Saadet Türköz - voc Born 1961 in Istanbul. Lives in Zurich. "Due to the political pressure of the Chinese government upon the Turk people in East Turkestan (Uyghur Autonomous Region), my parents fled to Istanbul, where they settled as Kazakh refugees. They transmitted us the rich oral and musical traditions of the highlands of Central Asia. With the tales of their far away country and their journey to Turkey, the elderly people of the kasach community influenced my imagination as musician until nowadys.

Urs Leimgruber - saxophones, composer Born in Lucern, 1952. Urs Leimgruber has been active for many years in the areas of contemporary improvisation, composition, jazz and new music. One of his earliest associations was as a member of the electric jazz/free music group Om with Christy Doran, Fredy Study and Bobbi Burri, and he later formed the 'Reflexionen' quartet with Bobby Burri in New York.

More recently, his own projects have included 'Ensemble Bleu'; the 'LSM' trio with Patrick Scheyder and Francois Moutin; as well as a long association with Fritz Hauser: as a duo with the ongoing Music for saxophone and percussion; in the Leimgruber/Roidinger/Hauser trio; a trio with Jöelle Léandre; and a trio with Marilyn Crispell. Urs Leimgruber has also performed extensively as a solo artist and has been involved in mixed media presentations, providing music for dance, radio plays and film.

Urs Leimgruber has undertaken concert tours in Western and Eastern Europe, USA, Canada and South America, and appeared at concerts and on recordings with such musicians as Steve Lacy, Tim Berne, Joe McPhee, Christy Doran, Francoise Kubler, Louis Sclavis, Hans Koch, Bobby Burri, Pauline Oliveros, Ives Robert, Daunik Lazro, Harry Sparnaay, Jacques Demierre, Don Friedman, Herb Robertson, Trilok Gurtu, and Steve Argüelles.

He has been involved in performances of compositions by Walter Fähndrich, Edu Haubensak, Mani Planzer, Maria de Alvear. Though born in Lucern, Urs Leimgruber has been living in Paris since 1988.

Among his honors are the Anerkennungspreis from the city of Lucerne (1977), fellowships from the Dienemann Kulturstiftung (1988, Lucerne) and the cultural department of the canton and city of Lucerne (1994) and an award for his entire oeuvre from the Aargauer Kuratorium (1999). He has received commissions from the Kulturstiftung Pro Helvetia and the Kunstverein Heidelberg.

In the 1970s, he co-founded the electric jazz/free music ensemble OM. Since then, he has been active as an improviser and has collaborated with Jacques Demierre, Michel Doneda, Fred Frith, Fritz Hauser, Joėlle Léandre, Günter Müller, Lauren Newton, Barre Phillips, and Keith Rowe.

He has composed much music for the saxophone, including several commissioned works for the ARTE Saxophone Quartet, and he has also done projects with the wind quintet of the Berliner Philharmoniker and Ensemble Bleu. In addition, he has collaborated with Maria de Alvear, Elena Andreyev, Tim Berne, Jaap Blonk, Jérōme Bourdellon, Bobby Burri, John Butcher, Leonzio Cherubini, Günter Christmann, Jim Denley, Christy Doran, Tadashi Endo, Walter Fähndrich, and Pierre Favre.

Other collaborators include Rico Gubler, Edu Haubensak, Fred van Hove, Felix-Philipp Ingold, Garth Knox, Hans M. Koch, Francoise Kübler, Fine Kwiatkowski, Steve Lacy, Joe McPhee, Mela Meierhans, Klaus Merz, Phil Minton, Ernesto Molinari, Sunny Murray, and Pauline Oliveros. Lastly, he has worked with Terry Riley, Elke Schipper, Alexander von Schlippenbach, Martin Schütz, Louis Sclavis, Bettina Skrzypczak, Harry Sparnaay, Fredy Studer, Mark Tompkins, Saadet Türkös, Roger Turner, Rolf Winnewisser, and Otomo Yoshihide.

© Jūratė Kučinskaitė