Image: The Brick, Los Angeles
Charlemagne Palestine’s ‘Strumming Music’ will be presented in Los Angeles on Wednesday, October 7, 2026, with doors opening at 7:30 p.m. and the show running from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. The Brick is partnering with Piano Spheres for the free concert, although tickets are required. The performance will take place at a temporary location at 619 N Western Avenue, Los Angeles, California 90004, up the street from The Brick.
Palestine has been developing ‘Strumming Music’ since the early 1970s and describes it as an evolving sound process rather than a fixed composition. He calls it an approach and technique that is always different, describing the work as an “evolutionary liquid sound continuum process” that he has presented in hundreds of versions over more than 50 years.
Derived from flamenco and the chime technique, Palestine’s strumming is based on repetition and the physicality of playing, while also treating the instrument as having its own voice.
During his concerts, Palestine seeks a dialogue with the performance space by saturating the available sonic space until it vibrates. His performances are ritualized and marked by spirituality, tradition and shamanism: he drinks cognac, smokes Indonesian clove cigarettes, and places teddy bears—his “deities”—along with scarves and other fabrics on the concert venue and instrument.
Although Palestine is associated with the minimalist music movement, he rejects that label in favor of “maximalist,” a term he says allows one to set no limits.
