Sofia Jernberg & Alexander Hawkins: “Musho”

Sofia Jernberg & Alexander Hawkins: “Musho”

(GB, SE)

Ethiopian music initially connected Swedish singer Sofia Jernberg and British pianist Alexander Hawkins when they gave their first ad hoc performance in Amsterdam in 2016, playing a riveting medley of the funk classic “Muziqawi Silt” and a traditional folk tune remade as “Gigi’s Lament” by singer Ejigayehu “Gigi” Shibabaw. But they gelled for countless other reasons that gird the connection between these two incredible musicians. Both artists possess broad vocabularies, sharing deep connections to jazz and improvised music as well as contemporary music, but rather than compartmentalize these threads, they underline the correlations.

As the project developed, they disabused the notion of genre, an increasingly common thread in a world where we have easy access to more music than ever. Earlier this year Hawkins and Jernberg released their long-awaited debut “Musho”, documenting the expansion of repertoire to include songs from Sweden, Armenia, England, and stunning Jernberg orginals, in addition to Ethiopia. The peculiar melodic heart of those richly varied cultures endures in their duo, but the performances transcend geography in how the pair has built a telepathic connection open to all possibilities. Together they conjure a devastating beauty in the face of historic violence, racism and oppression.