Untwelving präsentiert: The Xenharmonic Space

In the organizer's words:

Protagonists of the xenharmonic scene illuminate the world of micro-total sounds from the perspective of synthwave, Anatolian songwriting and sound experiments. Finally, the band Embryo combines old melodies from the Arab world with new creations in experimental tuning systems.

The Münchner Kammerspiele and the music discourse magazine "Positionen - Texte zur aktuellen Musik" invite you to the EDO convention "Untwelving" from May 22 to 24, 2026 - an open-genre, interdisciplinary festival for contemporary microtonal and xenharmonic music of all genres. Untwelving brings an international and mostly digital scene live to Munich for the first time in this breadth and sees itself as a forum for encounters in artistic practice, discourse, mediation and shared experience. "Untwelving" is directed against the dominance of traditional 12-tone equal temperament and opens up new sonic spaces through alternative tunings, the Equal Divisions of the Octave (EDO) and other microtonal systems. Both the convention and the concerts are deliberately open to contributions from pop, rock, electronics, jazz, improvised music and contemporary composition. They show how diverse and lively this young international scene is, which has grown since the early 2010s, primarily via digital platforms such as Discord, YouTube and podcasts, where it has developed its practice, theories and instrument innovations.

The composer and YouTuber Tolgahan Çoğulu is considered a luminary in this context. He has developed an adjustable microtonal guitar on which he performs his own compositions that combine Anatolian tradition with pop cultural influences. Ayşegül Aykaç takes on the vocal part.

FastFast aka James Mulvale from Canada combines sophisticated song arrangements with echoes of indie pop and synthwave. In this initially familiar sound space, dizzying harmonic progressions open doors to intense listening experiences - an intoxication without any substances.

The Munich group Embryo has been "unworlding" and traveling the world since the late 1960s. They are more than just a band. Embryo stand for a worldwide network of learning around the band's founder Christian Burchard, who died in 2017, and his daughter Marja Burchard. Driven by an enduring curiosity for the music of the world, for artistic communication between people, Embryo's very own sound cosmos is created here - again and again - with asymmetrical rhythms and in maquam-based tuning systems. With their guests, violinist Fabiana Striffler and oud player Abathar Kmash, Embryo combine old melodies from the Arab world with new creations for Untwelving.

Composer and Xenharmonik podcaster Stephen Weigel and experimental musician Tachy Bunker act as free agents in the space between.

untwelving.com