The Lab: January, 2023

As of this writing, there will be only one concert taking place at The Lab during the current month. However, that event promises to be a special one, particularly for those interested in percussion. Over the course of three sets, the evening will provide a platform for percussion-oriented performers in different stages of their respective careers.

Ikue Mori, William Winant, Valentina Magaletti, and sisters Shayna and Nava Dunkelman (from the event page of the concert being discussed)

The first set will bring percussionist William Winant together with Ikue Mori, who works with both drum machines and computer software. Winant is the “seasoned veteran” of the entire program with a career that now exceeds 40 years’ duration. Mori’s career is even longer if one marks her beginning with her arrival in New York in 1977. I first became aware of Winant through both performances and recordings of the Abel-Steinberg-Winant Trio, bringing his percussion work together with violinist David Abel and pianist Julie Steinberg. More recently I have been following his contributions to the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players. Mori first established herself as the drummer for the No Wave band DNA.

The second set will be a solo performance by the Italian drummer Valentina Magaletti. She is currently a member of Vanishing Twin and Tomaga. When she is not playing drums for conventional jazz combos, she is experimenting with the threshold between performance and recording, incorporating field recordings with different sources of drone sounds.

The final set will be a duo performance by sisters Shayna and Nava Dunkelman. They call their duo NOMON, and it involves the conjunction of percussion and electronic music. Nava is based here in the Bay Area, and she has surfaced many times both on this site and in my articles for Examiner.com. This past April she was performing at Adobe Books in a trio whose other members were violinist gabby fluke-mogul and guitarist Fred Frith.

This concert will begin at 8 p.m. on Saturday, January 21. Regular readers probably know by now that The Lab is located in the Mission at 2948 16th Street, a short walk from the corner of Mission Street. The location is particularly good for those using public transportation, since that corner provides bus stops for both north-south and east-west travel as well as a BART station. Doors will open at 7:30 p.m. General admission tickets are available for $15 and may be purchased online through a Withfriends Web page. Admission will be discounted or free for members. Students can purchase discounted tickets by sending electronic mail to thelabsf@thelab.org.