Big Bazaar Orchestra
Berlin, Athens, Havanna. This triangle describes the programm of Big Bazaar Orchestra. Torn apart between the cultures the six Berlin musicians decided to get them together. They venture the synthesis of Jazz, contemporary club beats, greek songs and salsa. In her original compositions, the band talks about the sence of life and the reality of contemporary urban people. The unique sound of the band and the virtuosity of the musicians makes their concerts a special experience and event. The title of their first song is one of the bands slogan. "Berlin should be South". A hymn to love in general, and a declaration of love to the german capital. Leader of the Orchestra is the greek saxophnone player, composer and arranger Yorgos Psirakis. Responsible for the german lyrics and the grooves is the percussionist Alfred Mehnert. The Band consists of six musicians. According to the occasion they invite up to five guests.
But through all the love to Berlin BIG BAZAAR yearn after the smell of the orient, the light of the Aegean Sea and the rhythms of the Caribbean. Always acting between the cultures the musicians decided to unite the differences and create a complete new type of Berlin-sound. The BIG BAZAAR ORCHESTRA ventures a synthesis from jazz, contemporary club beats, Afro-Cuban rhythms and Greek songs. In their own compositions and lyrics the band is describing the reality and the life-style of the modern urban city human being. The unique sound of the group, the virtuosity of the musicians and pulsating intensity of their play makes each concert of the BIG BAZAAR ORCHESTRA to a great experience for the eyes and ears.
Arranger and composer of the group is saxophonist Jorgos Psirakis. Johannes Alfred Mehnert contributes his German lyrics and is responsible for all the different grooves. Vibraphonist Oli Bott is responsible for the overall musical leadership. The BIG BAZAAR ORCHESTRA consist solid regulars of six musicians. According to the occasion the band will be enlarge to changing singers
The musicians
Jorgos Psirakis, leader & saxophonist
Jorgos Psirakis was born 1962 in Athens and came to Germany in 1967. Since 1984 he is living in Berlin, where he made his first musical steps. His main instrument, the saxophone, he studied since 1985 at the music school of Berlin-Kreuzberg. At that time he studied all means of expression from modern jazz and meet traditional music of Greece and the Anatolian. Especially the last inspired him to learn oriental percussion instruments and the Turkish/Arabian Ney flute. Through a concert series with Indian musicians in Madras he was touched by Classical South-Indian music. A great importance in his work is overall the Afro-Cuban music and the salsa, which he is intensively working on since 2004. These four musical streams equally fit together in his work and melt together in his arrangements and compositions to an individual mode of expression. Since 1989 Jorgos is working together with European, Turkish, Arabian and Indian musicians and pass on his knowledge as a private lecturer. Out of a bunch of concerts in Germany and abroad his appearances at jazz festivals in Germany and Italy, Tunesia and India beside his work with the Athens Philharmony are very much worth mentioning. A big significance in Jorgos artistic work had his collaboration with the Thalia Theatre in Halle, Germany and with freelanced theatre ensembles in Berlin. Beside his work with lots of great musicians of the Berlin music scene, his involvement in projects of the Indian percussion master Ramesh Shotham and Turkish oud virtuoso Nuri Karademirli (under him he studied Classical Turkish music) is important. The examination with Greece music brought Jorgos to a collaboration work with the great Greek singer Maria Farantouri. The musical version of the song cycle “Sun and Time” from composer Mikis Theodorakis was documented in a CD recording of a concert in the Athens Philharmony. An important partner in Greece became the percussionist Michalis Klapakis, with whom Jorgos realized several projects in Germany and Greece. Also important was the collaboration with the singer Maria Toidou. Jorgos recorded an album with her together with lyre player Pantelis Paylidis and played several concerts in Germany and in Greece. In January 2005 Jorgos found the BIG BAZAAR ORCHESTRA together with percussionist Alfred Mehnert and DJ Montoya. The six member ensemble played Jorgos arrangements and compositions and combine jazz, salsa and Oriental music. Jorgos is working also as a private saxophone teacher and developed a specific musical learning programme for kids. He is involved in some social cultural projects of his local suburb in Berlin-Kreuzberg, the most lively and cultural varied district in Berlin.
