ABOUT
"Intriguing... Ingenious. You’ll spend a while pondering how to classify them – prog folk? Operatic post-punk? Gothic reggae? – but they know how to write melodies."
- The Guardian
Contemporary album of the month
“Hard to imagine that voice, guitar and flute could
groove so hard and deliver so much.
- The Wire
After a while, the record’s quixotic magic begins to take hold. Like a tightly packed gift that only reveals its beauty over time
- The Quietus
Punk or prog rock with art music and sampled improvisations or free jazz with backstage opera and the melancholy of folk.
- Musikexpress
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ (5 stars)
Witch 'n' Monk is the twinning of nonconformist Colombian flautist Mauricio Velasierra and anarchic soprano and guitarist Heidi Heidelberg.
Their unique sound is constructed with a collection of hybrid Latin American flutes radically manipulated with effects and extended techniques, anarchic soprano vocals that move seamlessly and suddenly between characters and timbres, analogue electronics and a jazz-punk guitar/bass hybrid. Each limb is called upon to create the sound of multiple dimensions being inhabited simultaneously, using a myriad of control pedals and labyrinthine signal paths to orchestrate live.
The essence of their collaboration is encapsulated in the name; dark and light, feminine and masculine, punk and Romantic, free-form and intricately composed. Exploring extremes and creating contrast are fundamental to their work and thus they tread upon the edges of genres. Celebrated in the jazz, contemporary classical and DIY underground music scenes they have played across the UK and Europe, at prestigious venues and festivals such as Berlin Jazzfest, London Jazz Festival and Umea Jazz Festival, Amsterdam’s Bimhuis, London’s Royal Festival Hall and Paris' La Cigale, but also they produce avant-garde live film scores performed at communist Italian skateparks or among the thorn bushes in overgrown East London gardens.
There is a theatricality to their performances and their pursuit to blur the edges between art forms, collaborating with scent artists, visual artists, and embracing unusual spaces in their performances. They have been commissioned by ensembles, festivals and arts organisations such as Staatsoper Stuttgart, Staatstheater Freiburg, Lux:NM, AMOK Festival and Jerwood Arts Foundation to compose or arrange for larger ensembles or to create interdisciplinary work such as ‘Unravelling the Mind’ - a multi sensory performance incorporating live music, video art, immersive staging and live scent design, or ‘Witch ’n' Monk Extended’ a work for chamber ensemble, drums and video artists, or their original live music score for Oscar-nominated film ‘Embrace of the Serpent’.
Their previous releases ‘Fulafalonga’ and ‘We Are Peering Over’ were released in 2014 and 2016 and their new album was released on John Zorn's legendary label Tzadik Records on May 22 2020 to international critical acclaim , it was named Contemporary Album of the Month by The Guardian and received the prestigious Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik.
Witch 'n' Monk are the hosts of the FLUID FORM CLUB in Berlin that takes place regularly at ausland with different guest artists. The FLUID FORM CLUB is a space for passionately unpredictable music that escapes classification, bringing together a community of curious minds.
