Collaborating with 101 musicians & artists from more than 45 countries
who are passing on the torch of hope and inspiration
101 • FLAMES OF INSPIRATION IS A CELEBRATION of what connects and inspires us all as creative human beings. Our ambitious aim is to facilitate the creation of a 90-minute film with original music. It will be a collective composition, involving 101 musicians from more than 40 countries. Most of these artists do not know each other. Yet.
These musicians are building on each other’s´ talents and energy. In this trailer you get a taste of what the complete film will be like.
E2D is the host - facilitating, documenting, participating, editing and holding all this together.
NEW EXCITING PIECES IN PIPELINE
In December 2023 Johannes Kuchta joined the 101 Core Team.
He is one of these multi talented renaissance people who have a never ceasing stream of creativity. Johannes is a composer, arranger, vocalist, drummer, percussionist, keyboard player, visual artists and much more.
He has made major contributions with lyrics, vocals and arrangement on three of the 101 pieces: ”Out of the Mist”, ”Song of Songs” & ”Just Because You Can”
We will publish preliminary versions of these soon.
Johannes is based in Königswinter in Germany, where he just opened his new studio, close to the River Rhein. In a few weeks Eric will join him there and record some truly great artists who are part of Johannes huge network of international musicians.
Johannes also runs Phonosphere, which is an independent music label with artist from many parts of the world and is a member of Voyager IV.
What else does Johannes do, you might ask.
Well... he is also a neuro surgeon.
RECENT VIDEOS
WE NEED TO FOCUS ON COLLABORATION - NOT DIVISION
We are all connected. For better and worse.
We travel together in space on this tiny satellite that we have given many names:
Earth, Terra Firma, Tellus, Gaia or simply The World.
We as humans and all other living species are fragile.
The Earth in itself is not.
It will survive humanity by far.
NO NATION OWNS THIS PLANET
Nor does anyone own the roots of music …
the rhythms that moves us …
or the chords that touch us.
HERE ARE SOME OF THE GREAT 101 MUSICIANS
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WHY WE INITIATED
THIS PROJECT
We have been on this planet for many decades now and seen ideas and crises coming and going. Some signs we see today are worrying. Our impression is that the focus of many people seem to be narrowing.
Again.
Many experience that resources are becoming more scarce and that their living conditions are threatened.
Some have started seeking simplified explanations for the challenges that face us now. They point to specific groups, nationalities or conspirators. Those who study history know that this is not the first time this happens. Strange ideas of extreme nationalism, racism, dictatorship and persecutions have always spiked during plagues, famines and other disasters.
But division is not the solution to the problems that we all face together. You might say this is banal thing to say, but history proves us right there. Therefore, we are reaching out to extraordinary musicians who will create an album and a 55-minute film together. It will show how much we actually all have in common. And highlighting what is possible to accomplish when you are collaborating towards a goal that everyone feel is important and worthwhile.
WHO WE ARE
E2D was formed in 2014 by Eric Forsmark and Peter D.
Before that we have been creating music together for more than three decades in various groups and formats. Over the years we played with hundreds of talented musicians that also play for pure passion. Some of them are also participating in this project.
Music and other expressions of culture reach far beyond borders and they influence us all. We inherited these roots from our ancestors who developed and refined them over thousands of years. As soon as different groups, tribes or civilisations made contact, they also influenced and cross-pollinated their music with each other.
HOW WE WORK
Eric has been working since April 2021 to identify inspiring and unique musicians all over the world. They were contacted and asked to come up with their own compositions or to build on what others already had contributed with.
After Eric has done rough cuts of video and audio, Peter spends many hours and days to make it sound perfect. Any key is OK, but the tempo needs to be 101 BPM (beats per minute). In this way it is much easier to put all pieces together and also to cross-pollinate tracks from different parts. We already tried the Indian tablas track on the Colombian part and salsa percussion on the central African part (which works great!)
Both Eric and Peter also contribute with their own percussion and guitar tracks, plus more. Once we have recorded all parts, it is time to decide in what order they will be linked and how the transitions should be made.
We also ask all musicians to film themselves while playing. This adds a lot to the whole experience. During the last 30 months we have worked with more than 100 musicians and we discovered that no matter where they live, we share so much with them.
WHEN WILL THE FILM & ALBUM BE READY?
The short answer is: When we have accomplished what we want and have used the full potential of this collaboration.
The estimate is that it will take a few more months. But we will not allow us to be rushed when exploring the possibilities to create something truly inspiring. We discover new aspects and angles of this process almost every day.
DID WE GET INSPIRATION FROM SOMEWHERE?
Of course we did!
We have been inspired by Peter Gabriel ever since he started the RealWorld label, which has made a huge contribution to cross-border collaborations and the spreading of global musical roots.
“Playing for Change” is also a great project where musicians from all over the planet perform famous cover songs together. Our aim with this specific initiative is that musicians from all corners of the world actually create a long piece of music and a film collectively.
PARTNERS & CONTRIBUTORS
We have Fondazione Defeo Trapani Giovinazzo as partners. They take part in spreading this work in various ways.
Several great film makers are also contributing with unique video material. Alex Casas & Peter Östlund have made a great difference for us. Other partners are Omero Sul Marte & EFC Lab.
Thanks to Mike Iluzzi for great photos!
We are also being sponsored by Denic Design and Nicola Palmiotto, which we are very grateful for.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Two things:
You can sign up for our video blog, so that you can follow the process as it comes together. It will also be possible for you to make comments and suggestions to make the final film & album even better.
These short video blogs could for example be:
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an interview with a participating musician
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a discussion about artistic choices & dilemmas
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sharing new ideas that come up along the way
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showing how we work on linking all the pieces together into a whole multi-faceted film
We also hope that you will share info about this project and make it more visible to your friends. The more people we reach - the more possibilities there are to inspire others to collaborate across the planet in different ways.
