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nexofonia e.V.

¡DÍMELO RAPEANDO! – Die Verbindung bricht ab. is a transatlantic, experimental hip hop collaboration project between Leila Akinyi, Wolberts, Andy Hunter (Cologne) and El Individuo, Dany Arce and Rasiel Aldama Chiroles (Havana), initiated and organized by nexofonia e.V. Over the course of 6 months, beats, lyrics and horn sections were sent back and forth across the Atlantic many times and under the constant exchange between Havana and Cologne a unique EP came to be. This website wants to give insights into the working process and the individual views and approaches of the musicians involved. Here you can find interviews and photos from the production and follow the process up to its release.

“It’s very interesting to capture in music what makes you tick as an artist* and as a person, but at the same time manage to mix it with the visions and ways of being of the other artists* in the project.”

“The project started in such a way that we beatmakers, that is Dany on the Cuban side and I, created a sketch, which in turn went to the other musicians. In that first phase, we were actually totally free to do whatever we felt like.”

“To me it’s a super interesting project because it creates a marriage of many things, jazz, electronica and then all of a sudden we have deep Cuban grooves and we have rap, we have son and we have horns…”

“Because of feeling you got from the other artist through the music, there were few questions, but it was like: Okay we got the part, we’re going to keep working on it, that was like okay, nice, I’m feeling this and then I’m going right at it.”

“Well, it was a bit difficult because there are three languages that converge in this project. But music is a universal language and in this project you can feel this vibe that transcends the music across languages.”

“For me it’s always very interesting to work in a project where different ways of thinking come together, different ways of understanding music.”

Tube Temples/ Valve Records Studio (c) Jannis Danikas

Studio El Espacio Studios (c) Daniel Patterson

Artist

Vocals, Lyrics, Arrangement & Composition – Leila Akinyi

Vocals, Lyrics, Arrangement & Composition – El Individuo

Beatproduction, Arrangement & Composition – Wolberts

Beatproduction, Arrangement & Composition – Dany Arce

Trombone, Horn-Arrangement & Composition – Andy Hunter

Trompet, Horn-Arrangement & Composition – Rasiel Aldama Chiroles

Lyrics Co-writing – Ani Petrossian

Musical producer – Kerim Butz, Ani Petrossian

Recording producer – Kerim Butz

Studio

Kuba – El Espacio Studios, Dany Arce (Recording Engineer)

Deutschland – Tube Temples/ Valve Records, Kerim Butz (Recording Engineer)
Mix/Master

Mix – Wolberts

Master – Kerim Butz

Musical Director – Kerim Butz

Production Director – Ani Petrossian

Cover Art

Diana Menestrey, Ani Petrossian

Cover Layout: Helene Heuser

Produced by nexofonia e.V.

The final project presentation was held at the 16th of April 2021 at King Georg in Cologne. During the 2 hour Live Stream all artists from come together to celebrate the release of the EP and the premiere of the short documentary “Dímelo Rapeando” by Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi.

As part of the collaboration with the Department of Ethnomusicology of the Institute of Musicology at the University of Cologne, the students of the seminar “Audiovisual Representation in Ethnomusicology” under the direction of Prof. Dr. Federico Spinetti will create a series of short documentaries from the video material created in the course of the project, which will also be available here after their completion.