Oren Ambarchi

Born in Sydney in 1969 into an Iraqi Jewish family, Oren Ambarchi has since the mid-1980s pursued a singular path spanning improvisation, experimental music, drone, ambient, noise, and forms drawn from rock and free jazz. Initially active as a drummer on Sydney’s free scene, he later shifted his work toward the electric guitar, approached less as a virtuoso instrument than as a source of textures, resonances, and repetitive motifs. Ambarchi also co-organized the What Is Music festival in Australia with Robbie Avenaim between 1994 and 2005, while expanding collaborations with musicians such as Jim O’Rourke, Keiji Haino, Fennesz, Keith Rowe, or Merzbow. His solo discography includes Grapes from the Estate (2004), Sagittarian Domain (2012), Quixotism (2014), Hubris (2016), Simian Angel (2019), and Shebang (2022). Parallel to this, Ambarchi participated in several Sunn O))). related projects and played in ensembles such as Gravetemple or Burial Chamber Trio. Since 2009, he has run the Black Truffle label, which documents parts of his work and encounters, including the trio with Jim O’Rourke and Keiji Haino, and more recently the project Ghosted with Johan Berthling and Andreas Werliin, started on record in 2022.