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The Woima Collective is a group of young musicians from Berlin, Germany. This is what Max Cole said about their first Release Tezeta:

"The Woima Collective was born from deep within the brass section of renowned German funk unit Poets Of Rhythm, as tenor sax player Johannes Schleiermacher became immersed in the rhythms and modes of the African music that the Poets love so much.

Johannes got inspired by the African rhythms after some excursions to Morocco, where he picked up lots of old cassettes and soaked up the very natural musical environment out there. People sitting out in the open jamming away was a far cry from his academic and classical training, and this Moroccan music seemed to flow from the heart. Johannes particularly like the feeing of celebration and healing at the Gnawan trance performances, where the dance and music was so interlinked.

He also met Ethiopian jazz ambassador Mulatu Astatke, who taught him more about the different musical modes. After that Johannes just knew he had to play with other people who also loved this music and shared the same spirit and ideas. After an initial period of writing he brought together a group of ten musicians, with a view to recording a single. Combining the fiery rhythm section, with keys, guitar, and a five-man brass and woodwind combo, Johannes took the name for the group from a Guinean rhythm that his percussionist friend taught him - Woima, the rhythm of the magician.

Despite some of these musicians never having played together before, the studio sessions snowballed, and they ended up recording a couple of album's worth of material. Some credit to this productivity should also go to the Lovelite facility in Berlin, the club/rehearsal space/studio where Jimi Tenor and the Afrobeat Academy also record - where the set-up makes it easy to rehearse ideas and then hit record. So after three days rehearsal and a pair of two-day sessions, the Woima Collective had laid down a heap of tracks - well-formed arrangements that make perfect starting points for their live versions.

Combining the tight funk of groups like The Heliocentrics and the Poets Of Rhythm, with gnarly abyssinian brass and classic Mulatu-esque organ licks, the twelve tracks on Tezeta breeze into Europe on the Siroccan winds. At times, the band nods to dubby workouts like on the track 'No Way But Still Walking, at other times the brass section threaten to get free and atonal on the album closer Wilder Mann. Nevertheless Tezeta takes the cohesive pulse of North Africa, and fits it in a groove that will run and run for days. The Woima Collective celebrates the hypnotic beauty of Ethiopian scales and African rhythms, but creates an unique sound out of those influences, leaving lots of space for the individual band members to do their dance. "

(c) by Max Cole

Woima Collective is recording the second Album, coming out late 2012

First Album: Woima Collective - Tezeta

Listen to a mix of tracks from the record Tezeta

Check out the new video of the Woima Collective at the Hamburg Ueberjazz Festival (also available in FullHD)!

5. October: Tharandt
6. october: Zittau Mandau Jazzfestival
11. October: Brüssel
12. October: Amsterdam
24. October: Berlin Badehaus
25. October: Aarhus
26. October: Kopenhagen
27. October: ÜBERJAZZ Festival Hamburg

past Concert: Berlin Lovelite, Hamburg Elektrohaus, Amsterdam Paradiso, Kortrijk De Kreun, North Sea Jazz Festival, Pudel Club Hamburg, Nu Moon Fest Rotterdam (with Tony Allen), Manga Museum Krakau, Recycle Art Bruxeeles

To book the Woima Collective for one of your gigs, simply write an E-Mail to

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