Music by Pieter Lenaerts & Jona Kesteleyn

An ongoing dialogue between guitarist/gambist/songwriter Jona Kesteleyn and double bassist/multi-instrumentalist/composer Pieter Lenaerts. The title suggests contrast, the radical ‘black or white’, contrary opinions, even political polarisation and the impossibility to compromise.

In music, the search for a real, true, ‘new’ musical language has often provoked heavy debates among musicians, composers, theorists, critics and audiences.

In the old days, radical new ideas often started from a theoretical approach. One of the oldest examples of music theory can be found in the Pythagorean Monochord from Ancient Greece: a laboratory setup that was used to define how other string instruments like the Kithara, ancester of the guitar, should sound. Since the year 2025, Pieter Lenaerts started to create a series of duos that evoke this process, translated to various sets of similar instruments that can relate to the ancient Greek example, like:

• Dan Bau (a popular Vietnamese monochord) and Dobro (American resonator slide guitar)
• Tromba Marina (a surrogate trumpet from the baroque period) and electric guitar
• Pythagorean monochord replica and classical guitar

The creation of these duos may unfold step by step in workspaces and intimate concert venues. In concert, the new pieces can be combined with improvisations or other repertoire that also embodies ‘contrast’ or a certain radicality.