemporary music that straddles the line between experimental and leftfield. The program seeks to challenge commodified listening culture through preparations, détournements, and destructions.

FUJI||||||||||TA (Japan)

FUJI||||||||||TA is a sound artist and composer based in Japan. He creates his unique sound art and music by drawing on various natural phenomena that respond to his desire to hear unheard sounds and noises. In 2009, Fujita handcrafted an original instrument: a pipe organ. Since then, he has released a number of different works, all of which share the common thread of primarily using the sounds of air and minimalist approaches. The release of the album “iki” on Hallow Ground in 2020 led to greater recognition outside of Japan, and since then he has been active in Europe and North America.

Amina Hocine (Sweden)

Swedish composer Amina Hocine transforms materials from a hardware store into an instrument that defies expectations. Her creation, which she built from PVC pipes, ball valves, and an air compressor, produces sounds that seem impossibly electronic, spreading what she calls “sound crystals” throughout the space. These frequencies shift and refract depending on the listener’s position relative to the instrument, creating an acoustic phenomenon more akin to light than to conventional music.

Mazen Kerbaj (Lebanon / Berlin)

Mazen Kerbaj is a Lebanese musician born in Beirut. Kerbaj is widely regarded as one of the pioneers and key figures of the Lebanese free improvisation and experimental music scene. As a trumpet player, whether in solo performances or with long-standing groups like “A” Trio, Kerbaj pushes the boundaries of the instrument and continues to develop a personal sound and an innovative language, following in the footsteps of pioneers such as Bill Dixon, Axel Dörner, and Franz Hautzinger.

Supported by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation and the Cultural Department of the City of Munich.

Taxi Salon is a series of events organized by Import Export.
Booking/Program: Johannes Kuhn