Ignacio Cordoba, an improviser and composer from Madrid based in Copenhagen, and Agata Ciurkot, a Polish pianist, improviser and composer residing in Berlin, first met in the fall of 2017 at the Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen. Both navigating across jazz, free-improv, and contemporary composition, Agata was drawn to Ignacio's mastery of the sound produced by his machines and effects. In the summer of 2018, Ignacio travelled to Berlin to visit Agata, and they recorded “Ethereal, Basal” in just a few takes. All improvised during a single session in a large, nameless room in Berlin – just one space, two minds and two hearts slowing down their beats to resonate together. Later, in Copenhagen, they processed the recordings, at times making the piano completely unrecognisable. The piano was then fused and blended with Ignacio's industrial oscillator in the six symbiotic dances that make up the six songs of “Ephemeral, Basal”.
“Ephemeral, Basal” is an album where the recognizable and the unknown meet, where the physical and the ethereal engage in dialogue and mutually ascribe meaning. Agata Ciurkot’s piano invites us in with all of its keys, ushering us into a liminal space where the lines of its contours blur as it intersects with the intricate waveforms of Ignacio Cordoba’s industrial oscillators. Ciurkot plays an old, grounded instrument in which classical music and jazz are rooted; Cordoba plays an instrument that was perhaps never meant to be used outside a laboratory or a factory, perhaps never even meant to be heard. Together, these instruments form an alchemic duo that focuses on being present, on listening, on pondering what emotions lie beyond human experience.
Agata is involved in several projects, ranging from her solo piano music to the Agata Ciurkot Trio, Travelaid, and FYRM. In 2017, London Jazz News urged their readers to “keep an eye out for her - I’m sure we’ll be hearing more in the future. Praised by Henry Rollins on KCRW, Cordoba has released more than 16 records, toured relentlessly (more than 200 shows over six European tours through seventeen countries) and has worked with prolific musicians such as Michael Pisaro, Pamelia Kurstin, G.W. Sok (The EX), Kresten Osgood, John Russell, Maggie Nicols, Kazehito Seki and many more.
