Christopher Trapani

Zwerm

Blurring time and genre, Christopher Trapani’s Noise Uprising reimagines early 20th-century port city recordings. With Zwerm, Sofia Jernberg, and Sophia Burgos, this song cycle fuses microtonal guitars and fearless vocals into an electrifying tapestry of sound.

In the kaleidoscopic music of Christopher Trapani, countless influences converge—ranging from folk and Delta blues to shoegaze and Turkish maqam. He is particularly drawn to microtonality, unconventional tunings, and meandering canons.

For his song cycle Noise Uprising, Zwerm collaborates with the versatile vocalists Sofia Jernberg and Sophia Burgos—true vocal acrobats who push the limits of their voices.

The starting point for this work is the book Noise Uprising by Michael Denning, which explores the explosion of popular music recordings in global port cities following the advent of electric recording technology in 1925. The historical 78 rpm records from this period capture the birth of jazz, son, samba, rembetiko, fado, and tango. Through analysis and transcription of these early recordings, Trapani reconstructs this hidden history, crafting a collection of short works woven into a powerful song cycle.

Performers:

  • Zwerm:
    • Toon Callier – guitar
    • Johannes Westendorp – guitar
    • Kobe van Cauwenberghe – guitar
    • Christopher Trapani – guitar
  • Sofia Jernberg – vocals
  • Sophia Burgos – vocals