EPK – Sophie Tassignon – KHYAL (EN)
Modern Jazz with Arabic Poetry
photo: Katrin Andrzejewski
CONTACT DETAILS
Sophie Tassignon
Zur Innung 40
10247 Berlin
Tel: +49 163 877 48 96
E-mail: sophietassignon@gmail.com
::: ALBUM RELEASE :::
Oct. 20th, 2023 (W.E.R.F. Records)
Sophie Tassignon: Voice
Peter Van Huffel: Alto- & Baritone Saxophone
Peter Meyer: Guitar
Roland Fidezius: Bass
Mathias Ruppnig: Drums
VIDEOS
“a work of penetrating beauty” Geert Ryssen, Jazz & Mo’
“With the saxophone serving as a vessel for emotive melodies, the language of music transcends verbal barriers, resonating directly with our hearts and evoking profound emotions.” Thoralf Winkler, Jazz in der Kammer, 22/04/2023
THE ALBUM
:::
ABOUT THE BAND
Stemming from the Arabic word for “imagination“, KHYAL can be translated as the ‘memory of and longing for something long gone’.
Vocalist and composer Sophie Tassignon has released 10 albums on various labels and has toured Europe, North America and China. Her newest project KHYAL is a musical meeting of cultures. This music represents the tolerance and acceptance of peoples from around the world regardless of background or belief system, and offers a glimpse into the beauty and artistry that can arise through cross-cultural collaborations.
Tassignon is known for her unique timbre and her beautifully intricate compositions and arrangements, as have been heard in both her solo project and the chamber jazz quartet AZOLIA.
In 2017, due to her work with Syrian refugees in Berlin, Sophie Tassignon began learning the Arabic language and decided to seek a deeper understanding of Arabic culture. This work has in turn led to the development of her project, KHYAL, a project which blends Arabic poems with jazz traditions from Europe and North America.
Some of the songs performed by the group of five international Berlin-based musicians is centered around the words of Mohammad Mallak, a Syrian scriptwriter and playwright who resides between France and Germany, and acts as editor in chief of Saiedet Souria Magazine. The rest of the poems are Tassignon’s lyrics translated by Lebanese poet Hicham Nasr.
PHOTOS
Photo: Joachim Westphal
About Me
SOPHIE TASSIGNON – BIOGRAPHY
Sophie Tassignon is a Berlin-based vocalist, pianist and composer who is active in the European Jazz, Avant-Guard, and Electroacoustic communities. She has toured worldwide and claims 10 releases as a leader on different relevant record labels, including Clean Feed Records, A-jazz, Alone Blue Records, visionofsound, RareNoise Records and Jazzwerkstatt. Her next album “The Card Game” with her band KHYAL will be released on vinyl and CD on Belgian based label de WERF records in October 2023.
Sophie is also active in modern theatre and multimedia performance, notably creating music for the productions of renowned Polish director Elzbieta Bednarska. Sophie’s most recent release on RareNoise Records, Mysteries Unfold, combines a layered compositional style with vocal technique, and has been described as, “the most tantalizing that we have encountered in recent times.” (Musica Jazz, Dec. 2020)
Current Projects include AZOLIA with Songwriter/Saxophonist Susanne Folk, Khyal, a project that blends poetic Arabic texts with jazz traditions from Europe and North America and Louise et Vilmorin, a duet with Kevin Patton (USA) that straddles electroacoustic composition and popular music forms.
TECH RIDER