Sofia Jernberg & Alexander Hawkins

Sofia Jernberg and Alexander Hawkins first performed together at Amsterdam’s Bimhuis in October 2016, under the name Musho – an Amharic word meaning ‘Sad Song’. Jernberg’s work frequently takes her to the outer edges of vocal technique, including performances in contexts ranging from Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire to Mats Gustafsson’s Fire! Orchestra. Alexander Hawkins has been described as ‘unlike anything else in modern creative music’, and alongside his profile as a bandleader and composer, is a frequent collaborator in duo with Evan Parker, Louis Moholo-Moholo, and Tomeka Reid.

In this duo, they draw on their shared affinity for the music of Ethiopia, having both honed their languages in the company of musical elder statesmen from that country: Jernberg with Hailu Mergia, and Hawkins with Mulatu Astatke.
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