Jazz at JAKI: Céline Rudolph's SONIQS

With SONIQS, two-time ECHO award winner Céline Rudolph performs brand new written music, made to shine by her touching voice and the band's extraordinary sonic kaleidoscope. SONIQS was co-founded with multi-instrumentalist and sound tinkerer Sebastian Merk, who has specially created a drum set combining keyboards, electronics and video art, allowing him to act very freely and intuitively. His sound tools also include dissected, sampled vocal puzzle pieces of Céline's voice, which he sends through sound filters and rhythmically reassembles, as well as entire vocal melody lines that underlie the compositions as looped "songlines." The thoroughly complex music always retains its lightness and playful song quality. Besides the music, Céline Rudolph also writes lyrics independent of music, "poems", which SONIQS spontaneously set to music. They are always sent live on a sound journey and turned into new songs.
With the Cuban Régis Molina Céline brings another explosive, archaic force into the band. His tonal language on alto and flute evokes the spirit of a master of ceremonies. Swede Povel Widestrand adds his own unique counterpoint. With bold colors on piano and synth, he is one of the exciting young voices in jazz. Selected dates are performed with the distinctive sound artist Sebastian Studnitzky on trumpet and piano, who is also featured on the album.
Singer and globetrotter Céline Rudolph moves between Berlin, São Paulo, Paris and New York in experimental jazz as well as Brazilian and African-influenced music, hauntingly interpreted chansons and urban singer-songwriter sounds. She drifts between genres, languages and cities and always lands in music with pinpoint accuracy. Her duo album OBSESSION (2017) with Herbie Hancock's favorite guitarist Lionel Loueke was followed by the album PEARLS (2019), which features Leo Genovese, Burniss Travis and Jamire Williams, who are otherwise known from bands by Glasper, Spalding and co, in addition to this exceptional guitarist.