Tue – February 25, 2025
Plunder Phobia (CH)
20:00 – Kino Rex
Film remix
Lukas Briner (video sampler)
Why remix audio files only ? Lukas Briner goes one step further and remixes entire films. He cuts and loops and overlays image and sound in such a way that previously unknown, hidden layers are revealed – the subconscious of the film, so to speak. Since his teenage years he has been gleefully plundering pop culture, creating bouncy beats and nasty noises, criss-crossing all genres from mainstream to nerdy cinema. Due to copyright reasons, he won’t be twisting the words in Barbie’s or the ever-popular (?) Marvel superhero’s mouths at the Jazzwerkstatt, but rather those of an old classic from film history, which we will soon be presenting in detail here.
Wed – February 26, 2025
Burning Questions: Interview with Mazen Kerbaj
18:30 – Galerienzone PROGR
Q&A with Mazen Kerbaj about art, life and society. Come by and have an Apéro with us!
Free admission, collection
(Language: English)
Carlo Mombelli & Sigi Kutterer feat. Gabisile Motuba (ZA/DE/CH)
20:00 – PROGR Turnhalle
jazz / avantgarde
Sigi Kutterer (percussion), Fran Lorkovic (percussion), Dennis Kuhn (percussion), Carlo Mombelli (bass), Gabisile Motuba (voice), Kesivan Naidoo (drums)
What happens when three percussionists from the avant-garde scene meet three improvisers – from three different countries, no less? “Our musical styles and backgrounds are different but there are still strong similarities,” says Carlo Mombelli, storyteller and composer extraordinaire. The six musicians will use a huge collection of percussion instruments and pieces with meditative and repetitive elements as a starting point. Frictional and emotional warmth are guaranteed because according to Carlo, the motto of the meeting is as follows: “In the end we all belong”.
Asfourieh (DE)
21:15 – PROGR Turnhalle
free improvisation
Mazen Kerbaj (trumpet, objects), Ute Wassermann (voice, objects)
With its wild bird calls and otherworldly cries, the music of this Berlin duo is best enjoyed with complete surrender, otherwise you risk missing exactly who is producing which sound. So open your ears and your eyes, and raise your glasses while you still can ! The title Asfourieh describes both a forest full of birds (in Arabic) and a psychiatric hospital (in Lebanese dialect). It’s no surprise that the two artists rely on strong images – they both trained and work in an interdisciplinary way. Ute Wassermann studied singing as well as visual arts and explores the limits of the human voice in concerts and installations. Trumpeter Mazen Kerbaj is considered a key figure in the experimental music scene in Lebanon and has already published 15 books (!) as a comic artist.
Thu – February 27, 2025
Burning Questions: Interview with Korhan Erel (Don’t you know Earth is a paradise?!)
18:30 – Galerienzone PROGR
Q&A with Korhan Erel about art, life and society. Come by and have an Apéro with us!
Free admission, collection
(Language: English)
Mascha Juno feat. Adam Zanolini (DE/USA)
20:00 – PROGR Turnhalle
improvisation / sound meditation
Maria Schneider (drums, vocals, other instruments), Adam Zanolini (b, sax, perc, fl)
Mascha Juno plays many instruments and sings many voices, and the result is madly beautiful music that we are equally madly looking forward to. Singing, composing and making music with others is her attempt to find peace in this world, says the trained percussionist from Berlin who is stylistically extremely versatile and also plays drums for Agnes Obel, among others. With us, she performs and improvises on the theme of “Healing in Being and Playing” – calm, trancelike music that makes you forget space and time. And we can really use that right now.
Don’t you know Earth is a paradise?! (DE)
21:15 – PROGR Turnhalle
audiovisual performance
Korhan Erel (sonic composition, electronics), Liudmila Siewerski (visual composition, live visuals)
At first, you think all wonderful in Korhan and Liudmila’s utopian, new digital world. It seems ideal, utopian, paradise like, but then these visible errors appear, audible glitches that pull the rug out from under you and take your breath away because they are unexpectedly beautiful. The fact that digital technology strives for perfection while people act chaotically and unpredictably is a contradiction that inspires and drives this duo from Berlin.
