Sonic Affinities

Moussa Coulibaly comes from a large “griot” family from Burkina Faso and Mali. He plays all traditional instruments like balafon, ngoni, djembe, doundoun and talking drum with virtuosity and sings with an expressive voice. His musical education began at the age of 6. Moussa has played with renowned groups in Burkina Faso and on various tours in Europe and has been living in Berlin since 2012. He plays traditional West African rhythms and improvisations, he composes his own pieces and songs and he accompanies salsa, reggae, jazz and techno music. He takes part in workshops and performances of traditional and contemporary African dancers and teaches all traditional West African instruments individually and in groups.

Paul-Jakob Dinkelacker grew up in a musical household, learned French horn as well as classical percussion and gained his first stage experiences in orchestras and theater. In 2014, he completed his music studies (jazz and popular music) at the HfMdK Mannheim. Since then he has worked mainly as a theater musician and performer in about 30 productions so far. As a drummer he plays with Fabian Simon&The Moon Machine, Hotel Rimini, Bayuk, and others. In the “silent period” of the pandemic between 2020 and 2022, he was increasingly involved in the hybridization and preparation of electroacoustic instrumental setups and continued his education in the field of sound design. Dinkelacker is interested in sounds that are different but can be aestheticized into something that has already been there. In this search he builds or prepares instruments experimentally and intuitively. Most recently, this resulted in a drum and string construct made of metal and wood.

Mohamad Fityan, born in Aleppo in 1984, is a Syrian musician and composer especially known for his outstanding skills on the flutes ney and kaval. In 2009 he graduated from the Academy of Music and was a soloist with the Syrian Orchestra and the Syrian Jazz Big Band from 2003 to 2013. He has been living in Germany since 2014, where he has performed as a soloist with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, the Brussels Jazz Orchestra, and the Bavarian Philharmonic Orchestra, among others, reaching an ever-growing audience through radio, television, and the internet. A master of the ney, Mohamad Fityan represents his instrument on the Elbphilharmonie’s YouTube channel.
He was awarded, among others, the Best Nay Player Award at the Contest of Syrian Youth Musicians in Syria (2002) and Best Conductor Award at the Contest of Syrian Youth Musicians in Syria (2003).

Ganna Gryniva is a Ukrainian jazz singer who came to Germany from Ukraine with her parents in 2002 at the age of 13. In her music she unfolds her different cultural roots: in her ethno-jazz quintet GANNA, performing for “Airing Out” in the Schlüterhof,  and solo with loops/electronics she combines Ukrainian folklore with jazz and improvised music. Inspired by research trips to different regions of Ukraine, Ganna is committed to spreading Ukraine’s cultural heritage internationally. Her new album HOME was celebrated by the music press as “Album of the Year” (Ulrich Habersetzer, DLF Kultur) and “Jazz Highlight of the Year” (Roland Spiegel, Bayerischer Rundfunk).

Currently Ganna Gryniva lives in Berlin and tours regularly in various European countries with her own bands, as a sidewoman and as a lecturer for jazz and improvised voice.

Bo-Sung Kim was born in Seoul, South Korea and grew up in Berlin. She discovered her passion for Korean percussion as a child and went to Korea after finishing school to study traditional performing arts at the Korean National University of Arts in Seoul, with a focal point on percussion, mask dance and shamanic ritual music. She has played in various formations such as Ensemble AY, which is dedicated to discovering new worlds of sound through free improvisation, Ensemble GaMuAk with traditional Korean music and dance repertoires, Ensemble INklang, which develops new interpretations of traditional Korean music in a contemporary context, and Ensemble ~su, and works currently with musicians such as Laura Robles, Sol-I So, Gunda Gottschalk, Saadet Türköz, Peter Ehwald, Matthias Mainz, Oliver Potratz and others. Bo-Sung Kim teaches Korean percussion at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg and the Korean Cultural Center Berlin, among others.

Shih-Che Lee is a classical and jazz musician. He was born in Taiwan and initially studied trombone with Prof. Ehrhard Wetz at the Mannheim State University of Music and Performing Arts. He then moved to the Jazz Institute Berlin, a cooperation between the Berlin University of the Arts and the “Hanns Eisler” Academy of Music. He has performed at international festivals such as the Fusion Festival and the International Trombone Festival. He has played in the Deutsche Oper Orchestra and the Jeju City Orchestra, Korea. He has been working with media artists Lien-Cheng Wang and Diana-Elena Păun since 2023, including in the project “Architectures of Hearing”.

