Between clarinet and electric bass
This year, the canton of Bern is awarding Paed Conca, Christian Kobi, DJ Sassy J and Björn Meyer each with a 2018 Music Prize. Singer Milena Patagônia receives the Coup de cœur prize for young talent. The music prizes are endowed with CHF 15,000 each, the Coup de cœur with CHF 3,000.
The Swiss jazz clarinettist, bassist and composer Paed Conca is active in numerous bands and projects. Since the early 1990s, he has been working with the Blast4tet (with Dirk Bruinsma, Frank Crijns and Fabrizio Spera), with whom he has recorded several albums. Praed is a duo with the Lebanese Raed Yassin, other duo formations of Conca are So nicht with Dani Lieder and Otholiten with Dirk Bruinsma.
Christian Kobi is a lecturer in improvised music at the Bern University of the Arts (HKB). Since 2003 he has been the initiator and artistic director of the festival for improvised music - zoom in. He is a member of the saxophone quartet Konus Quartett and co-founded the label for new music Cubus Records in 2006.
Sassy J, who presents the Patchwork Club Nights at the Dampfzentrale in Bern and has brought acts such as Steve Spacek, Little Dragon, J'Davey, PPP, Georgia Anne Muldrow and Slum Village to the federal city, also regularly plays internationally, including at the legendary Plastic People (COOP) in London and the Sonar Festival in Barcelona.
Björn Meyer is a Swedish bassist and composer. He collaborates with the Swiss composer and woodwind player Don Li, among others, and is an occasional guest lecturer at the conservatories in Stockholm, Zurich, Bern, Lucerne and Lausanne. His first solo album was released on ECM in fall 2017.
