Rabih Lahoud & Achim Tang // George Xylouris, Luise Volkmann & Athina Kontou

Doppelkonzert

Achim Tang and Rabih Lahoud inspire with an extraordinary art of sound that combines musical virtuosity and deep connection. In their interplay, double bass and voice merge into a lively unit - full of color, dynamics and spontaneous communication. Tang elicits an astonishing spectrum from the double bass: spherical sequences are created as well as plucked melodies with oriental and African influences. Every gesture is precise and yet free, always in dialog with Rabih Lahoud's vocal artistry. The musician and teacher combines the clarity of a pure head voice with fine scat singing, in which even tongue noises such as clicking or snapping become tonal accents. Embedded in the timbres of his Lebanese roots, a song unfolds that radiates both lightness and depth - poetic, rhythmic and full of surprising moments.

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For a concert evening between tradition and avant-garde, the two Cologne musicians Athina Kontou and Luise Volkmann meet the famous Cretan lute player and singer George Xylouris for the first time. In this new trio, the focus is on the dialog between origin and awakening, between tradition and the improvised present: Kontou, herself known for the combination of Southeast European and Anatolian traditional music and contemporary jazz with her band "Mother", seizes the opportunity to create a musical space together with Xylouris and Volkmann in which the forces of both worlds come into their own. George Xylouris, an international star of traditional music who has made a name for himself in recent years with his experimental works, particularly in his duo Xylouris/White, but also in his new solo program Homa, is coming to Cologne. Here there is an interface with Athina Kontou and Luise Volkmann, who are at home in contemporary sound worlds and have approached the traditional music of various regions from this perspective in recent years. Both have been nominated for the German Jazz Award and the German Record Critics' Award in recent years.