Oli Bott, vibraphone
Oli Bott studied vibraphone and composition at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, USA under Gary Burton and Bob Brookmeyer. He concluded his studies with Summa cum laude. Since then he is a freelanced musician in Berlin and received several scholarships of the Berlin senat and won lots of composition offers for and with his own jazz orchestra. Diverse radio and television broadcasts of his concerts in Germany and in other countries are well documented. He was the winner of international contests like for instance the NDR music prize for jazz directors, the 1st prize of the Leipzig contest for Improvisers, the Europe Jazz Contest and the Wayne Shorter Award in the US.
Alfred Mehnert, percussion
His study in philosophy and politics in Frankfurt / Main, Germany directly lead into the teaching rooms of his Afro-Cuban and Brazilian music teachers Tata Güines, Mustafa Teddy Addy, Dudu Tucci and John Otis. Since the 80ties Johannes Alfred Mehnert companies artists like Gitte Haenning, Francoise Pujol, Toni Lakatos, Burhan Öcal and the Overtone Orchestra at various guest appearances and tours. His club group Sprechzeit lead into the founding of the BIG BAZAAR ORCHESTRA. A special rhythmic training he developed for actors, the Downbeat-Offbeat method, impresses 1999 at the Puschkin-Festival in Moscow. Here he present his invention and teaches this method since then all over Europe at theatre workshops. In Berlin, where Alfred Mehnert lives since a decade, he initiated the project Kids on Drums and was one of the founders of Kulturbauhaus, an institution for music used by everybody from children to old people, generation-overlapping. Johannes Alfred Mehnert works with over 400 percussion instruments and this equipment grows and grows. On a table he uses the new invented instrument orbit-drum and is singing as a rapper. He tells us about meetings with people he observed on raids through streets, cafes and bars and inspired him to poetic songs.
Roland Fidezius, bass
The German born bassist, completed his contra and electronic bass studies at the University of the Arts in Berlin and took lessons on workshops like the course of studies Popular music at the Music Conservatory in Hamburg, Germany and at the International Jazz Workshop in Banff, Canada. He received a scholarship of the Berlin senat for a stay in New York City at the Conservatory there, another scholarship from the Berlin senat for the band Die Dreckigen Drei. With the Lorenz Hargassner Quartet he is a featured artist from the music magazine Jazzthing/Next Generation. He produced an album on his own Odd Shot: Oscar & Emma published by Konnex Records and was a sideman on several other recordings.
Andreas Dormann, saxophone & clarinet
Andreas Dormann was born in 1978 in Kleve, Germany. At the age of 11 he learned clarinet, with 17 years of age the saxophone followed. First experiences he had with diverse jazz bands in the local area. In 1998 he completed his school days and after that he was a member of the music corps in the German army during his military service time. From 1999 till 2004 he studied music at the University for the Arts in Berlin. With the saxophone quartet Fraw Fraw he performed all over Germany, also with the project: Andreas Schreiber sings Jacques Brel, with DJ Ras in Poland and with the singer songwriter Mirko Frank from Hamburg, Germany. At present he is a member at the BIG BAZAAR ORCHESTRA, the Blue Note Jazz Orchestra, the Gene Krupa Band and the group Rhythm & Beat Organization.
Katharina Debus, singer
As a singer Katharina Debus performed in various bands since her youth on stage and in studios. She collected first experiences in the concert and show section after her study at age 17 at the Stage School of Music Dance and Drama in Hamburg, Germany. Already during her studies she won an engagement for the Off Broadway Musical Rent, with whom she toured Berlin, Düsseldorf and other cities in Germany. Beside her live acts with various groups and ensembles – she toured all over Europe, Malaysia, Japan, Russia and the US – the studio work is an important component in her artistic profile. Her decision to follow her voice education completely and to lay her focus into jazz and pop music opened windows for her and for Katharinas fans, listening to her unique art of phrasing.
