 TRIO SWITZERLAND WITH MARIA NAIDU |
| Saturday 3/9 -05, 20:00, Blomdahlsalen, Växjö Concert Hall | |
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THE NEXT GIRL…
" Its about the voice. Lydia Lunch, Cathy Berberian, Maggi Nichols. On purpose I mix punk, rock, artmusik, impro, because the voice goes outside. In to. Under. For a long time I´ve been looking for new, real voiceimprovisors. The speciallness has been replaced with generallity. Then my ears got hold of Sofia Härdig, a young singer from Södermalm in Stockholm. With a voice that burns through skin and concrete. A register that lifts you from under your feet to heaven. Some reviewer have spoken of deepest black. Oh yes, but she gives this darkness qualities that are felt on the inside of hands: russling silk, curessing velvet, skin in the dark… one of the coolest voices around ”
Thomas Millroth
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| 2003 Sofia leaves for New York with some of her musicians. She plays amongst other places CBGB´s The Kitchen and Arlene´s Grocery.
In New York also 2003" is born, which will become Trio Switzerland, Abroken electronic voice-experiment together with John Essing and Mikael Nilzén. They play live at various clubs and does two shows at Unitygain Telivision.
Back home a collaboration with guitarist Otto Milde is started, it is named The Happiest Girl In The World. Before they are officially a band the are asked to open the Rookie 2003 festival in Hultsfred.
2004 The head of Ystad Artmuseum Thomas Millroth discover the extraordinary voice and talent of Sofia and she is chosen to be a "room five artist" . In mars Sofia plays with all her three bands and and opens an audio-installation connected to her work in Room Five. (In 2001 Thomas Millroth managed to get Sonic Youth to come to Ystad for a week to do conserts and sound experiments)
In october Sofia performs at Perspectives 2004 in Västerås among artists as Merzbow, Ikue Mori, White Magic and Wolf Eyes. Also here with all three bands.
Sofia signes with the label Olof Bright for a coming release. Sofia Härdig
Spains largest rockmagazine "RockSound" discovers Sofia and dedicates a spread to her
and her music.
Sofia is honored with both STIM (Swedish composers organisation) grant and and the Artcouncil Working Grant for her music.
2005 The beginning of the year Sofia starts isolated in a lonely cottage, writingand recording, what will become THE DEMOTAPES ALBUM. All songs written, performed and recorded in three solitary weeks by Sofia. Raw, dark and pure and definitely nothing for those who are afraid of the dark... THE DEMOTAPES ALBUM and THE STORM IN MY HEAD is released on Filthy Records/border Music. Also on THE STORM IN MY HEAD album the multiinstrumentalist Sofia shares duties on vocals, guitar synth, organ and bass along with the great musicians that appears on the album. Members of her supportband The Needles. Like Kenny Håkansson(The Hellacopters), Sebastian Öberg (The Fleshquartet), Otto Milde, Tomo Sukenobu, Mikael Nilzén, and Johhny Essing (bob hund, bergman rock) that together with Sofia has produced a couple of the tracks.
The online magazine "Rockwelle" makes Sofia the cover story of their first issue. An hour long interview is also broadcasted on three major German radio stations. Swedish radio also does a couple of interviews..
Sofia is artist in residence for three weeks at the Ystad Festival Open Music where she both preforms as an improvisor and with her bands. She plays ad hoc with musicians from for example Femail; Maja Ratke- Hildsofi Tafjord ,Jacob Riis, Jörgen Adolfson, Mats Gustafson,Yoshimi,Sten Sandell mfl. And was also invited by Yoshimi (Boredoms, OOIOO)to join her and play live with her on stage.
She plays the Borderline festival in Malmö with Trio Switzerland.
Tours in Sweden, Denmark and Germany are planned.
