Trio Ivoire

Trio Ivoire

Hans Lüdemann, piano/electronics
Aly Keita, Balaphon/Sanza (Cote d‘Ivoire)
Christian Thomé, drums/percussion

Hans Lüdemann – piano / virtual piano, composition
Hans was born (1961) and raised in Hamburg, spent 1978-1979 in Los Angeles and now lives in Hoffnungsthal, Germany. He studied classical piano at the Hamburg Konservatorium and Jazz piano at the Musikhochschule Köln and at the Banff Centre (Canada). As a solo piano player, Hans combines acoustic and “virtual” piano sounds into a microtonal instrument. He has worked with Jan Garbarek, Paul Bley, Marc Ducret, Toumani Diabaté, Muhal Richard Abrams and Heinz Sauer. Since 2013 he is leading the French-German TransEuropeExpress-Ensemble. As a composer, Hans has created an extensive opus, having also received commissions for compositions from the WDR (a major German broadcaster), the big band of the NDR (another major broadcast station in Germany, well known in particular for its big band), and the Opera Köln. Among his publications are the „Rhythmic Etudes“ (a volume of compositions), the solo-CD “das reale Klavier“ and the record „Polyjazz“ done with TransEuropeExpress.

The CD - box “die kunst des trios“ received the 2013 „ECHO Jazz“ award; the record „mikroPULS“ was ohne oft he records of the year 2019 at „NewYorkCityJazzRecord“. The record-Trilogie „on the edges 1 - 3“ appeared in 2022/23. Between 1993 and 2008, Lüdemann has taught Jazz-piano and ensemble at the Musikhochschule Köln. He was „Cornell Visiting Professor“ at Swarthmore College in 2009/10 and in 2015/16. Hans was awarded composition grants by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung in 2014 and the academy of culture Tarabya Istanbul in 2021. In 2021/22, Hans Lüdemann received the Rome-award Villa Massimo for composition.

Aly Keita - balaphon/ mbira
Aly was born 1969 in Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire), the son of parents from Mali and with the nationality of Mali. Since 2001, Aly lives in Berlin (Germany). He is from a Malinké family that for generations has worked in the profession of „griots“, that is, of traditional singers and musicians. Aly spent his childhood in Abidjan and in Mali where he learned to play the traditional pentatonic balaphon, in the beginning taught by Zouratié Coulibaly. Later, Aly built himself a diatonic balaphon and finally developed the chromatic balaphon which he nowadays mostly plays. He has worked with many well-known artists in African music as well as in Jazz and classical music - Pharoah Sanders, Amadou & Mariam, Trilok Gurtu, Rhoda Scott, Joe Zawinul, Rokia Traoré - and appeared on records by Majid Bekkas, Omar Sosa and Parco Sery, and the band „Kalan Tegan“. Aly has been a guest at important international festivals and has appeared as soloist as well as in ensembles in prestigious concert halls – e.g., in the Alte Oper Frankfurt, the Philharmony at Köln and the Konzerthaus Wien. Aly regularly gives solo concerts. In 2010 he did a two-month tour through Eastern and Southern Africa fort he CCF/Institut Francais. In 2012/13 he toured Europe and the USA as the musical leader of „Acoustic Africa“, and 2018 with the project „Kirina“ by Rokia Traoré. His first CD „Akwaba“, done as his own project, appeared in 2007; a balaphon solo-CD appeared in 2010. In the same year Aly received the German world music award „Creole“.

Christian Thomé – drums / percussion
Christian was born 1970 in Düsseldorf and now lives in Köln. He works as drummer, composer, arranger, producer and teacher. His projects span contemporary Jazz, freely improvised music, world music, experimental electronic and popular music and classical music. These days he is working on abstrakt.club, a series of concerts of experiment club music, and also with the Tarabya Ensemble as well as with the trio Vesna which includes the Ukrainian singer Mariana Sadovska and the sound designer Markus Braun. Aly is also member of groups around Markus Stockhausen, the project „Wild Life“ and the „Markus Stockhausen Group“. The core of his work is the further development of his unconventional and multifaceted style of playing the drums which has a lot of timbre and richness of tone. In 2016 and in 2018 Christian was a grant recipient of the Foreign Office’s academy of culture Tarabya. In 2001, he received a grant by the German state of North-Rhine Westphalia for a stay in New York City. In 2018 Aly received the Echo Jazz award for the CD „Far Into The Stars“ (with the group Quadrivium). In 2004 he received an award by Jazzart Preisträger with his then trio Radio Köber. Aly is a lecturer for Jazz drums, Jazzensemble and music didactics in the Music department of the Hochschule Osnabrück.

Events

Piano & Vocal Workshop with Hans Lüdemann & Tamara Lukasheva: Wednesday, February 26, 2025 @  11 AM, Lang Concert
Hall

Drums & Percussion Workshop with Aly Keita & Christian Thomé: Friday, February 28, 2025 @ 10 AM, Lang Concert Hall

Collisione Mondiale - songs from inner and outer space: Saturday, March 1, 2025 @ 8pm, Lang Concert Hall
Hans Lüdemann - Aly Keita - Christian Thomé TRIO IVOIRE, with Tamara Lukasheva - Mark Feldman - Bobby Zankel - Nick Dunston