Bernard Szajner: Convergence festival

One of those days when it would be handy to live in London, as French electronics legend Bernard Szajner takes to the stage for a questions and answers session as part of the Convergence festival.

He's appearing alongside the equally pioneering David Vorhaus, whose releases under the White Noise name from the late 1960s onwards marked a significant moment in the  development of electronic music in the UK.

Vorhaus 's first album as White Noise, An Electric Storm, was a hugely influential work in showcasing the possibilities of electronic music.

Szajner through his career has released several powerful collections of music, as well as developed instruments including the iconic laser harp.

Szajner's Visions of Dune album, which originally came out in 1979, was re-issued last year to the kind of acclaim that eluded it when it originally came out.

A new collection or remixed and new material Rethinking Z has just come out.

With a bit of luck the renewed interest in Szajner's work will see some of his other work re-surfacing, albums like the harrowing Some deaths take forever and Superficial Music - a collection that re-processed some of the tapes used in Visions of Dune  - certainly bear investigation.

Szajner's always been an interesting artist whose work has never failed to raise questions. Hopefully he'll have  a few answers as well.

The event  is being held at Rough Trade East in London

Bernard Szajner: Rethinking Z

Last year's saw the reissue of  Bernard Szajner's Visions of Dune album from 1979 , which has  been
followed by the appearance of some new material from the French electronic pioneer, in the form of a new mini album of remixes and fresh material.

Szajner's album, originally issued under the name Zed, came out on  InFiné last year. The label now issued the Rethinking Z collection, which sees tracks from Visions of Dune re-interpreted by other artists.

The label says "InFiné thought it was time to let a newer generation create their interpretations of Visions  of Dune."

"Rethinking Z is a projection of those visions in 2015,reworked by a new breed of IDM, Ambient & Experimental artists. "

There are  two new collaborations that feature Szajner, one with Etienne Jaumet and another with Almeeva. There is also a new track from Szajner himself, entitled 1oopsyloopsylotsylots.

Szajner has had a long career as an artist an an innovative musician, and it's great to see his work getting the attention that it deserves.

I covered the return of the Visions of Duna album here on the Vive le Roq blog.

Meanwhile, there's a rare appearance by Bernard Szajner in London as part of the Convergence Festival.

He's appearing at a question and answer session alongside the equally pioneering David Vorhaus, whose White Noise releases in the late 1960s and 1970s were key releases in the development of electronic music.

The event  is being held at Rough Trade East in London on March 13.