Album release: Luise Volkmann/ Kiko Dinucci ‘Enxame’

On their debut as a duo, Luise Volkmann on soprano saxophone and Kiko Dinucci on guitar create an atmosphere of sound that is as intense as it is intimate

The music of this duo has a special intimacy: the melodies of Luise Volkmann’s soprano saxophone strike a balance between fragility and something festive and life-affirming. The guitar playing has a special elegance that reveals the depth of the extensive musical knowledge of Kiko Dinucci, who works not only as a musician but also as an archivist of various musical styles.

Last spring, Cologne-based musician Luise Volkmann travelled to Brazil for the first time together with her saxophone, supported by NICA artist development. Since 2008, when she lived in the coastal city of Natal for a year as a pupil, she had returned again and again, but never to establish professional connections. Now, during her first artist residency in São Paulo, she met guitarist Kiko Dinucci. He has his musical roots in punk and rock on the one hand and in the Brazilian musical tradition of MPB (Musica Popular Brasileira) on the other. As an uncompromising composer and guitarist, he founded internationally renowned bands such as Metá Metá and Passo Torto.

Enxame emerged from this encounter: Improvised 30 minutes in which experimental - never avoiding rhythm - and powerful sounds of different musical traditions are fused. It is not for nothing that these cross-connections, which are condensed into expressive and moving music by this duo, bear the name ‘Enxame’ (meaning ‘swarm’): The knowledge of each other, the understanding of each other and the experience of each other is expressed here in the form of intelligent swarm music and Volkmann and Dinucci’s dense harmony impressively integrates the listener into this feeling.

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Release: 16.08.2024
Recorded March 2023 in São Paulo
Mix and Master: Julius Gass
Artwork: Nada Tshibwabwa
Graphic Design: Elsa Westreicher

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The album will be released digitally and on cassette.