Rapid Zen is a trio that crafts a vibrant and exploratory sound world, merging intricate rhythmic structures with bold sonic experimentation. Their music unfolds through the interplay of turntable sampling and scratching, which adds a distinctive, ever-evolving texture to the ensemble. This electronic layer converses with an expansive range of acoustic techniques on double bass, percussion, and voice, from delicate nuances to powerful gestures. The result is a dynamic fusion where rhythm, texture, and improvisation converge, blurring the lines between composition and spontaneous creation.

Gonçalo Almeida
Gonçalo Almeida (Lisbon, 1978) is a Portuguese musician and composer based in Rotterdam, working at the intersection of improvised, experimental music and sound art. His practice is strongly interdisciplinary and collaborative, and he has performed with artists such has Ab Baars, Balasz Pandi, Chris Speed, Carlos Zíngaro, Ig Henneman, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Jasper Stadhouders, Jorrit Dijkstra, Luis Vicente, Luis Lopes, Martin van Duynhoven, Nina Hitz, Peter Jacquemyn, Rodrigo Amado, Susana Santos Silva,Tobias Klein, Wilbert de Joode, among others.
He is the founder/main composer/ bass player of Hydra Ensemble, Lama Trio, Albatre, The Attic and member of Spinifex, The Selva and Luis Vicente trio.
Gonçalo Almeida also collaborates frequently with audio-visual artists, modern dancers, poets and theatre makers, such as Arnold Dreyblatt, Julyen Hamilton, Rita Vilhena,Rutger Zuydervelt, (aka Machinefabriek), Ricardo Jacinto, Pierre Bastien, among others.
Since 2001 has been touring internationally within several of these projects, in Europe, U.S, India and Japan.
Adding to a prolific publication of records on international labels from his various projects, Gonçalo Almeida created also his own digital label, Cylinder Recordings, in order to document and share material from his frequent and experimental encounters with other improvisers, making crossovers between musicians from different projects and researching on new collaborative paths.

Barbara Togander
Barbara Togander (Uddevalla) is a vocal artist, turntablist, free improvisor, composer and sound artist born in Uddevalla, Sweden, currently based in Barcelona. She has lived more than 40 years in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where she studied music at Walter Malosetti’s Jazz School, the López Buchardo and Musica Popular de Avellaneda Conservatories. In the early 90’s ́ she delves into free, experimental music and free improvisation where she deepens in the sound possibilities of the voice, the turntable and electronics.
She has played and collaborated with a great number of musicians and groups such as Otomo Yoshihide, Julian Galay, Enrique Norris, Vinzenz Schwab, Andrea Parkins, Philip Leitner, Christoff Kurzmann, Christian Reiner, Capitanes de la Industria, Manolo Rodriguez, Carlos Costa, Larry Polansky, Chris Mann, Camila Nebbia, Violeta García, Mussa Phelps, La Bomba de Tiempo, Dieb13, Walter Malosetti , Norberto Minichilo, Santiago Vazquez, Paul Pignon, Luis Conde among many others in venues and festivals such as Artacts ́24, Dokkhuset (Trondheim), KaféHaeverk (Oslo) Roulette Intermedium ( NY), Centro de Experimentación del Teatro Coloń(BsAs), Buenos Aires International Jazz festival, M3 Festival (NYC), Festival 30nits in Barcelona, Der Bloede dritte Mittwoch Series and Smallforms in Vienna, Kottinspektionen(Uppsala), VII Festival Internacional de Improvisaci ̈ on Hurta ́ Cordell, Madrid, International Festival Experimenta in Buenos Aires.