Soubateurs (CH)
22:30 – PROGR Turnhalle
pop / rock / experimental
Sibyl Hofstetter (vocals, synth), Sébastien Minguely (guitar), Pascal Schärli (bass, backing vocals), Michael Cina (drums)
Radiohead and Sonic Youth are the heroes of the Bernese band “Soubateurs”. It all makes sense when you hear the bright voice of frontwoman Sibyl Hofstetter floating over guitar sounds and energetically asserting herself against the intricate rhythms of bass and drums. Incidentally, the name “Soubateur” is a random neologism born of a linguistic misunderstanding between Sibyl and the francophone Sébastien during a hike. So, Soubateur it is. Ok then, we say, and so did the band, which named their debut album in the same way, probably waiting for the things that happen to a soubateur – and a soubatesse? – whoever that is, and whatever such a person does.
DJ Bob (ZA)
23:15 – PROGR Turnhalle
DJ Set
DJ Bob combines jazz, funk, afrobeat, acid jazz, samba and trip hop to create unique sets. As the founder of the legendary club “206 Live”, he shaped Johannesburg’s music scene in the 90s. Today he tours with bands and brings fresh sounds to festivals such as OppiKoppi and Bushfire. As a DJ, mentor and collector, he’s living his passion for music that knows no boundaries.
Fri – February 28, 2025
Burning Questions: Interview with Fulden İbrahimhakkıoğlu (Emaskülatör)
18:30 – Galerienzone PROGR
Q&A with Fulden İbrahimhakkıoğlu about art, life and society. Come by and have an Apéro with us!
Free admission, collection
(Language: English)
Kokon & Michael Cina (CH)
20:00 – PROGR Turnhalle
contemporary jazz
Julia Rüffert (trombone, compositions, arrangements), Paula Häni (bass clarinet), Anatole Buccella (guitar), Michael Cina (drums)
This first album was long overdue says trombonist and bandleader Julia Rüffert. Here it is now, and that’s great, so we can also enjoy the fragile, spherical, sometimes bulky pieces at home. However, the music of this well-rehearsed trio will not sound exactly like the record on stage, because Julia who is acting as guest curator for this year’s edition is bringing drummer Michael Cina on stage as a one-time addition. This allows her and her fellow musicians to experience the absolute Jazzwerkstatt feeling – which we think is really great.
Brendle/Weiss (CH)
21:15 – PROGR Turnhalle
contemporary dada jazz
Damaris Brendle (vocals), Florian Weiss (trombone)
Voice and trombone? A challenge worth taking on, thought Damaris Brendle and Florian Weiss two years ago. At first the two of them “only” worked on jazz standards, but soon they enjoyed exploring sound together and their first concerts followed. “The constellation is based on mutual trust and a certain willingness to take risks,” says Damaris Brendle who prefers to use her voice like an instrument. The counterpoint to this is provided by Flo Weiss, one of the nicest trombonists in Bern (just kidding, they’re all really nice). Anything goes is the motto – and it’s good to lose yourself in play, because somehow, somewhere, sometime you always find one another other again.
MeoW (CH/DE)
22:30 – PROGR Turnhalle
noise / pop
Cansu Tanrikulu (vocals, effects), Liz Kosack (synth, drums), Dan Peter Sundland (bass, vocals), Jim Black (drums, vocals)
Professionally noisy is the motto of the band around Cansu Tanrikulu, this year’s guest curator and lecturer at the Bern University of the Arts. We can see and hear that very well, and would also like to add : a lot of fun, self-mocking and without false inhibitions, as a glance at the track list of the debut album “Mice” confirms : Busted on catnip. So it’s about cats, and not about those that lie lazily in the corner, but rather about those that get the zoomies at three in the morning and race wildly around the apartment. It is possible that the fact that cats like to fight will also be shown on the Jazzwerkstatt stage. At the moment however, this is just a rumour. We’ll see (meow).
