zaj

Zaj was formed from Walter Marchetti and Juan Hildago with the support from John Cage. Zaj was an experimental music and performance group. Zaj is foundet 1964 in Madrid the members are:

Jose Luis Castillejo, Ramires Cortes, Juan Hidalgo, Walter Marchetti, Tomas Marco and Eugenio de Vicente

Note on the Zaj Group

There is no official history of the Zaj Group. The general spirit of the works with which the group is identified is unhistorical, frech and even the question of who actually belongs to the group is never allowed to intrude. Those who once worked with the group are described as "no longer working with us," rather than not Zaj. The word "Zaj" itself is without meaning, except as it becomes identified with the group. For some Zaj manifestations, the word has been spelled in an alternate way-"Zej" or "Zoj" for instance. Let it sufficeto say, by way of historical remarks, that Juan Hidalgo and Walter Marchetti were founders of the group, some time around 1964 at Madrid. Since that time there have been forty or fifty Zaj manifestations at Madrid, elswhere that Spain (thus transcrending the intranational, regional difference that have plagued the cultural avant-garde in Spain until now), and even in vari0us other European countries. There are also many Zaj publications, which Something Else Press has undertaken to distribute.

The bachround of the parcipants at first tended to be musical. Both Juan Hidalgo and Walter Marchetti are highly skilled com posers and musicians. They were well known in Italian musical circles during the period of Hidalgos stay there, in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and when Hidalgo returned to Spain, bringing the Italian Marchetti with him, it was a considerable loss to the Italian musical scene. However, in works of the sort which characterize Zaj, theimagery is not necessarily musical at all. For a considerable time there was musical imagery in most Zaj work, but it cam to be increasingly confined to the titles, alluding to well-known musical works, until finally, as Castillejo points out in his excellent description, the first text in the pamphlet, even the allusion disappeared. Castillejo himself is a good example of the non-musical Zaj member.By profession he is a diplomat, currently fist Secretary of the Spanish Embassy at Algiers. However he has writtenmany essays, art criticism, know best in this country through Art International, and a collection of his superb short writings, oriented into and out of concrete poetry, has been published by Zaj under the title la caida del avion en el terreno baldio, available through Something Else Press. Again, Tomas Marco writes criticism for various Spanish magazines and is a lwa student. The overall tendency of Zaj group is, then, towards very original events in general, both for performance and non-performance, and the group is one of most exciting and active ...

zaj BIOGRAFIA

MADRID JULIO 1964 JUAN HIDALGO, WALTER MARCHETTI Y RAMÓN BARCHE CREAM

ZAJ
MADRID 19. NOVEIMBRE 1966 INVITACIÓN RETROACTVA AL "TRASLADO A PIE DE TRES OBJETOS"
REALIZADO POR HIDALGO, MARCHETTI Y BARCE...

1965
Size: 28.3 x 22.5 cm
Price: 140, - Euro