- country:Germany
- style(s):Afro, Jazz
- artist posted by:Cross Culture Music - agency. promotion. network
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Sonja Kandels (voc) | Justice Quecoo (p.rhodes) | Edward Mclean (bass) | Kay Lübke (dr) ..... A vibrant symbiosis of traditional afrikan rhythms and sounds used in modern Jazz. A colourful palette mixing earthy Afro-grooves with free improvisations. The „Sonja Kandels Quartet„ won the „bundesweit ausgeschriebene Nachwuchsjazzfestival„ and played at the International Jazzfestival 2000 in Leipzig. ..... „ … Sonja Kandels voice is amazing. I am a big fan. “ Lokua Kanza .....
„ … I was really surprised listening to Sonja Kandels, a german singer interpreting one of my songs and dedicating another for me. She is a great talent! “ Angelique Kidjo .....
Sonja Kandels was born in Prüm in the Federal Republik of Germany. Following education in both Africa and in Germany, she graduated in 1995 with a degree in art from the art school in Bonn, and from there she went on to study jazz-singing with Judy Niemak at the „Hanns-Eisler“ Music Academy in Berlin.Studied with Norma Winston, Jay Clayton und Norbert Gottschalk. ..... Apart from two years in Afghanistan, she spent the first ten years of her life in Africa: Niger and particularly Cameroun. African music, dance and rhythm have from the beginning exerted a powerful influence on her life and her music and today provide the inspiration, energy and point underlying her creativity. ..... Sonja Kandels sings with equal facility in english, swaheli and ewe (a togoleze idiom), and when these tongues are inadequate to express her feelings, she sings in her own fantasy language. ..... She uses her voice as an instrument which spans the whole ethno-sound spectrum in a natural way. Repeated visits to Africa during the 90s led to important encounters with the folk songs of Senegal, Togo, Benin und Gambia and reaffirmed the passion for this land and its music. ..... In 2000 she got a scolarship ( „Stipendium für personengebundene Jazzförderung“ ) from the senat for culture and science of Berlin in order to work on a music-project with the pygmies in the south-east of Cameroun. ..... She is member of the Vocal Jazz Connection Berlin, who played with the philharmonian orchester, lead by Claudio Abbado and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, lead by Wynton Marsalis to perform his peace„ All Rise„ in the Philharmony, Berlin, on march 2001. ..... With the performance-group: „Elfenbein Klingt Rot“ she moves into an interdisciplinary level and improvises with two modern dancers and a pianist on dance-festivals in Berlin.