Born in Lisbon (Portugal) in 1957, Carlos Bechegas studied (like Keith Rowe or Peter Brötzmann) visual and graphic arts, and while pursuing an academic classical education, played jazz-rock, Portuguese popular music, and big-band Jazz. After taking part in improvised music workshops with Steve Lacy, Evan Parker, Richard Teitelbaum and playing with his compatriot Carlos Zingaro, he decided to give up his alto and soprano saxes in 1988 and go in search of new musical territories by transferring contemporary flute playing extended techniques to improvisation and by using electronics. After the release of his trio-CD ´Movement Sounds´ (1997) and a remarkable solo album (´Flute Landscapes´ , 1998) he decided to play live with other improvising musicians. He made contact with Peter Kowald through an improvised music workshop held by the bassist at Lisbon´s Goethe Institute in 1997, followed by a duo concert at the ´O da Guarda´ Improvisation Festival in 1999. The similarity of intention, attitude and material between the two men convinced them to record together in duo.
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Peter Kowald, a celebrated and prize-winning practitioner in the field of improvised music (…) turns the bass into a machine for commentary and direct speech. (…) He brings new unorthodox playing methods to bear, both in his pizzicato work alternating deep sonorities and harmonics, and in his use of the bow (particularly in combining low notes with his voice), contributing to create complex structures and a dreamlike universe with hypnotic qualities. On flute, Carlos Bechegas covers his nervous and timbered phrasing with a great variety of colours and effects borrowed from contemporary music: multiphonics, flutter-tonguing, micro-tonality, percussive key effects, glissandi, use of the voice, circular breathing.
Together, they create bright and rugged landscapes where the listener is carried away in the maelstrom of their passionate and generous play.