http://sofiamusic.com
“ As the Argentine singer Sofía Rei Koutsovitis led her multinational band,(…) the passion and clarity with which she assayed a tricky mix of South American rhythms and jazz-inflected harmonies made clear why she has been embraced by New York City audiences from Carnegie Hall to the hippest downtown haunts. ”
-Phil Lutz, New York Times
Sofía Rei Koutsovitis,“one of the most versatile and in-demand singers on the New York music scene” (All About Jazz), is a Buenos Aires native, a vocalist and a composer who mixes and elegantly fuses South American rhythms with a jazz aesthetic in a unique and extremely seductive way. Singing in Spanish, Portuguese or English, Sofia's voice is so graceful as sophisticated and reflects her immersion in modern and progressive jazz while also responding to the pull of ancestry and the appeal of organic, pan-musical connections.
In Danilo Perez' words: "She knows how to combine the best of her Argentine roots with the skills and passion necessary to make many contributions to our music community". Her own project is grounded in traditional South American rhythms such as chacarera, zamba and vidala from Argentina, Afro-peruvian festejo and lando, Afro-Uruguayan candombe, Colombian cumbia and bullerengue and other Brazilian genres that merge involving jazz harmonies and rich improvisations. Her ensemble produces a range of textures as diverse as the cultural roots of its members, an international cast that includes some of the most exiting young talent from North and South America. Her debut CD, Ojalá, received great critical acclaim and was chosen a top 10 album of 2006 by the Jazz Journalists Association. A follow-up CD “Sube Azul” is being released in Europe by the label World Village (Harmonia Mundi) in the Summer of 2009.
Sofia has also recorded, performed and collaborated with renowned artists and bands such as Lionel Loueke, Danilo Perez, Folklore Urbano, Russ Ferrante (Yellow Jackets), Alcatraz, Pavel Urkiza (Gema y Pavel), Avantango, John Scofield, Bob Moses, Aquiles Baez and Hector Martignon. She toured Europe with the Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra and premiered with the group Cerulean Skies, a piece commissioned by the New Crowned Hope Festival in Vienna. She was recently featured with vocal giant Bobby McFerrin in Instant Opera at Carnegie Hall.
Sofia has toured Europe, Asia, North and South America singing at renowned international festivals and venues such as the Carnegie Hall (NYC), Kennedy Center (Washington DC) , Lincoln Center (NYC), the Blue Note (NYC), the Chicago World Music Festival (Chicago, IL), Aspen/Snowmass Jazz Festival (Aspen, CO), the International Jazz en Lima Festival (Peru), the Festival Iberoamericano de las Artes (Puerto Rico), Cite de la Musique (Paris, France), the Festival de Jazz de Barcelona (Spain), the IAJE Conference 2008 (Toronto, Canada), the Lapataia Jazz, the World Music Festival (Uruguay) and the International Jazz and Modern music Festival (Bogota, Colombia).
“ Koutsovitis sings a varied, engaging set, with plenty to dance to, plenty to get down with, and plenty to think about. She’s going for an ambitious goal: original, creative and technically challenging music that’s as exciting to a Bacchanalian crowd as to the ivory tower listener. “
-The Live Music Report, Canada
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