The Bridge by Wolphonics

“Sure, the Beastie Boys proclaimed that hip-hop was ‘Three MCs and One DJ’, but rap over live music has carved out a space for itself too. You only have to think of The Roots. The live experience is what The Wolphonics are all about: a young female MC of outstanding talent out of New Jersey (Asha Griffith) in league with five free radicals from the galaxy of Surnatural Orchestra. Together, they chart subterranean paths that combine in-your-face beats, soulful brass and an Olympian flow.”

Artful or subversive, promoting peace and/or revolution, today hip-hop and more specifically rap has established itself as one of the pillars of the “global scene”.
From New York to Dakar, Paris to Cairo, Delhi to Kabul – artists the world over are adopting its cultural codes as their own. Often characterised by a pacifist yet confrontational vision, the movement has risen worldwide in the wake of present-day social and political struggle.
Fabrice Theuillon, a saxophonist and composer with origins in jazz and contemporary music, is of this generation that grew up with the explosion of the hip-hop scene during the 90s.

In 2017, he set out to interpret his greatest influences through the prism of synthetic composition, in turn inspiring a personal project he named THE WOLPHONICS: a group of five French jazz and improvisational musicians – Boris Boublil (Keys), Sylvain Daniel (Bass), Antonin Leymarie (Drums), Guillaume Magne (Guitar) and Fabrice Theuillon (Saxophone) – joining forces with a young New York rapper, writer and tap-dance prodigy by the name of Asha Griffith.

In her elegant flow and vocal tone that resonates to wondrous effect with the band’s instrumentation, Asha relates stories and offers glimpses of life through her lyrics. The choice of a female MC and frontwoman has both musical and political significance, as to this day women are still under-represented in the music world at large, especially throughout hip-hop and jazz.

THE WOLPHONICS boast a repertoire of original works espousing jazz and hip-hop, building on the musical and historical connections between these traditions.
Using innovative orchestrations and arrangements that instil urban music with the rhythmic and melodic richness of jazz, they play on the interaction between musicians and an “all-electronic” instrumentality. Integrating vocals to address the audience directly, they flirt with a deeper fusion of jazz and urban music, pop and hip-hop through a blend of acoustic and electronic sounds, reconnecting the genre with a younger and wider audience.

Airfono is a label dedicated to original, spectacular, and virtuoso projects with the ambition to
record a mix of live energy, futuristic grooves, and festive spirit. From jazz to techno, Airfono is a
home for experimentation and musical freedom.
Central place of acoustic instrument is one of the constants of this family which goes from hand made techno to raï or from ambient electro to post-punk.

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