SonAT was created by the Austrian Cultural Forum Madrid with the aim of presenting the traditional music from AT adapted to the present day online in the Spanish-speaking world.
Three groups selected for the 2020/21 NASOM funding program recorded short music videos on behalf of the Cultural Forum, which were then published in the social media of the Austrian Cultural Forum Madrid (Instagram: @austriart.spain, Facebook: Austrian Embassy Madrid and YouTube: Foro Cultural de Austria). The anticipation for the concert series was great: the promo teaser (1 minute) was seen by over 3,000 people in three days.
sonAT – sonidos de Austria started on July 27th as the virtual contribution of the Cultural Forum to the simultaneously physically taking place summer music festival EStival Cuenca, as well as to the successful Instagram-Challenge of the Madrid Music Academy Reina Sofia #Folkmusicchallenge, which reached over 100.000 followers during the quarantine months. Other (not only Spanish) music platforms (Monkey Week, BIME, Austrian Music Export) soon joined the project and multiplied its reach.
Briefly on the groups of musicians* who have performed so far:
Tubonika (Jonny Kolbl – harmonica, Tobias Weis – tuba): The Styrian duo creates a respectful break with tradition, they shift folk music into the present. Thus jazz sounds through in the pieces of Tubonika as well as classical music, world music and even pop.
Moritz Weis Klezmer Trio (Moritz Weis – clarinet, bass clarinet, vocals; Niki Waltersdorfer – guitar, percussion, vocals; Maximilian Kreuzer – double bass, vocals): The trio lets the Jewish musical tradition meet the musical forms and silence of other epochs. In the pieces, klezmer is interwoven with elements of jazz and classical music, among others, in an artistic and multi-layered way.
Sigrid Horn (Sigrid Horn – voice, piano, ukulele; Bernhard Scheiblauer – ukulele, concertina, piano, voice; Sarah Metzler – hook harp, voice): Sigrid Horn is an artist who makes a lot out of little and transforms tranquility into an all-consuming power. The songs, sung in dialect, develop a magical attraction and are of a haunting acoustic beauty that is rarely heard otherwise.
The series will probably be continued.
