VI.BE

ALIGAGA ontstond in 2014 tijdens muzikale experimenten in hun gedeelde flat in Maastricht. Vanaf het begin zijn ze op zoek geweest naar een vrije vorm van muziek waarin twijfels, tolerantie en paradoxen een plek vinden om zich te nestelen. Als ontdekkingsreizigers op het gebied van geluid en ritme is de muziek die ze maken eclectisch en heeft deze zich in de loop der jaren voortdurend ontwikkeld.

Na het succes van hun laatste album “Music Might Help” op ElNegocito Records gaat de band nu op zoek naar collectieve ervaringen in hun samenwerking met het Brusselse koorcollectief ‘Ravekoor’. Met “VOICES AGAINST WELTSCHMERZ” creëren ze een verbindende ervaring in een verzoek om een tijdelijke onderbreking van zorgen te geven in een wereld die steeds meer in een neerwaartse spiraal terechtkomt.

ALIGAGA speelde reeds in vele locaties in centraal en noord Europa, maar ook China.

Ze publiceerden:

YEAH ALIGAGA (2015)

After the Storm (2017)

It's Okay (2019)

TEMI (muziek-dans-performance en album, 2020)

Live in Wildernis (concertfilm door Margo Mot, 2021)

Music Might Help (2023 el NEGOCITO Records)

Awards

Winnaar Bilzen Young jazz award 2014

Publieksprijs Jazz Award Maastricht 2017

Guy Peters over het album "Music Might Help"

The crashing entrance of “Trojan Alligator” immediately tells you ALIGAGA has a story to tell and that they’re eager to share it. It’s a colorful, energetic sound, like a full-on fanfare, with the propulsive bass of Federico Corsini, crisp rhythms of Daniel Jonkers, driving piano of Leonard Steigerwald and the dual sax attack of Jon Sensmeier (alto) and Joos Vandueren (tenor) that is harmonious and exciting as hell. It’s jazz with a rock-ish panache, full of small detours, swirling horns, start/stop-dynamics and some theatrics. It’s a fine business card for this Italian-Belgian-Dutch-German quintet that shares an obvious love for freedom, adventure and some craziness.

ALIGAGA sounds like a band making its debut. Not because of a lack of maturity, but because the music is daring, fresh and hungry like that of a band that has nothing to lose and everything to prove. Actually, Music Might Help is already their fifth album, which is obvious from the way these musicians and guests are perfectly attuned to each other. They are free and flexible around each other, able to change course in the blink of an eye. Occasionally, they also verge closer to pop structures, especially when they also use vocals, like in “Hurrycane” (jazz-meets-triphop?) and the title song, which combine irresistible melodies, both vocal and instrumental, with a jubilant emotionality.

And there’s more. The hypnotizing evolution of “Untranslatable” employs a striking combination of tumbling piano accents and an ultra-tight twin sax attack, while “XIOIOIO” seems to reference Monk’s feinting “Evidence” with a bluesy, slightly tipsy swing of the hips that perhaps reminds you of the magnificent Lounge Lizards. “Summer Drummer” charges with an almost punk-like fierceness, and when former member Taejung Kim returns to add some scratchy guitar in “Chicho Panino (The Return Of The King)”, it’s the start of another tightly executed gem that paves the way for the explorative ballad “Il Mare”, featuring the seductive vocals of Vanesa Diaz Gil.

Music Might Help is a colorful feast of collective creativity. What in the hands of lesser bands could come off as an incoherent statement, is turned into an asset in this case. ALIGAGA sounds like a truly international band, merging styles and ideas with a democratic approach that triggers the imagination and gets better with each successive listen. And if that weren’t already enough to satisfy hungry ears, the cd version adds narrations by Simon Vandueren and his brothers Theun and Joos (plus band improvisations) that enter the realm of magic realism, about a clown called Seyya, “...who created and embodied a new role, a new character and a new persona every next day.” An ideal match for the delightfully shape shifting music of ALIGAGA.

Guy Peters