"Nobody plays guitar like him," wrote the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper about Nguyên Lê; the very first exclusive ACT artist ever. Born of Vietnamese parents in Paris in 1959, Nguyên Lê is one of the most versatile and independent guitarists in the world – going far beyond the bounds of jazz music and shaped by the most varied of influences such as Asian music, modern jazz, fusion or classic rock.
Gitarist Ngyuên Lê is a very particular jazz musician for a number of reasons: Even though he lives in Paris where he was born in 1959, he feels very connected to the cultural background of his Vietnamese family. He furthermore is self taught and just started to play the drums by the age of 15, but soon switched to the guitar.
He entered the music business in 1983 playing with the Afro-Caribbean band “Ultramarin“. His impressive career really kicked off after joining the French “Orchestre National du Jazz” in 1987. Already his first solo albums – released at the beginning of the 90es – attracted a large and still growing audience.
Lê had his German debut in collaboration with the Jazzpãna-Ensemble in 1993. It was exceedingly well received by critics and fans. Newspaper “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung“ was even raving about his playing: „There is no other human playing the guitar like Lê!“. ACT-boss Siggi Loch just felt the same and Nguyên Lê became his label’s first exclusive artist.
To this day, Lê released no less than 12 albums on ACT. He has played with almost every important and famous European or American jazz artist. He is a regular guest to WDR Big Band and has founded several bands and ensembles, whereof trio E_L_B (with Peter Erskine und Michel Benita) and Lê’s “Jimi Hendrix Project” are the most successful and well-known.

Trance, ritual, mysticism, psychedelia, magic...however one chooses to describe the way that gnawa music affects people, there can be no denying the fascination for it which reaches right across the world. And Majid Bekkas, one of the most dazzling exponents of modern gnawa is also probably the musician who has managed to find the most varied and interesting ways to make this music interact with other genres. Now, with the Magic Spirit Quartet he has had taken the boldly imaginative step of building a bridge to connect North Africa and Scandinavia, to align the ancestral with the ambient. It is an inspired move which seems to catch the very spirit of 21st century jazz.
What does the meeting or collision of these two worlds, the Maghreb and the Nordic, actually sound like? The story of “Aicha” unfolds during a remarkable twelve minutes, starting with an introduction which twists and turns, evolving into a captivating dialogue between voice and trumpet, and then introducing a majestically circulating theme. The listener is then caught up as the pace gradually quickens towards a heart-poundingly fast conclusion, followed by a final moment of exhausted repose. “Hassania”, with its otherworldly guitar riffs over an insistent beat, immediately lands the listener in the desert, with Bekkas thoroughly and authentically inhabiting the vocal style of the people of the Moroccan Sahara, Mauritania and Northern Mali; the collective improvisation in the finale seems like an acoustic mirage. With a crisp, funky groove, “Bania” reflects the danceable side of the gnawa ceremonies, the call-and-response songs hover over the band going at full tilt, enriched by shimmering shafts of light from the keyboards. Bekkas brings his artistry on the oud to “Chahia Taiba” establishing a friendly conversation with Goran Kajfeš against the SciFi backdrop of a cool Moog. The freely played introduction to “Mrhaba” is like a salute to the rising sun, and leads into a powerful gnawa melody interspersed with trumpet phrases over an Afrobeat groove. “Annabi” remains consistently in a meditative mood, with a tender melody. And in the finale “MSQ”, the sheer quality of this quartet’s players as instrumental improvisers is fully unleashed once again. Glorious improvisation, crisp polyrhythms, an extraordinary yet natural-seeming collision of electronic flair and spirituality – all this and more is to be found in this exciting rapprochement of the continents and the centuries.

World-music band, Black String, was founded in 2011 as part of government sponsored Korea-UK cultural exchange program titled "UK Connection" project. The band consists of Yoon-jeong Heo (Geomungo), Aram Lee (Daegum&Yanggeum) and Jean Oh( Jazz guitar). The band made its debut at Jarasum International Jazz Festival (Korea) and London Jazz Festival( UK) in 2012 collaborating with UK artists; Tim Garland (Saxes), John Turville (Piano/Keys), Asaf Sirkis (Drums) and Gwilym Simcock (Piano). Since then the band is expanding their musical horizon by teaming up with prominent Korean artists such as Min-su Kang (Janggu&Vocal), Dong-jin Shin (Drums&Percussion) and Bora Kim (Vocal).

Black String aims to seek a new sound that can internalize a variety of musical expression in traditional music, as well as harmonize with other expression in world music.
The new sound will be reinterpreted by artists who embrace traditional music as well as jazz, reflecting composed and improvised creations. It especially focuses on improvisation as an important aspect of Korean traditional music and attempts to create a unique language through Asian intuition and musical idiom. The music of Black String based on Korean musical traditions, will offer a fresh, new sound to audiences. And Black String will offer an experience that broadens the appreciation of the world music audience by presenting an ancient tradition within a modern setting.

Especially the leader of Black String, Yoon-jeong Heo is interested in expanding the possibilities of Geomungo and bringing together different genres ranging from Korean traditional music, contemporary music and improvisation as a master of Geomungo. Furthermore, she is a founder and a leader of world music project band Tori Ensemble which was selected at the 2010 PAMS Showcase and got invited to 2010 WOMEX(opening concert), 2011 WOMAD UK, 2012 WOMAD AU, and 2012 WOMAD NZ. Black String is another attempt after her Tori Ensemble.

Three international musicians who joined their talents while living by the Mediterranean sea in Valencia, Spain. Nesrine Belmokh, a French-Algerian singer/cellist who had worked with legendary conductors such as Lorin Maazel and Daniel Barenboim, and performed with Cirque du Soleil on international tours, Matthieu Saglio, a French cellist ‘with a thousand tone colours’ who has performed in more than 30 countries and David Gadea, a Spanish well rounded percussionist who was already touring with Flamenco and Jazz greats, personify the essence of NES. Their sound has been shaped by the richness and background of their lives and musical experiences, ranging from jazz to classical, soul and Arabic traditional music.

Their first album, Ahlam, recorded and mixed at the renown French studio La Buissonne, contains songs in english, arabic and french, full of grace and emotion and nurtured by the magic chemistry that emerges from their creative minds. The album is named after one of the songs, ‘Ahlam’, which means ‘dream’ in Arabic. It expresses a personal dream of love fulfilled and of the desire for peace in the world. “There is no beauty without a concept of goodness” (translated excerpt from the song’s chorus).

NES’s music and unique personalities have captivated audiences around the world at relevant stages such as the Festival des Suds in Arles and le Printemps des Suds in Vence (France), the Usina del Arte in Buenos Aires, Mittelfest in Italy and Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid, among others. In September 2018 they will premiere their album in Germany at the Berlin Philharmonic. Their upcoming European tour will include performances in France, Spain, Romania and the Netherlands.