Jan Heinke's Solo Album featuring Stahlcello
In Memory of Jan Heinke:
Jan Heinke - musician, composer, inventor of musical instruments, sound researcher and free spirit - died in Dresden on April 20th, 2022.
In August, a farewell concert was held as part of the Palais Sommer in Dresden. As the sun set and stars began to sprinkle the sky, artists who had collaborated with Jan on a wide variety of projects, took to the stage. The large audience paid tribute to this fine man. It was a deeply emotional and overwhelming event.
Jan's last notes for a Stahlcello solo album
During Jan’s short and serious illness, we (Ania Losinger and Mats Eser, Swiss-based musicians, composers and inventors of instruments) traveled to Dresden several times to fulfill his wish to continue to play as much music as possible. Up to just a few days before his death, he continued to play in Martin Fischer’s recording studio on his self-developed instrument, the Stahlcello. Summoning the last of his strength, he created a music so pure, that it seems to come from another place. It is grand, unpretentious, beautiful and hits you straight in the heart. It is that part of Jan which will endure.
Jan left all of his recordings to us, expressing the wish that they would one day be released as the first ever solo album featuring Stahlcello. It is to realize his dream, that we need your support.
Thank you for your attention, your support and for sharing this project with many people on this planet!
Our history
We met Jan in 2003, during a project organized by the Folk Music Festival in Rudolstadt. At that time, our self-developed instruments, Stahlcello and Xala (a floor-xylophone played using flamenco shoes and two long staves) were still quite new. Both of these custom-made instruments remain unique in the world.
We continued to cross paths briefly every now and then during our tours. After 2015, we found ourselves regularly playing together and giving our fascination and enthusiasm for sound free rein. Together, we explored and improvised, recorded, listened to, played, and created compositions - always in search of a music that does not yet exist.
AËR:
Later we formed the trio AËR featuring Stahlcello, Xala, Marimba and Fender Rhodes. In 2019, we released our first album «The Lugano Session» (co-production with RSI Lugano / tonus-music-records) and continued to play live concerts until they were banned. Last year we spent a lot of time together adding electronic effects to our acoustic instruments. The result was a wealth of recordings that we plan to release in two separate albums.
Any extra donations that go beyond the funding of the Jan Heinke solo album, will be used towards the creation of these two AËR albums.