A genre-crossing violinist with a global footprint, Sarah Martin brings classical mastery and contemporary edge to the stage. Originally from Dallas, Texas, she trained at Oberlin Conservatory and Northwestern University before launching an international career that spans orchestras, opera, film, fashion, and beyond. Now based in Berlin, Sarah performs widely across Europe in both classical and commercial spheres. She has recorded for films like Wakanda Forever, The Little Mermaid, and Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning, collaborated with Alicia Keys for Netflix’s Queen Charlotte, and appeared on screen in the film Tár. Her wide-ranging work includes performing with Adele, Tyler the Creator, and Stevie Wonder, and contributing to tracks by Burna Boy and Rihanna. Her work with fashion houses – including Gucci, Louis Vuitton, and Moncler – has earned industry accolades, including Best Music at the Fashion Film Festival Milano. From the concert hall to Fashion Week, Sarah’s music reflects an innovative, modern versatility that defies boundaries.

Khadim Ndome is an Italo-senegalese Vibraphonist and percussionist , currently based in Berlin, Germany. His musical journey starts with west-african percussions in his early childhood. The love for percussions led him then to pursue classical and orchestral studies at the Conservatory of Bolzano(Italy) meanwhile developing  a strong interest for the world of improvisation in the jazz genre, which then brings him to further develope in this direction by studying jazz vibraphone at the Jazz Institut of Berlin with David Friedman and Julius Heise. He is currently active as a vibraphonist, timpanist and percussionist both in jazz bands, contemporary music projects as well as in classical orchestras.

Laura Robles is an award-winning improviser, composer, multi-instrumentalist and researcher born in Eswatini and raised in Lima. She studied traditional Afro-Peruvian and Cuban music and shared a stage with renowned artists such as Amador Ballumbrosio, Juan Medrano Cotito, Nilo Borges, Laureano Rigol, Roberto Borrell, Susana Baca among others. Considered one of the most accomplished Cajón players in the world, she has dedicated her career to the analysis of Folk rhythms with a strong focus on Afro-Peruvian folklore. Robles has continued experimenting and with rhythm and possibilities of expression in modern jazz and improvised music. In the last few years she has worked with artists and groups as diverse as American composer and Grammy Award winner Maria Schneider, Petros Klampanis, Bodek Janke, Lauer Large Orquestra, Pablo Held, Niels Klein, Ensemble Neue Musik Zürich, WDR Big Band, Wanja Slavin, Steffen Schorn among others. Robles lives in Germany and is currently working on her first solo album.

Ernesto Robles wurde auf Isla de la Juventud, Kuba geboren und taucht als leidenschaftlicher Musiker in die Welt des Jazz ein. Er widmet sich hingebungsvoll seiner Kunst, studiert Vollzeit am EUJAM-Programm des Jazz-Instituts Berlin und nimmt gegenwärtig an einem Erasmus-Programm am Conservatorium van Amsterdam, eine der renommiertesten niederländischen Musikhochschulen, teil. Als Gitarrist und Tresero verbindet Ernesto sein technisches Können mit einer tiefgehenden Wertschätzung für musikalischen Ausdruck und erkundet stetig neue Zugänge zu Kreativität und Zusammenarbeit.

Clemens Rynkowski is a composer, thereminist and musical director. He lives in Berlin and works transdisciplinary for orchestra, chamber ensembles, film, dance, theater and music theater. Previous positions: Berliner Ensemble, Bavarian State Opera Munich, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, Saarländisches Staatstheater Saarbrücken, Nationaltheater Weimar, Staatstheater Braunschweig, Goethe-Institut Ramallah. He is lecturing at the art universities of Weimar, Rostock, Erfurt and was entrusted with a full professorship in 2023 at the Hochschule für Schauspielkunst “Ernst Busch” in Berlin.

