Merlyn Driver
Merlyn Driver is a singer-songwriter, creative producer, and nature enthusiast. Born and raised in Orkney (an archipelago in the north of Scotland), Merlyn was brought up on a smallholding without mains electricity and didn’t attend the local school until his early teens. This unconventional upbringing and Merlyn’s passion for nature continues to inform his music, which is influenced by Celtic folk as well as different musical traditions and genres from around the world.
As well as running the environmentally-focused music exchange programme, Making Tracks, Merlyn’s most recent creative project is a unique multi-artist album (with David Gray, Tuuletar, Puuluup and others) based around Europe’s largest wading bird, the curlew (kuovi), which migrates between Finland and the UK, and is now endangered in Britain and Ireland. The project was inspired by Merlyn’s memories of curlews calling out in the ‘simmerdim’ – the night-long twilight found in Scotland’s Northern Isles around midsummer. Simmerdim: Curlew Sounds was released in 2022, to widespread critical acclaim from The Guardian, BBC, and others.
For the Nordic Culture Club, Merlyn will perform a nature-themed set, combining original songs from his upcoming debut solo album, alongside recordings of curlews and other nature soundscapes that he has recorded in the UK, Finland, and elsewhere.
Aloun Marchal: Avatared
Aloun Marchal is a French dance artist, improviser, dancer and choreographer living in Gothenburg. Aloun decided to start dancing professionally when he understood that thinking wasn’t enough. For the Autumn season’s first Nordic Culture Club, he will bring his work with the title Avatared.
Avatared is a party that quickstarts as a show in the form of a hosted dancefloor with happenings. The evening Dj has prepared and handed over the first 50 min of the party to two-stage performers that will be his/her/their Avatars. They will be the hosts of the evening and they will take care of the room temperature by powering it with dancing, dance happenings, micro action performances, electronic music and more.
You are invited to join and dance and explore freedom in movements and presence.
Avatared aims at rediscovering the contagion of dancing and challenges you to dance through exhaustion.
Creative team
The artistic idea, direction and choreography: Aloun Marchal
Performers: Gilda Stillbäck, Mpululu Ntuve, Sebastian Ruiz Bartilson, Aloun Marchal
Composer: Felipe Botero, Andreas Foxx
Costumes: Linnea Bågander, Linn Stoss
Light design: Effraim Kent
Outside eyes: Soledad Howe & Liza Penkova
Producers: Javier Umazabal, Hanna Magdalena Gödl, Vanessa Labanino
Photography – Poster – Graphic design: Johan Roman and Eleonora Tirabasso INSIDEOUT Studios.
Sound and lighting techniques: Effraim Kent
Production: Possibilitas & La Vaca Loca
Supported by: City of Gothenburg & Kulturrådet
A special thanks to the dancers Gilda Stillbäck and Sebastian Ruiz Bartilson as well as the composer Felipe Botero for their support during the creation of the Beta Version.
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Nordic Culture Club is a venue for cultural practitioners and enthusiasts from across the Nordic Region and around the world. Here, we experiment with and present unique interdisciplinary experiences with a mix of everything from dance, music, performances and interactive experiences to monologues, catwalks, drag, quizzes, installations, video works, and much, much more.
Nordic Culture Point has been granted the EcoCompass environmental certificate. We’re making every endeavour to reduce our carbon footprint, which is why all travel within the organisation is carefully planned. Use public transport when you visit us, and you’ll contribute to a greener cultural scene, too!