Emaskülatör (TR)
23:45 – PROGR Turnhalle
hardcore / punk
Emaskülatör is an angry hardcore/punk band from Ankara. Their goal: more body positivity, more respect, more gender equality. Their means: screeching guitars, fast and hard drums and voices from the apocalypse. The fact that the three musicians are coming to Bern has been making our team jumpy with excitement for months, especially Cansu Tanrikulu, who is supporting us on the programme team this year. She also grew up in Ankara and has been a big punk fan since her teenage years. It’s a dream come true!! A very loud dream, at that.
DJ KG (CH)
01:00 – PROGR Turnhalle
DJ Set
Contemporary dance music in its wildest, most intense form! DJ KG is the epitome of pulsating beats and relentless energy – never standing still, always at the limit. His sets? Pure ecstasy that makes the dance floor explode. If you’re ready for a trip into the unpredictable, dive in. But be careful: this is not for the faint of heart.
Sat – March 1, 2025
Burning Questions: Interview with Adam Zanolini (Adam Zanolini’s Heliacal Rise of Sothis)
18:30 – Galerienzone PROGR
Q&A with Adam Zanolini about art, life and society. Come by and have an Apéro with us!
Free admission, collection
(Language: English)
Josephine Nagorsnik’s Polyhedron + 2 (CH/AT)
20:00 – PROGR Turnhalle
contemporary jazz
Jaronas Höhener (trumpet, electronics), Felix Wolf (drums), Lucas Dorado (vibes), Marc Mezgolits (bass), Josephine Nagorsnik (trombone, compositions, electronics), Charlotte Lang (tenor saxophone, bass clarinet), Eloi Calame (bass clarinet, clarinet)
Polyhedron, you say ? A “many-sided figure”, we are told. This fits perfectly with the enormously versatile Josephine, who is already celebrating the tenth anniversary of her band at the Jazzwerkstatt. The music of the septet is also polyphonic, with trumpet, saxophone, trombone and bass clarinet, with an unusually wide-ranging horn section. Three random facts about Josephine: at the ripe age of two, she was already playing the piano. A few years ago, she wrote music for a 100-piece cello bass orchestra. And she founded her own label, Ranunkel Records, during the pandemic.
Adam Zanolini’s Heliacal Rise of Sothis (USA)
21:15 – PROGR Turnhalle
jazz / spiritual music
Adam Zanolini (bass, sax, percussion, flute), Fred Jackson, Jr (saxophone), Sharon Udoh (piano), Naydja Bruton (drums)
In ancient Egypt, the star Sothis (now Sirius) was thought to rise before the sun on the eastern horizon, marking the approach of the annual Nile flood and with it, spring – this is the “heliacal rising”. With his current project, the multi-instrumentalist and composer Adam Zanolini from Chicago is honouring the work of Kelan Phil Cohran, co-founder of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), who was as interested in culture and history as he was in astronomy and mathematics, and who thus had a significant influence on the Black Arts Movement in the sixties and seventies. Also a member of the AACM, Zanolini sees himself as a community musician : “My main goal is to cultivate and pass on knowledge through music in order to heal and strengthen the black community.”
Siya Makuzeni (Small) Big Band (ZA/CH/DE/FR/IT)
22:30 – PROGR Turnhalle
jazz
Siya Makuzeni (trombone, vocals, compositions, arrangements), Tara Sarter (alto sax), Juliane Rickenmann (tenor sax), Paul Butscher (trumpet), Myslaure Augustin (piano), Mirko Pedrotti (vibes), Louise Knobil (bass), Farida Hamdar (percussion), Christoph Steiner (drums)
The trombone is her best friend, says Siya – but she is probably even closer to her own voice which she has used with equal passion and virtuosity throughout her 20-year career. Since she is also a composer, it made sense to invite her to the Jazzwerkstatt, where large ensembles have repeatedly provided ultimate standing-up-from-your-chairs moments in the past. We are looking forward to her own pieces and also to the arrangements of jazz standards from South Africa. “We want to show how important musical networking and social cohesion are on a global level,” says Siya about the collaboration with the nine-piece “small” big band with top names from the local scene. An aim that we strongly support.