Vasco Trilla
Vasco Trilla (Barcelona) is one of the most active, versatile and creative drummers of the European scene. He has recorded more than 100 albums ranging from free improvisation, jazz rock to progressive rock metal and ambient music. With 6 solo albums released internationally he has established himself as one of the leading voices of creative percussion. The key attributes of his success seem to consist of the three factors: imagination, cross-genre experience in performing music and the constant search for expanding the limits of the instrument.
In recent years he has become one of the most solid and in-demand voices of the European free improvised scene. He has released albums on labels such as Clean Feed Records, Cuneiform Records, No Business, Not Two, Astral Spirits, Klopotec, Fmr records, Fundacja Sluchaj, Multikulti Project, Spontaneous Music Tribune, Raw Tonk, Creative Sources, Discordian Records, Gusstaff records, Urpa i Musell, Tripticks Tapes.
He has collaborated with Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Ra Kalam, Bob Moses, Mars Williams, Patrick Shiroishi, Elliot Sharp, Steve Swell, Susana Santos Silva, Jasper Stadhouders among many others. He has toured internationally including Brasil, China, Indonesia,Russia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Germany.

Zénite Azul is a project that seeks the point on the celestial sphere that is directly above the places where Maria do Mar, Tracy Lisk, and Helena Espvall live on planet Earth. A trio that seeks the peak, the apogee, the highest point of hearing, that intentional, focused hearing that leads to the production of sound. The violinist, drummer, and cellist set out to investigate the possibilities of synesthesia in sounds, imagining what colors they bring, what sensations they convey, connecting what is most deeply human with the more-than-human, with the non-human, with the horizon of all things. The creative moment rising toward eternity.

Maria do Mar
Maria do Mar is an eclectic violinist with a transdisciplinary background. Her creative approach explores convergences and divergences between classical music, alternative teaching methods, experimental and improvised music, cinema, theater, dance, and activism. She has developed improvisational work with Butch Morris, Carlos “Zíngaro,” Joelle Léandre, Paulo Curado, Sei Miguel, Miguel Mira, Joana Guerra, Helena Espvall, Adriana Sá, Paulo Chagas, Juan Calvi, Rodrigo Amado, Lula Pena, Noel Taylor, David Rothenberg, Sofia Borges, and Atau Tanaka. In her work, she seeks a broad universe, the development of a personal language, with blurred aesthetic boundaries, where transversal possibilities and creative limits are opened up.

Tracy Lisk
Tracy Lisk is a percussionist and painter. Her career as a painter informs the substance of her improvisations, which contain references to rhythmic structures while maintaining a fluid and suspended continuity. She leads percussion groups and tours regularly as a drummer in the US and Europe. She has collaborated with Maria do Mar, Gary Hassay, William Parker, Matt Shipp, Dave Burrell, Steve Swell, Andrea Pensado, Mia Zabelka, Maggie Nicols, and butoh dancer Ryuzo Fukuhara, among others.

Helena Espvall
Cellist/guitarist Helena Espvall has been building a rich and diverse musical career, spanning folk, experimental music, and free improvisation. Originally from Sweden, she lived for several years in Philadelphia, USA, and has been based in Lisbon since 2012. She was a member of the bands Espers and The Valerie Project, formed the duo Anahita with Tara Burke (AKA Fursaxa), and has collaborated with musicians such as Vashti Bunyan, Damon & Naomi, Marissa Nadler, Bert Jansch, Mary Lattimore, and Steve Gunn. She recorded two albums in Tokyo with Masaki Batoh, leader of the psychedelic band Ghost, which were released by Drag City Records. She is part of Lantana, a collective of improvisers who have played at the Lisboa Soa, Jazz Ao Centro, Coimbra, Jazz 2020, Gulbenkian, and Festa do Jazz 2022 festivals and collaborated with Lula Pena. Espvall has also developed work on her own behalf, playing solo concerts at Out.Fest, Casa do Comum, Lounge, Damas, ZDB, and Panteão, and is currently a very active figure on the Lisbon improvisation scene, collaborating with Norberto Lobo, Vítor Rua, Carlos Zingaro, David Maranha, Sei Miguel, and Tó Trips, among others.