The transmoan is a sonic speculation of love stories from those who have taken the errant pathways. In the sound of the transmoan we hide gossip that helps us to overcome colonial and settler state of mind. Our sound contains a deep disappointment, grief and rage with systems built on blood and bones of honourable peoples.
TRANS(IN) MOAN(IN) is a ritualistic concert performance by choreographer Raoni/Muzho Saleh in collaboration with composer Abel Kroon and light designer Juli Frodermann and spatial designer Katinka Marac. Through this ritualistic concert the audience is invited to be made and unmade by the wayward sound of the transmoan —a unique blend of the raw emotion of analog moans and the driving force of techno beats.
At its core, this performance explores an intriguing question: “How do we forge intimacy by way of sounding together, through the difference of our dispossessions without separating?” This piece lures the audience to be immersed in the transmoan sound, to spill into one another, leaking into the cracks of one’s presumed solid subjectivity. With a wild polyphonic groan, Raoni and Abel weave the tale of the errant pathways.
In this ritualistic concert performance the transmoan serves as an artistic framework, enabling conversations with each other’s ghosts and venturing into relationalities beyond the impossible.
Raoni/Muzho Saleh (AFG/NL) is an artist based in Amsterdam. His work is influenced by fugitivity, a revolutionary movement that shapes his artistic vision. By dancing through the gender spectrum, Raoni has developed an unique movement practice that emphasises “becoming other”, an ongoing state of incompleteness. Through the use of materials such as textile, dough, voice and text, Raoni invites a serious kind of play into the performance space where both audience and performers can practise a continuous negotiation of an otherworldly becoming.
Abel Kroon (he/they) is an Amsterdam based composer and performance artist. He is currently enrolled in the Artistic Research program of the University of Amsterdam, where he researches embodied and affective forms of humane collaboration. He graduated from the Conservatory of Utrecht in 2014, with a major in music composition. His collaborative and autonomous work is performed by a splinter group of heteronyms that satellite their character. They make long form unstable ambient works and durational performances. With his latest alter ego Deejay Let go, they have, among other places, performed during; the design week Cologne 2020, during “No one thing alone”, in de Appel 2019, and at the Picnic Pavilion in Venice 2019. As a collaborator they have performed the roles of composer and sound designer for pieces of experimental theatre and contemporary dance, with the likes of Francesca Lazzeri, Jija Sohn and Ksenia Perec.
Juli Frodermann aka Jiji Hopelezz is a drag performer, architect and theatre technician. They studied architecture at UdK Berlin, worked for the department of structural design/engineering and graduated in 2019. Jiji studied choreography and dance at the School for New Dance Development, SNDO. The recent work focuses on site-specific sound installations, compositions and task-based performances that guide through materials and layers of build place and its history, exhibiting the process of construction. Nothing is solid, everything is made and we can take it apart.
Since 2022 Jiji is part of the Dragtivist House of Hoplezz, Amsterdam, creating shows/performances in clubs, theatres, squads and abandoned buildings. Backstage, Jiji learns from TakaTaka, their Drag mother about creation processes that value collaboration, co-creation, knowledge sharing, friendship and joy.
TRANS(IN) MOAN(IN) is part of the international Radio that Matters project, which focuses on performing arts, radiophony, and acoustic inclusivity. The Creative Europe pilot project is a collaboration between Baltic Circle, Short Theatre Festival (IT), Festival Parallelen (FR), Errand Sound (DE), Radio Papessa (IT), and PAV (IT), and it builds partnerships between local radios, artists, and organizations promoting cultural diversity.
