Who's zooming who: Peter Materna & Alin Vaida — jazzahead!

Who’s zooming who: Peter Materna & Alin Vaida

17. February 2021
Trade fair jazzahead! 2021 takes place digitally
9. December 2020
Showcasing Bands 2021: German Jazz Expo (Part 2)
18. February 2021

Who's zooming who?

In this series one person from the jazz scene in Germany and one from abroad each reveal their views on German jazz and their current recommendations for jazz made in Germany.

Peter Materna

W When I started up Jazzfest Bonn in 2010, I have to say there was one thing that never really occurred to me at the time: that through the years of running the festival I would discover quite so many incredibly interesting musicians who are either based in Germany or who have their origins in this country.
The German music scene is chock-full of good music. It is a very busy scene not just because there is such a wide range of outlets for jazz compared to most other countries, but also because there is a relatively large and enthusiastic audience.
There is an abundance of fantastic new talent in this country. It is constantly either coming to the fore or developing, and the scene here is always enriched by it. Not a single festival has gone by without me being taken agreeably by surprise

So I would like to take this opportunity to recommend a few musicians:

Of Cabbages And Kings: This vocal ensemble of the four young singers (Laura Totenhagen, Rebekka Ziegler, Veronika Morscher and Zola Mennenöh) experiments with free improvisation and microtones. They also have complete mastery of all conceivable forms of expression and techniques, from clasical to a capella jazz singing. Their confidence as live performers always leaves a strong impression and their individual and inspiring settings of poetry bring new life to the texts. An unqualified recommendation!
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Lisa Wulff: Lisa plays a whole family of basses. I have known her for many years from the various musical contexts. She is an excellent, extremely confident musician, composer and bandleader and appears again and again as a bass player alongside international stars. Her quartet was the opening band at Jazzfest Bonn 2019 and a highlight of the festival. There were more than a thousand people in the audience at the Bonn Opera House, and their enthusiasm was palpable.
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Alin Vaida

T o promote Jazz in Romania wasn’t such a easy thing. The genre wasn’t popular at all, when we’ve started with the festival, so we made a long term strategy to grow along side with the public. We were always searching for a new generation of Jazz artists to inspire and reach the younger audience. We love those eclectic projects, that combine jazz with other influences and are not shy from experimentation. And from this point of view, Germany has a lot to offer.