Coincidence is an album that cannot be easily categorized. What the two musicians Peter Hamel and Thomas Gundermann play here is a very unique mixture of world music, ambient and jazz, which you can see from the instrumentation with church organ and bagpipe.

At first glance a very unusual combination, but when you consider that the sound generation of the two instruments is not fundamentally different, this is put into perspective. The differences are cultural. On the one hand the organ, also known as the queen of instruments, which is located in the sacred area and the ‘high culture’, on the other hand the bagpipe, instrument of the minstrels and the fairs. Peter Hamel and Thomas Gundermann skillfully and consistently dissolve these cultural boundaries.

When they first met by chance in Tangier, Morocco, although they both live in Munich (this also explains the record title Coincidence), you quickly felt a certain musical closeness and in Morocco you began to make music with each other and with local musicians. The joint Hamel - Gundermann project then developed from this. With their own compositions and improvisations, the two artists create soundscapes that sometimes sound sparse, then again spacious and sprawling. The basis is the owl organ of the Himmelfahrtskirche in Munich, which Peter Hamel plays in a pleasantly cautious manner and opens the rooms with just a few registers that Thomas Gundermann can use with his solo parts and fill with his notated or improvised melody lines. Both are not only guided by the western musical tradition, but also integrate Moroccan or Indian musical traditions as a matter of course, which gives the music a very colorful character and turns it into a special sound experience. You should get fully involved with this music and gradually get drawn more and more into the music.

When you first listen to it, you may not realize the full power of this music, but after listening to it several times you run the risk of becoming almost addicted to it. Coincidence, a coincidence of a special kind. Highly recommended!

Reviews

The nasal tone, the microintervals and the sweeping melodies of the" bagpipes “combine surprisingly well with the sound of the tempered organ, which not least has to do with its subtle registration. Hamel rules on the echoes of Indian and Mediterranean musical practice at Gundermann with colorful, moving, harmonic patterns and fine web of lines. An inspired dialogue with sensual sounds. "

– nmz 6/14 by Max Nyffeler

Gundermann’s wind instruments are the sonic sensation. Their peculiarity and thoroughly studied playing style calls for the conventional bagpipes as well as oriental musical worlds or jazz associations. Hamel’s repetition patterns with strong minimal elements set the tone over which the bagpipes, written or improvised, penetrate swing up.

– MUSICA SACRA Focus Review New Organ Music

Unusual encounter - Hamel / Gundermann: Coincidence. Old German bagpipes and church organ - you can hear that really seldom. Here barren soundscapes change to old ones Church modes, to Indian ragas and Arabic maquams. Unusual also the meeting of the two musicians: Although the Composer Peter Michael Hamel and Thomas Gundermann both in Living in Munich, they met by chance in Tangier. Then both played with an Andalusian ensemble and a Gnaoua brotherhood. Back in Munich, Hamel composed a “Music for Bagpipes”. Three of the four movements of the work can be heard on the CD. Gundermann, who is known as a member of the world music collective Embryo contributes exotic scales. Peter Michael Hamel plays the Owl organ of the Church of the Assumption in Munich reserved, no theatrical thunder, neither penitential nor heavenly glory. All the more so Gundermann’s bagpipes come into their own more concisely. (bgw)

– Schwäbische Zeitung KULTUR Monday, April 28, 2014

We would be happy to present you with unusual music that goes beyond the ubiquitous media hype. The Duo Hamel Gundermann is certainly not suitable for everyone’s ears. The compositions / Improvisations for organ and bagpipes are in their instrumentation in the first moment takes getting used to, but they create an intense field of tension, which in the course of the album “Coincidence” (Schneeball | CD | Worldmusic) to a meditative journey from oriental World music elements, paired with classical and jazz, becomes. Thomas Gundermann, a trained musician and magician, member of the cult band Embryo, and Peter Hamel, Avant-garde, composer and musician, are well-traveled artists sharing their experiences and experiences implemented in an exciting setting.

– Inmusic

It’s a great concept. Bagpipes and organ together to use. A mood arises. Those for me Has similarities with the overtone singing of the Mongols or yoiking the seeds. Only decidedly louder and fuller. Then again the associations begin fine and become louder, more onomatopoeic. A fascinating CD with hypnotic power. Why did the Scots use the bagpipes and the churches use the organ, both pipe instruments? Both to draw strength and to transfer it on this CD the power is increased to power! Get strength.

– Folk magazine APRIL / MAY 2014