Sofia Rei

• country:USA
• region:New York City
• style(s):Folk, Latin
• label:Cascabelera
• type:Quintet
• gender:female
• instrumentation:vocal, electronic, percussion, singer songwriter, piano, guitar
• artist posted by:Ubuntu World Music

Line up

• JC Maillard (El. & Ac. guitar, Bass, Ukelele, Back Up Vocals)
• Jorge Glem (Cuatro)
• Keys (Leo Genovese)
• Sofia Rei (Lead Vocals, Back up vocals, Vocal loops, Charango)
• TBD (Percussion)

Links

• Website
• Facebook
• Instagram
• YouTube
• Spotify
• Bandcamp
• Management

SOFIA REI – BIO
Folklore and futurism, graceful elegance and raw passion, virtuosic precision and spontaneous exploration – all merge together in the music of award-winning vocalist, songwriter and producer Sofia Rei. Redefining authenticity from an intensely personal perspective, she’s carried diverse Latin American traditions from her native Buenos Aires to the multi-cultural mecca of New York City, where she’s fused those sounds with jazz, experimental music, pop, and electronic music influences.
Classically trained and an ardent inquisitor of the intricacies of South American folk music, Rei has released five albums of John Zorn’s music on Tzadik Records and four independent recordings under her own name. Rei was among the featured artists at globalFEST 2021, which resulted in an electrifying NPR Tiny Desk (Home) Concert and subsequent photo running in Jon Pareles’ globalFEST review in The New York Times (January 15, 2021). In 2019, she was presented the Spirit of Folk Award by the International Folk Alliance (Montreal), for her active involvement in the preservation, presentation, and promotion of folk music, community building, and demonstrated leadership. Her role as Professor at NYU Tisch Clive Davis Institute – where she designed the “New Perspectives in Latin Music” course – places her at the forefront of uncovering the broad diversity of traditional Latin American music styles integrated with new technologies and cutting-edge trends.
GRAMMY Award-nominated Latinx artist Sofia Rei is an ever-traveler perpetually seeking new expressions for her innate gift as a vocalist and songwriter. Rei’s latest recording, UMBRAL (Cascabelera Records; Release Date: June 4, 2021), produced by JC Maillard (Angelique Kidjo, Richard Bona), takes her deep into the mountains of the Elqui Valley in Chile to capture intimate portrayals of a woman fighting for her place in the world. Rei set off on a solo trek across the rugged Eastern Chilean terrain, with two backpacks of recording gear, and a mind overflowing with the complexities of modern life. With a charango in hand, ready for an uninhibited excursion to record unorthodox vocal sketches in the form of loops based on a series “Cinco Poemas Cínicos” (“Five Cynical Poems”), Rei’s incisive and imaginative poetry, responds to heartbreak, deception, and disappointment with unrestrained candor. Her self-sufficient compositions originate from a vocal layering structure allowing each work to stand on its own. In 2019, Sofia was awarded the Cafe Royal Cultural Foundation Music Production Grant, to help finish the recording of Umbral. Produced by world music luminary and long-time collaborator JC Maillard, Umbral is set to be released in 2021 and will feature some of the most talented musicians of the New Latin International scene. UMBRAL results in a masterpiece steeped in folkloric tradition and digital futurism.

DISCOGRAPHY
Albums Under her own name
Umbral (2021, June 4th)
El Gavilán (2017)
De Tierra y Oro (2013)
Sube Azul (2011)
Ojalá (2006) Sofia's debut recording under her own name

In collaboration with John Zorn
Keter (2019)
The Song Project Live at Le Poisson Rouge (2015)
Mycale: Book of Angels (Vol 25), (2015)
The Song Project Vinyl Singles edition, (2014)
Mycale: Book of Angels (Vol 13), (2010)