DUO UWE OBERG / XU FENGXIA

XU FENGXIA guzheng, vocals
UWE OBERG piano, praepared piano

CD (Xu/Oberg): "LOOKING" (NURNICHTNUR 2003)
Soundfiles: Looking on - From the center - Nearly merely - Five and some more

Two musical worlds (and instruments) with a rich tradition meet in the duo XU FENGXIA / UWE OBERG. The musicians play with that legacy and trancend it to a kind of "universal music of the moment", which brings together their different musical languages via improvisation. Both players work in various projects and ensembles and enjoy to proceed in exeptional soundscapes - there seem to be no borders between centuries-old traditional music and contemporary experiments.

XU FENGXIA studied in Shanghai chinese string instruments and plays traditional as well as contemporary music. She cooperates with chinese composers and international improvisers, since 1995 with Peter Kowald and Gunda Gottschalk in "Global Village", with flute-player Michael Heupel, saxophone-player Matthias Schubert and New York bass-player Joe Fonda. Her recent CD (Difference and Similarity / fmp) features her as a versatile soloist.

UWE OBERG works since 1980 as a pianist in the area Jazz and New Music. He plays in improvising ensembles, solo, composes for different ensembles, and works with dance / theater / lyrics and silent films. He developed an unique kind of piano-preparation and also includes other instruments like glockenspiel and mbira in his performances. He lives in Wiesbaden and leads his own trio/quartet, LACY POOL and other ensembles. He plays with Alfred Harth, Matthias Schubert, Jürgen Wuchner, Tony Oxley, Sven-Ake Johansson, Rudi Mahall, Urs Leimgruber, Peter Kowald, Paul Lovens, Evan Parker a.o. Numerous CDs. Jazzprice of the state of Hessen 2007.

…the music ascends to that wonderful physical passages full of energy, in which the swinging strings touched hidden feelings in the listener, WIESBADENER KURIER

…splendid art of improvising – the ideas in the dialogues has been picked up and developed, they moved between the musicians back and forth. SÜDWESTPRESSE ULM

Beautiful sonorities and acute listening have turned this album into one of 2003's best improv records. FRANCOIS COUTURE, ALL-MUSIC-GUIDE