REZAEI – KOENIG (UK/AT)
23:45 – PROGR Turnhalle
turntablism / noise
Mariam Rezaei (turntables), Lukas Koenig (amplified cymbal)
How to name a situation where a person who mainly plays drums but who is open to all kinds of influences meets someone who has made a name for themselves in the DIY scene of the English underground with New Turntablism?
Quite simply “high-speed acoustic surrealism”. That’s what the British newspaper The Guardian called their music while the London Jazz News described it as “truly groundbreaking”. We are therefore really looking forward to Mariam Rezaei and her turntables which she uses in an open, progressive and optimistic way, while Lukas König uses electronic devices and pedals to make a simple cymbal resonate in every conceivable way.
KA-RABA (CH)
01:00 – PROGR Turnhalle
DJ Set
KA-RABA is a DJ, curator and the creative force behind the OKRA collective in Basel. Known for her hypnotic soundscapes and community engagement, she has quickly become an important voice in the Swiss cultural landscape. Her art combines bass-heavy, percussive sounds to create vibrant and deeply immersive club experiences. Each set is a musical journey that blurs genre boundaries and transports listeners to a world where Afrofuturism meets cutting-edge electronic music – a captivating mix that challenges and enchants at the same time.
Sun – March 2, 2025
Family Concert in collaboration with Bee-flat
Adam Zanolini’s Heliacal Rise of Sothis (USA)
15:30 – PROGR Turnhalle
jazz / spiritual music
Adam Zanolini (bass, sax, percussion, flute), Fred Jackson, Jr (saxophone), Sharon Udoh (piano), Naydja Bruton (drums)
Like every year, Sunday afternoon is dedicated to all those who are too small or too tired for our evening concerts. And also to all those who want to hear Heliacal Rise of Sothis again. Feel free to run around, the little ones might be doing it too!
Julian Sartorius – RLLRLRLLRRLRLRLRLLRLRLR (CH/TR/DE)
20:00 – PROGR Turnhalle
groove / minimal
Julian Sartorius (drum manipulations), Brian Archinal (drums), Miguel Ángel García Martín (drums), Maria Schneider (drums), Athina Dill (drums), Romane Bouffioux (drums), Baha Erten (drums), Farida Hamdar (drums), David Meier (drums)
The title of Julian Sartorius’ new composition is difficult to pronounce, but it is programmatic: it describes the pattern of 23 individual beats (right and left) that his fellow drummers play continuously and which he himself gradually varies. This means that the rhythmic flow remains the same, but the sound changes completely over and over again. We recommend letting yourself be completely carried away by the resulting maelstrom – we have experienced more than once that it opens up new worlds in the mind. We can discuss the latter later in the evening over a nightcap at the bar. Firstly, to festively close the Jazzwerkstatt and secondly to beat Monday which is announcing itself more and more stubbornly at an early hour.
Livia Lockridge – the Jazzwerkstatt Choir (CH)
21:15 – PROGR Turnhalle
choir sounds
Livia Lockridge (vocals, compositions)
Ad hoc choir under the direction of Livia Lockridge, Jessica Manga and Luca Wüthrich
When we went to Livia Lockridge’s graduation concert at the Bern University of the Arts, we were so moved that we lost our voices. She wants to give us our voices back with her performance, and in a big way. Livia, Jessica and Luca are putting together a choir in which alongside professional singers everyone is welcome – you from the audience, you from the team of volunteers, and you, if you enjoy singing and want to be part of this wonderful project!
Livia wants to explore with her music what it sounds like when ambitious amateurs meet professionals and when they perform multilayer loops together a capella.
And we want to know what it sounds like when the Jazzwerkstatt family sings instead of just listening – what an unearthly beautiful moment at the end of the Jazzwerkstatt 2025!
Are you in?