Tangerine Dream and Jay-Jay Johanson to perform at TIFF.22
Electronic music band Tangerine Dream will hold its first concert in Romania during the 22nd edition of the Transilvania International Film Festival (June 9-18, 2023, Cluj-Napoca). This year’s TIFF concerts will also include a special show of the Swedish-British artist Jay-Jay Johanson, who will perform at Bonțida during an event dedicated to Swedish music and film.
TIFF cards and tickets are on sale online - https://tiff.eventbook.ro/.
Weekend at the Castle
Bánffy Castle in Bonțida will be the perfect setting for Jay-Jay Johanson's concert on Saturday, June 10, the first weekend of the festival, during a special evening as part of the Focus Nordic programme. Known for his melancholic voice and hits such as On the Radio, She Doesn't Live Here Anymore and You'll Miss Me When I'm Gone, Johanson is acclaimed as one of the most influential electro artists of his generation. In 1996, he released his first album, Whiskey, a blend of jazzy notes and vocals, and trip-hop and film noir sounds. His third album, Poison (2000), featured Cocteau Twins founder Robert Guthrie and quickly went up the European charts. A year later, he launched Cosmodrome, a sound-and-image installation that travelled around the world, ending its run at the Museum of Modern Art in Paris. He went on to release albums imbued with the poetic force of his lyrics and voice, as well as the talents of collaborators such as German experimental group Funkstörung and French house music genius Jean-Pierre Ensuque. The artist also composed the soundtrack for two French films: La Confusion des Genres (d. Ilan Duran Cohen, 2000) and La Troisième Partie du Monde (d. Éric Forestier, 2008). His latest album, Rorschach Test, was released in 2021.
Johanson's concert will be followed by a screening of the documentary And the King Said, What a Fantastic Machine (d. Axel Danielson and Maximilien Van Aertryck, Sweden, 2023), winner of the Sundance Jury Prize. An impressive and wildly inventive collage, the film brings two centuries of images to the screen, from the first photograph in history, to the emergence of cinema and the rocketing evolution of television, to today's technology, where everyone is a potential 'content creator' and there are 45 billion video cameras on the planet. The two Swedish filmmakers' debut feature thus explores the eternal fascination of humans to look at themselves and the means they have invented to do so, fundamentally changing history and society. The film's unusually long original title, And the King Said, What a Fantastic Machine, paraphrases a line of King Edward VII of the United Kingdom, who was impressed by Georges Méliès' filming of his 1902 coronation ceremony.
This event is made possible at TIFF with the support of Scandinavian Films, Swedish Film Institute, and the Embassy of Sweden in Bucharest.
First time in Romania: Tangerine Dream
Electronic music pioneers Tangerine Dream will perform on June 15 at Casa de Cultură a Studenților (Students Cultural Centre). Founded in 1967 in West Berlin by Edgar Froese, Tangerine Dream is a formative band for electronic music. Their ground-breaking album Phaedra, released in 1974, reached cult status in the UK and became a landmark of the genre. Tangerine Dream composed long, uniquely structured tracks, opening up new dimensions in sound, their style being categorised as Kosmische Musik. Over the past 50 years, the band has released over 100 studio albums and is a seven times nominee at the Grammy Awards. Tangerine Dream has created over 60 film soundtracks, including Ridley Scott's Legend (1985), William Friedkin's thriller Sorcerer (1977) and Michael Mann's neo-noir Thief (1981). Their discography also includes The Night In Romania, which was supposed to be on the soundtrack of The Keep (dir. Michael Mann, 1983), but was only released in 2020 on a special album. In 2013, Tangerine Dream wrote the music for the video game Grand Theft Auto V, which became one of the most successful games in history. Their music is also included in the Netflix series Stranger Things.
Following the death of founder Edgar Froese in 2015, band members are Thorsten Quaeschning, violine player Hoshiko Yamane and Paul Frick. Their latest album, Raum, was released in 2022.
Until May 10, tickets for the Tangerine Dream concerts are 75 RON. After that date, the price will be 100 RON. Tickets can be purchased online - https://tiff.eventbook.ro/music/bilete-tiff-2023-concert-tangerine-dream
Every year, music is an important part of the Transilvania International Film Festival. Next to Tangerine Dream and Jay-Jay Johanson, other local or international artists are to perform in Cluj-Napoca during every evening of the festival, at the Art Museum. Music is also to be found in cinema halls during the cine-concerts already on sale.