Jazz’n’more – Jan/Feb Nr. 1/2020
Relaxed pulsating rhythms, followed by short melodic sequences that no familiar instrument can match: truly unheard-of, mysterious and at the same time beguiling sound impressions that seem not of this world. This is the musical universe into which Ania Losinger, Jan Heinke and Mats Eser invite their listeners. These sounds are not produced electronically but – one is amazed to realize – acoustically, with the instruments Xala, steel cello and marimba. The corresponding album is called “The Lugano Session” and will be released just in time for the twentieth anniversary of Xala. Behind the neologism of Xala is a series of continuously developed floor xylophones which Ania Losinger plays by dancing and which have established Losinger’s position as a persistent seeker within the music scene. While her collaboration with drummer Mats Eser is a constant in her work, that with Jan Heinke is a variation. Heinke’s steel cello is a stringed instrument reminiscent of a sculpture, consisting of a series of tuned bars of different lengths and a resonating body in the form of a curved steel leaf….