MUSIC
WITCH 'N' MONK
[TZADIK, 2020]
WE ARE PEERING OVER
[LOTUS ARTS BOX, 2016]
UPCOMING DATES
JAN 18 | UNRAVELLING THE MIND: IMPORT EXPORT Munich (DE) info
FEB 5 | "IMPROVISING A ZENTRUM": ALTE MÜNZE Berlin (DE)
+ Various other improvisers! 8pm
FEB 6 | "OPEN KIOSK: ALTE MÜNZE Berlin (DE)
+ Various other improvisers! 12-8pm
MAR 15 | EMBRACE OF THE SERPENT: DORTMUNDER-U (DE)
film screening with original live music
MAR 22 | SUPAMOLLY Berlin (DE)
+ Dog of Man & GURF
MAY 3 | JAZZARCHITEKT, Wiesbaden (DE)
MAY 4 | TBA, Cologne (DE)
JUN 6 | TBA, Berlin (DE)
AUG 3 | TBA, Porto (PT)
OCT 25 | TBA, Bilbao (ES)
NOV 22 | TBA, Berlin (DE)
2024
*****
PAST DATES
2023
ART SPACE IN EXILE Berlin (DE)
FRI-SON Fribourg (CH)
PROGR Bern (CH)
CUADRO22 Chur (CH)
TAM TAM OK Munich (DE)
KANTINE AM BERGHAIN Berlin (DE)
SÄÄLCHEN Berlin (DE)
JAZZ OF PEACE & WINE FESTIVAL Cormons (IT)
NIGHT OF SURPRISE FESTIVAL, STADTGARTEN Köln (DE)
AUSLAND Berlin (DE)
WESTWERK Hamburg (DE)
BABYLON KINO Berlin (DE)
FLUID FORM CLUB @ AUSLAND Berlin (DE)
MOODS Zurich (CH)
JAZZHAUS Freiburg (DE)
2022
RAUW FESTIVAL Rotterdam (NL)
SAGE GATESHEAD (UK)
TOR 9 Bremen (DE)
KESSELHAUS Berlin (DE)
SOUNDWAVES FESTIVAL Bari (IT)
C-SPACE Berlin (DE)
KÜHLSPOT Berlin (DE)
COME CLOSER FESTIVAL (DE)
STAATSOPER STUTTGART (DE)
TALLINN MUSIC WEEK (EE)
PLLEK Amsterdam (NL)
CAFE WAGNER Jena (DE)
HOUSE OF MUSIC Berlin (DE)
SCHOKOLADEN Berlin (DE)
THE WORKMAN'S CLUB Dublin (IE)
BRILLIANT CORNERS FESTIVAL Belfast (UK)
THE ROSE HILL Brighton (UK)
2021
BRILLIANT CORNERS FESTIVAL (Online)
JAZZWOCHE, A-TRANE Berlin (DE)
2020
TIVOLI VREDENBURG Utrecht (NL)
LIVESTREAM Berlin (DE) x LUX:NM & Jim Black
HALLE 424 Hamburg (DE)
AMOK FESTIVAL Bruges (BE) + Stephane Galland
CAFE WAGNER Jena (DE)
JAZZFEST BERLIN Berlin (DE) + Jim Black & Lux:NM
2019
FORUMBRASIL Berlin (DE)
DAS KAPiTAL Berlin (DE)
ROODE BIOSCOOP Amsterdam (NL)
JAZZROCKEN Bremen (DE)
AUSLAND Berlin (DE)
ZUKUNFT AM OSTKREUZ Berlin (DE)
OBOA FESTIVAL Gorgast (DE)
HANGAR49 Berlin (DE)
BLACK HEART London (UK)
THE PEER HAT Manchester (UK)
TANDEM FESTIVAL Oxfordshire (UK)
SNAPE MALTINGS Aldeburgh (UK)
WATT Berlin (DE)
MS STUBNITZ Hamburg (DE)
2018
HANGAR49 Berlin (DE)
ZOMERJAZZFIETSTOUR Groningen (NL)
TOLHUISTUIN Amsterdam (NL)
TOLHUISTUIN Amsterdam (NL)
DAVE LOMBARDO Berlin (DE)
PARADOX Tilburg (NL)
SMEDERIJ Groningen (NL)
BREBL Nijmegen (NL)
PLETTERIJ Haarlem (NL)
BIMHUIS Amsterdam (NL)
2017
MANCHESTER JAZZ FESTIVAL Manchester (UK)
WORM Rotterdam (NL)
EARSESSION Amsterdam (NL)
HUSET Aarlborg (DK)
WESTWERK Hamburg (DE)
DUNKERS KULTURHUS Helsingborg (SE)
2016
SOUTHBURGH FESTIVAL Norwich (UK)
PETE THE MONKEY FESTIVAL (FR)
THRESHOLD FESTIVAL Liverpool (UK)
MOUNT STEWART (NI)
BLACK BOX Belfast (NI)
FUSEBOX Leeds (UK)
SMUGGLERS FESTIVAL Deal (UK)
NETHER EDGE FESTIVAL Sheffield (UK)
RICH MIX London (UK)
2015 etc.
LONDON JAZZ FESTIVAL - supporting The Bad Plus (UK)
UMEA JAZZ FESTIVAL Umea (SE)
INJAZZ SHOWCASE FESTIVAL Rotterdam (NL)
SOUTHBANK CENTRE London (UK)
RICH MIX, London (UK)
UNION CHAPEL London (UK)
BARBICAN CENTRE London (UK))
VORTEX JAZZ CLUB London (UK)
LA CIGALE Paris - Les Femmes s'en Melent Festival (FR)
CONTACT
BOOKING
music [at] witchnmonk.com
Benelux (NL, BE, LU): linda [at] stroom.ws
OTHER INFO
music [at] witchnmonk.com