David Rynkowski, born in Dresden, studied singing and music production in Cologne. He performed with, among others, Bobby McFerrin as well as Julian & Roman Wasserfuhr, with whom he received a Gold Record. He was a member of the German National Jazz Orchestra and prizewinner at the International Voice & Guitar Competition in Völklingen. As a producer he worked with artists such as Norah Jones, as well as for film and theater, including collaborations with directors Anna Bergmann and Martin Nimz. Together with his brothers he founded the collective “Herr Rynkowski,” which created numerous stage scores, among others at the Saarländisches Staatstheater Saarbrücken and the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe. Since 2017 he has composed the music for the children’s series Schloss Einstein (KiKA/Netflix). With his band Luciel he released his debut album in 2019 and the second album From Outside in 2023. He teaches jazz/pop singing at the Cologne University of Music and Dance.

Florian Rynkowski, born in Dresden and raised in Weimar, studied electric bass, double bass and composition in Weimar, Helsinki, Ghana, and Cologne. He is a member of various ensembles that move between jazz, contemporary music, minimal music and pop. His debut album “flora et labora”, which he recorded with the German-Finnish band of the same name, was released in 2012. In 2012, he wrote the music for the Matadero Madrid installation “angles of incidence”, an interdisciplinary performance consisting of dance, architecture, light and sound. In the same year, his music was performed by the New York Baroque Dance Company. In 2013, his arrangements for string orchestra appeared within José Padilla’s remix of two Norah Jones songs. His composition “H/B/T” for tárogató and viola was premiered in 2014 at the “Musik der Jahrhunderte” in Stuttgart. He won the 2017 New German Jazz Prize with the Philipp Brämswig Trio. The brothers Clemens, David and Florian Rynkowski together form the collective “Herr Rynkowski”, which has provided the stage music for numerous theatre productions at the state theatres in Karlsruhe, Saarbrücken and Braunschweig. At the Badische Landesbühne Bruchsal, he composed the music for “Pinocchio” and “Prinz und Bettelknabe” (Prince and Beggar Boy), and at the Landestheater Linz for “Ich rufe meine Brüder” (I Call My Brothers).

Sofia Salvo is a baritone saxophone player and improviser dedicated to noise, free jazz and experimental music. Her first solo release “ROTAROTA” released on Relative Pitch Records in 2024 showcases her vibrant and unique approach to the instrument.

Born and raised in Buenos Aires and based in Berlin since 2019, she became a restless actor of the city’s alternative scene. Her newest project “YEXXEN” includes musicians from the punk and DIY scene and was premiered in the last edition of A L’arme festival.

Alongside the saxophone, she explores composition with electronic devices as can be heard in live performances with “ESETv3” and “Seriously? wow”as well as in in the sketches in her Soundcloud.

She co-curates “Revuelta Series” and “Future Bash Series” besides other alternative events in Berlin.

Among many other projects, she’s part of Christian Kuhn’s
“Kuhn Fu”, Robert Lucaciu’s “Fallen Crooner” and Amalie Dahl’s “Dafnie Extended”.

Sofia has also been teaching saxophone and music lessons since 2010.

https://sofiasalvo.com/

Mariana Zwarg is a Brazilian flutist, composer, arranger, and music educator. In her work, she combines the diversity of Brazilian music with a contemporary and universal approach. She has been pursuing an international career since 2002 and is considered an original and powerful voice in instrumental music.

Her musical career began with the innovative project Itiberê Orquestra Família, led by Itiberê Zwarg, a long-time companion of Hermeto Pascoal. Later, she was part of the ensemble Itiberê Zwarg e Grupo, where she deepened her experience with “universal music.”

In 2015, Mariana launched her solo career and founded the Mariana Zwarg Sexteto Universal, with which she toured over 30 cities in more than 10 European countries. In 2020, she released her debut album Nascentes, which was met with great acclaim. This was followed in 2023 by tightrope dancer, an intimate duo project with German pianist Johannes von Ballestrem.

Today she lives in Germany, works with artists from a wide variety of backgrounds, and regularly performs as a soloist and guest conductor with German big bands.
Parallel to her artistic activities, Mariana is a committed music educator. Her workshops on Brazilian music have taken her to Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, France, Finland, and Germany. With her flute, voice, and great musical sensitivity, Mariana Zwarg creates music that celebrates diversity, improvisation, and freedom—always in dialogue with her Brazilian roots.