AUKAI + Ensemble

Aukai & Ensemble (DE/MEX)

Special Solo Performance by Anne Müller (DE)

Aukai (Hawaiian) refers to a seafarer, a traveler. It also evokes a mystical, philosophical, introspective nature. The perfect name for multi-instrumentalist and composer Markus Sieber's project, a collection of acoustic ambient soundscapes that take the listener on an inner journey to a place of peaceful stillness and contemplative beauty. "Instrumental short stories" - the term is apt. The atmospheric, evocative and delicate pieces are short but haunting.

"I wanted to create a sound space in which the music takes the listener on an inner journey." In the concert, Aukai and his ensemble - with Anne Müller (cello), Angelika Baumbach (harp, piano) and Alex Nickmann (synthesizer, drums) - create a beguiling cinematic soundscape.

Sieber plays the charango, a plucked mandolin-like string instrument from the Andes, which has been the focus of his entire oeuvre to date. "It has an otherworldly, hypnotizing, dreamy sound that I love," he explains. "It comes from the Andes, and its sound literally transmits the experience of being high up in the mountains, a sense of space and freedom.

His personal journey has been very eventful. Born near Leipzig, East Germany, 15 years before the fall of the Berlin Wall, his parents moved into an old smithy in a village outside Dresden when he was six years old. At 16, he moved to Potsdam near Berlin and played guitar in alternative rock bands in the vibrant East German rock scene of the 1990s before shifting his focus to working as a theater, film and television actor in Berlin and St. Petersburg. A life-changing move to Mexico brought him into contact with world music and indigenous music and awakened a new musical mission.

The evening will be opened by the renowned cellist and composer Anne Müller (Erased Tapes), who is also part of the Aukai Ensemble.

In addition to her work as an orchestral and chamber musician, Anne Müller is active in the field of popular, contemporary and experimental music, where she uses an arsenal of loop and effect pedals to create her special cello sound. In addition to countless collaborations, including with Nils Frahm, Agnes Obel and Ólafur Arnalds, she composes music for film (Martyr's Lane, 2022) and releases her own albums (Heliopause, 2019).