“We make bridges, not barriers. This is what the world requires”, says Trilok Gurtu – a name already known in Timişoara. Six years ago, he filled to the brim the Concert Hall at Ion Vidu High School, and the same thing happened thereafter at the Palace Hall in Bucharest.

In the early 70′s, a young Indian was waiting for the reply of the famous Berkeley Academy of Music in America. “Rejected” called the verdict – one that only managed to convince the artist that America wasn’t good enough for him. He came to Europe, and started an impressive story here: “I wanted with all my heart to get to play like a true American percussionist, but God has arranged things so that I only play like Trilok Gurtu. Not to resemble anybody else”, says our Indian.

World-class percussionist, Trilok Gurtu has attracted numerous musicians who wanted to work with him over the years: John McLaughlin, Joe Zawinul, Jan Garbarek, Don Cherry, Bill Evans, Pharoah Sanders, Dave Holland, Neneh Cherry, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Pat Metheny, Gilberto Gil, David Gilmour. These are just a few of those who were bewitched by the burning sense of the rhythm that Trilok posesses.

Deeply rooted in Indian tradition, Trilok Gurtu manages to create rhythms that make tens of thousands of people worldwide stand up. Appointed for five years the best percussionist in the world, this Indian has an impressive C.V.: appearances on 126 albums, 54 compilations, five DVDs and his music is given as an example in two books on percussion performance . His solo albums have shocked and fascinated at the same time. Trilok Gurtu managed to bring into spotlight India’s musical breath, to stirr sensation in Western music and combine everything with flamenco, African, Brazilian or Chinese rhythms.

www.trilokgurtu.net
www.myspace.com/trilokgurtu

Christoph Pepe Auer returns to PLAI, along with his group, having beside him as special guest a great musician, Manu Delago. Christoph Pepe Auer, now at age 29, has managed to build a name for himself in Vienna and all around. Last year, at PLAI, he was one of the most appreciated artists for their performance (you surely remember the exceptional jazz interpretation of the Nirvana song “Smells Like Teen Spirit”? – If not, you can see it here or here.

Christoph Pepe Auer was born in 1981 in Tirol, Austria. He studied music from the age of 5. In 2001 he started attending the Music University in Graz to study saxophon-jazz. His teachers, during this time, were Florian Bramböck, Karl-Heinz Miklin, Heinrich von Kalnein and Klaus Dickbauer. He got his Bachelor of Arts in 2005 and now, Christoph is a Vienna-based saxophone player. He also got lessons from Dick Oatts, George Garzone, Donny McCaslin, Branford Marsalis, David Binney, Tony Malaby, Marcus Strickland, Jason Lindner and more. He performed with the musicians Adam Holzman (keyboard, Miles Davis Band), Joseph Bowie, David Murray as well as the Concert Jazz Orchestra Vienna. In 2005 he was sent as a representative of the University of Graz to the I.A.S.J. meeting directed by David Liebman. This influenced him to work more intensely on composition. In 2005 he received The Hans Koller Prize, which gave him the opportunity to travel to New York. There he took lessons from Tony Malaby, Donny McCaslin, Marcus Strickland and Branford Marsalis.

He is involved in numerous projects, some of which are „Living Room“, „The New York Sessions“, „Matthias Löscher Quartet“, „Stefan Heckel’s Dawn Chorus“, „Auer-Tiefenbacher-Kostron-Rainer/Smurfs Revenge“, „The Ringtones“ or „Phoen“. In all these projects, Christoph Pepe Auer shows his virtuosity at saxophone alto, soprano and tenor, clarinet, bassclarinet, flute and pepephon.
At PLAI he (re)brings his own project – „Christoph Pepe Auer Group“, a project based on his compositions, which were inspired by Wayne Shorter, Kenny Wheeler, Jimmy Merritt and Ornette Coleman. The Group gets inspiration from anything, and any experience is transformed in a musical experience, any information acumulated by the five members is put into music in really ingenious ways. Alongside Christoph Pepe Auer we also met Manu Delago (hang, fx), Martin Reiter (piano), Matthias Pichler (bass) and Peter Kronreif (drums). Their music has crossed physical boundaries, since the cvartet was invited to sing in Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, Kosovo, Polland, Germany, Jerusalem, Ciprus, Slovakia, Italy, New York, Sweden, Irland, Bulgaria, England and Scotland.

“PLAI 2009 was a great revelation for Christoph Pepe Auer Group. We came here without knowing what the festival was about – but when we saw the place where it happens, the main stage and the other areas of interest, we were impressed by the multitude of ideas and creative solutions that the organizers found. Besides, we got to tie personal bonds with many PLAI team members, since their openness and strong desire to create something really special is easy to see. It is wonderful to see so many young people who share this spirit and organize a festival together. We, as young musicians, feel very connected with the idea of building something unique together and giving this something to everyone else. Finally, the audience at PLAI is great and we are very happy that we were appreciated so much last year, and hope to repeat that this year as well.”

Resurse web:
www.christophauer.at
www.myspace.com/christophpepeauer