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SOFIA REI

SOUTH AMERICAN FOLK / EXPERIMENTAL-ELECTRONIC

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BIO

PREVIEW NEGRO SOBRE BLANCO MUSIC VIDEO

PREVIEW UMBRAL ON SOUNDCLOUD

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Folklore and futurism, graceful elegance and raw passion, virtuosic precision and spontaneous exploration – all merge together in the music of award-winning vocalist, songwriter and producer Sofia Rei. Redefining authenticity from an intensely personal perspective, she’s carried diverse Latin American traditions from her native Buenos Aires to the multi-cultural mecca of New York City, where she’s fused those sounds with jazz, experimental music, pop, and electronic music influences.


With a voice that’s been hailed for its captivating beauty and versatility by such prestigious publications as the New York Times and DownBeat Magazine, Rei’s talents fit comfortably into any number of genres. A self-described “frog from another pond,” Rei’s natural inclination is to leap, an instinct that has taken her on a circuitous route from early classical training and Argentinean folk music through the punk rock nightlife of Buenos Aires, into some of the most prestigious venues in the U.S. and on to a wealth of festival stages around the world.  Rei has been named “an ambassador of Latin America’s experimental voice in the contemporary international circuit”. Her frequent collaborations with John Zorn and the downtown music scene have led to 5 releases on Tzadik records and four independent albums under her name, which received international acclaim including a Grammy nomination and 6 Independent Music Awards. Rei has been an advocate of South American culture through her work. She is the co-founder of El Colectivo Sur, an arts collective that increases public awareness of South American arts embracing contemporary and experimental works, bringing together diverse communities. In 2019, she was presented the Spirit of Folk Award by the International Folk Alliance (Montreal), for her active involvement in the preservation, presentation, and promotion of folk music, community building, and demonstrated leadership. Rei is currently a Professor at NYU’s Clive Davis Institute and teaches New Perspectives in Latin Music, a course she created that explores rhythmic training and the broad stylistic diversity of Latin American music.

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PRESS

VIDEO

Sofia Rei "La Quinta Pata"
Sofía Rei, "Maldigo del alto cielo"
Sofia Rei & JC Malliard "Orot"
Sofia Rei  -  NPR Tiny Desk
“Ms. Rei, a vocalist hailing from Argentina, sings in a windblown, mountains-high voice, but she often sounds like she might be withholding something, too. It’s as if maybe the full delivery might be too overpowering — an engrossing suggestion”

- The New York Times

 

“… Rei and her band treated us to stellar musicianship and genre-bending music.”

- NPR Music

"Sofia Rei, the potent ambassador of Latin America's experimental voice in the contemporary international circuit, has sustained a history of artistic output that includes three albums published under her name, various awards, continuous tours in Europe, North and South America, and has gradually in the last decade morphed into the female vocal icon of the vanguard music sphere." 
- The Holy Filament

“Calling Argentinian songwriter Sofia Rei, well... a songwriter is only part of the truth. Yeah, she's a songwriter, but also a performer, an experimentalist, and an engineer. She spent the better part of her May 27 set at the Simons Center Recital Hall showing off her virtuosic vocals, strong knack for laying out sheets of sound, and her ability to run circles around a set of loop pedals.”

- Charleston City Paper  

"… a mesmerizing singer who has been called a one-woman band of complex rhythms and lush melodies”.

- Delarue Lucid Culture

ABOUT THE PRODUCER

  In her most recent project, an exhaustive exploration of the voice as an instrument of texture and expression, Sofía Rei breaks away from the established continuity of her work, creating a daring new soundscape that blends South American folk with pop, electronic music and improvisation.

Jean-Christophe (JC) Maillard, is a French composer, guitarist, pianist, electronic musician, producer and arranger native of Pointe-à-Pître, Guadeloupe in the Caribbean. For the past 20 years, he has been touring, producing, arranging, acting as musical director and recording with all the great names in the world music and world jazz scene. He has collaborated with Grammy wining artists such as Lisa Fischer, Angelique Kidjo, Richard Bona, Toure Kunda, etc. JC is also known for mastering and being the first player of the SazBass, a new 8-steel string instrument of Turkish origin.

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Management & Production

Ubuntu World Music
Christine Vaindirlis
+1 212 784 6163 / 617 407 2312

christine@ubuntuworldmusic.com

Booking

USA

Maurice Montoya Music Agency

Maurice Montoya

+1 305 763 8961

maurice@mmmusicagency.com

EUROPE

Saudades Tourneen

Jakob Flarer

+43 52 44 61 151

jakob@saudades.at

ARGENTINA

PR Producciones Culturales

Paula Rivera
+54 9 221 5910090

pr.produccionesculturales@gmail.com

HI-RES PHOTOS

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A soul-searching trip to the Elqui Valley in Chile Sofía, armed only with two back packs with recording equipment and her charango, she created the core of her newest musical venture: “Umbral” (Threshold). Her unorthodox compositions are built almost exclusively from vocal loops and incorporate the series “Cinco poemas cínicos” (Five Cynical Poems), in which the songwriter displays her natural inclination towards lyricism. Incisive and imaginative, Sofia’s poetry responds to heartbreak, deception and disappointment with unrestrained candor, elegant humor and a heavy dose of sarcasm.

Umbral, produced by world music luminary and long-time collaborator JC Maillard, is set to be released in 2021 and will feature some of the most talented musicians of the New Latin International scene.

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