{"id":26005,"date":"2026-05-15T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/colorfest.it\/?p=26005"},"modified":"2026-06-08T17:34:04","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T15:34:04","slug":"james-holden-waclaw-zimpel-colour-fest-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/colorfest.it\/en\/james-holden-waclaw-zimpel-color-fest-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"James Holden & Wac\u0142aw Zimpel at Color Fest 14: cosmic music on the Riviera"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"James<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The concert of James Holden & Wac\u0142aw Zimpel<\/strong> at Colour Fest 14<\/strong> is one of the most anticipated events of the 14th edition<\/strong>the Anglo-Polish duo, among the most fascinating names of the\u2019European electronics<\/strong> contemporary, opens the festival in the Day 1<\/strong>, Tuesday 11 August 2026<\/strong>, on the Falcone and Borsellino promenade<\/strong> by Lamezia Terme<\/strong>, the Riviera of Sunsets<\/strong> at Calabria<\/strong>. One of those evenings for which seaside festivals exist: cosmic music<\/em>, Mediterranean landscape and golden light on the water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About James Holden & Wac\u0142aw Zimpel<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"James<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

James Holden<\/strong> is an English producer and DJ, born 1979<\/strong>, raised in Market Bosworth<\/strong> and graduated in mathematics at Oxford<\/strong>. In the 2000s he was a major player on the scene progressive trance<\/em> - the single \u201cHorizons\u201d<\/em> has become one of the anthems of the summer 1999<\/strong> - before leaving that world to found in the 2003<\/strong> its label Border Community<\/strong>, hothouse of artists such as Nathan Fake<\/strong> e Luke Abbott<\/strong>. From there, his music changed radically: records such as \u201cThe Inheritors\u201d<\/em> (2013) e \u201cThe Animal Spirits\u201d<\/em> (2017) have turned him into one of the key figures of the so-called cosmic music<\/strong> European, an area where electronic krautrock<\/em>, modal jazz<\/em> and psychedelia come together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wac\u0142aw Zimpel<\/strong> is a Polish clarinetist and multi-instrumentalist<\/strong> classically trained, one of the most recognisable voices of the\u2019avant-garde<\/em> European. It moves naturally between avant-garde jazz<\/em>, minimalism<\/em> e Indian music<\/em>in fact, he is among the creators of the Saagara<\/strong>, together with the ghatam master Giridhar Udupa<\/strong>, and has to his credit solo works such as \u201cTrain Spotter\u201d<\/em> and the EP \u201cJapanese Journal Vol.1\u201d<\/em> (2024). His clarinet, often the bass clarinet<\/em>, is a hypnotic instrument, capable of building circular and meditative plots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

An encounter born at a festival<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The duo's story begins in 2018<\/strong>, at the festival Rewire<\/strong> of The Hague: Holden<\/strong> reaches Zimpel<\/strong> to tell him that he is obsessed with his records, and discovers that the feeling is mutual. From that meeting comes first the participation of Zimpel<\/strong> to the band The Animal Spirits<\/strong>, then the debut EP \u201cLong Weekend\u201d<\/em> at 2020<\/strong>. The end point - at least for now - is the album \u201cThe Universe Will Take Care Of You\u201d.\u201d<\/strong>, published on 13 June 2025<\/strong> for Border Community<\/strong>: six tracks improvised in the London studio of Holden<\/strong>, recorded over the years whenever Zimpel<\/strong> was in town. A record built on the\u2019pure improvisation<\/em>, in which Zimpel<\/strong> even moves away from his clarinet to explore electric piano, lap steel and flutes, while Holden<\/strong> He combines his modular systems with hand percussion and the violin of his childhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sound: modal trance and kinetic music<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The duo works on the long time<\/strong>, on the repetition<\/strong> and on the modal trance<\/strong>. Holden<\/strong> manoeuvre modular synthesisers<\/em>, electronic drums and generative patches built with customised software; Zimpel<\/strong> weave bass clarinet<\/em>, khaen<\/em> (the mouth organ of South-East Asia), melodic<\/em> and flutes. The result is music kinetics<\/em> e contemplative<\/em> together: hypnotic, organic, designed to be heard in open spaces. Nothing to do with the coldness of certain club electronics - here, everything breathes, transforms in real time, and every concert is in fact a \u2019live concert'.\u2019improvisation<\/strong> unrepeatable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here, in a nutshell, is what makes the live performance of James Holden & Wac\u0142aw Zimpel<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n