Express your life
Sonja Kandels
Tracklist
- Savi 01:57 (Sonja Kandels)
- Mama Wopé 04:14 (Sonja Kandels, trad. Baka)
- Manungo Na 04:39 (Sonja Kandels, trad. Baka)
- Express your life 04:23 (Sonja Kandels, Francis Nyamé)
- Ayay Bimbam 03:43 (Khar Mbaye Madiaga)
- Canto Danto 05:22 (Sonja Kandels, trad. Baka Song)
- Move on up 03:59 (Curtis Mayfield)
- Mister 04:39 (Sonja Kandels)
- Throw it away 05:08 (Abbey Lincoln)
- Nature Boy (Nature Girl 04:11 (Abeh Eden)
- Click Song 02:42 (Miriam Makeba)
- Malaika 04:34 (Miriam Makeba)
- Gracias a la vida 03:37 (Violeta Para)
produced by
Sonja Kandels & Robert Niegl
Executive producer
Philipp van Endert & André Nendza
Musicians
Sonja Kandels (voc)
Thomas Rückert (p)
Robert Niegl (keys)
Leif Bräutigam (guit)
Camilo Villa (b)
Miguel Altamar (drs)
and many more international guests
About the album
The German jazz singer Sonja Kandels, who grew up in Cameroon and Niger, experiments with wide variety of African styles, a dynamic fusion of jazz and world music. She uses her charismatic and multi-faceted singing voice like an instrument that spans the entire colorful ethnic spectrum, so emotionally and expressively that she captivates every audience.
On her album „Express your life“ Sonja Kandels deals with the most important musical stages of her life. Her own compositions are just as enchanting as arrangements of African traditionals or the great adaptation of jazz standards. Some songs tell about the life of the pygmies she visited in the rainforest of Cameroon Enthusiastic about her vocal music, she incorporated its polyrhythmic and polyphonic chants into her songs. In honor of her favorite South African singer, Miriam Makeba, she sings Malaika and the famous Click Song in Khosa and Zulu. Self-written songs with unusual choral settings, sometimes poetically melancholic, sometimes groovy pop, tell of love for life, love for someone and the madness that goes with it.