In the fall The Happiest girl In The World will release their debut
SOFIA HÄRDIG IN TRIO SWITZERLAND
Trio Switzerland did their first gig at unitygain Television in New York. After making an impression on the hard to please New York crowd ,the News of the sensational Swedish trio spread quickly. Offers of gigs to play during their two weeks stay increased and they did as many club gigs as they could fit in.. Amongst others at the Kitchen. And sofia got many offers of collaborations with well establish New York musicians. ..
In Sweden "Trio Switzerland has played various venues and festivals. For example Perpectives 2004. Borderline Festival and Openmusic Festival.
In the fall of 2005 they will tour in Sweden together with dancer Maria Naidu.
TRIO SWITZERLAND IS
Sofia Härdig voice guitar
John Essing laptop
Mikael Nilzén synthesizers
REVIEWS
"Sofia Härdig conquers the world with her voice...."
Sydsvenskan
"SOFIA HÄRDIG The Next Girl in experimental Rock... "
Perspectives 2004
"What a voice!"
Markus Wiludda, Eldoradio, Germany
"BORN TO WIN ... La-La-La Härdig.... on the verge of bursting in like one of new jewels of the inexhaustible Scandinavian mine ...I am sure that within two months to a year, this will no longer be a minoritycult. There is no doubt that you will end up hearing and speaking of the extraordinary voice and the charisma.."
Rock Sound, Spain
" An impressive and strong debut from a very exiting, interesting artist and songwriter who you definitely will hear about in the future.. " Thomas Fridholm Musikindustrin
"Damn good........ Will make her a household name among the people in rock.... It´s not a question whether she is going to make it big time or not, but WHEN... Remember where you read it first"
Ystad Allehanda
MARIA NAIDU
A native of Sweden. Started her professional training in 1983 at Balettakademien (Gothenburg, Sweden) under the direction of Lia Schubert.To further her studies she came to New York 1985 where she first trained at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center and later at the Peridance Center.
She started her professional career as a dancer 1987 in New York and made her official debut as a choreographer in 1989 with The Philosopher. She continued to present her own works and worked as a freelance dancer until 1991 when she was invited to join Jennifer Muller/THE WORKS. She worked with the company as a soloist for eight years, performing many of the major rolls in the company repertory including 14 premieres. She completed ten international tours and eight New York seasons. In addition to being a member of THE WORKS, Maria was a guest artist with various independent choreographers and companies in New York like Louis Falco, William Adair and Martita Goshen´s EARTHWORKS.
Since leaving the company in 1999 she has performed in a myriad of productions ranging from improvisations to Avantgarde jazz music (William Parker), independent dance productions (Martin Butler, Uri Ivgi, ELSHOUT/HANDELER) and guest contracts with Tanzcompanie Giessen (Dir. Roberto Galvan) and NorrDans, where she served as rehearsal director for one year. She has also had a chance to exploit her talents as an actress with the (Amsterdam based) theater group ELS INC., in their production "Utopia" where she originated the part of "Edike Diallo".
Being one of the few accredited teachers of the Muller technique, Maria is in much demand. Starting to teach in 1992 she became one of the most important teachers for Jennifer Muller /THE WORKS and their scholarship program. She teaches at festivals and gives workshops all over the world and has given company-classes for Dansgroep Krizstina de Chatel, Nytt Danskt DanseTeater and Galili dans to name a few, she also continues to be a frequent guest teacher at institutions such as De Rotterdamse Dansacademie and Balettakademien (Gothenburg, Sweden).
In 1999 she formed the creative union "Tom Dick & Harry" together with her longtime colleague Michael Jahoda. The union has provided her with an opportunity to return to her own choreographic work, which had been put on the shelf during her years with THE WORKS. T, D & H have to this date presented five evening length works since its formation T, II, All about Angels and Eggs, Coffe & chocolate and AIIZ.
Independent of the union, Maria has choreographed and presented works on her own, most recently she premiered an installation type piece called Only You, where she combined her own choreography with Kim Wiltshires photography and live music composed and played by Amit Sen.
She is a member of Teaterförbundet (the Swedish union for stage performers) and a founding member of the choreographers cooperative RÖRELSEN-koreografer i Skåne.
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