Passion and contrast are two defining keywords for Sofia Jannok’s music: the warmth and presence in her clear, powerful voice; and the contrastbetween her Sami background and the creativity and cosmopolitanism of her music.
Sofia was born 1982 and has been singing since she was eleven – her songs are in Sami language. She draws her inspiration from wide open spaces and people and the interaction in-between, as well as from the pulse and the colours of the city.
For the past few years she has been one of the most exciting young performers in Sweden. She cut the critically acclaimed White/Ceaskat album with a Sami record label a couple of years ago, and has won the Sami Grand
Prix in Kautokeino, the Sami’s own song contest. She’s also done some acting on different occasions. Sofia already has tours of China, the USA and Europe under her belt, and has been awarded prestigious scholarships:
the 2006 Gevalia Prize, the 2007 Prince Eugene Culture Scholarship and the 2008 SKAP Scholarship.
In January her album ‘áššogáttis/by the embers’ was released, that carries songs from the embers she creates with her band, that she hit it off with at their first rehearsal. Pianist Peter Tikkanen, bassist Tobias Helén and percussionist Johan Englund have now toured extensively with Sofia Jannok and will follow her on her upcoming trip to China.
The album and Sofia herself are the source of great curiosity in Sweden and abroad. Sofia is happy with the Sami part of her life, but also enjoys being a modern urbanite. And this can be heard in the 11 tracks on ‘áššogáttis/by the embers’, which take us on a journey between pure mountainous expanses and smoky jazz clubs. All in a musically sumptuous production by Henrik Edenhed, who’s also worked with such names as Oh Laura, Teddybears Sthlm, Robyn and Laleh. Sofia wrote most of the tracks on the album, but doesn’t shy away from borrowing songs that have meant something to her and interpreting them in her own way. Most of the songs have been recorded live in the studio in order to capture the intimacy of her music and the magic of the moment, as Sofia puts it.
After having performed at the Beijing Jazz festival in 2007 and a show with Excess Luggage at Peking University on that same trip, Sofia is really excited to come back to China in 2010 and this time for a longer tour with the chance to meet even more new fans.
Online tickets: http://item.taobao.com/auction/item_detail.htm?item_num_id=5126671627
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- Tickets: Rmb 100/70 (presale)
