User:Xala 1999/sandbox

Ania Losinger
Ania Losinger (born Jan 2, 1970) is a Swiss-born dancer, choreographer, musician and composer who has been performing in Switzerland and abroad for the past two decades. In 1998/99, together with the instrument maker Hamper von Niederhäusern, she developed a musical instrument that is still unique in the world today: the Xala.

Background and Musical Beginnings
Born in Bern, Switzerland, Ania Losinger displayed musical talent at an early age and studied piano under Lotti Jacobi-Hertig who soon discovered her knack for complicated rhythms. Her teacher encouraged her to join the National Rhythmic Gymnastics Squad where she acquired basic athletic training. However, though she was able to perfect her rhythmic and physical skills, she felt her work was missing a musical dimension. Her dream became that of finding a creative form of expression that unites the physicality of dance with the creation of music.

Flamenco Training
As a young woman, Ania Losinger practiced various dance forms until she became acquainted with flamenco dance. Many years of flamenco training in Switzerland followed, as well as several trips to learn flamenco in Spain. She studied rhythmics at the Conservatory in Zurich, worked as a rhythmic trainer and piano teacher, accompanied modern dance classes on the piano and gave flamenco lessons. From 1997 to 1999 she was engaged as a dancer by the dance company “Flamencos en route”.

Musical Maturity and the Losinger-Eser Duo
After the invention and construction of the first Xala, Ania Losinger began performing as a soloist on her instrument as well as with various other artists under the guidance of composer, Don Li. Since 2005 she performs in a duo together with percussionist and composer, Mats Eser. They have performed their own compositions worldwide as well as on TV and radio shows and as far as New York and Shanghai.

Invention of the Xala
In 1998/99 Ania Losinger's lifelong dream of uniting music and dance in a single person was fulfilled. Together with instrument builder, Hamper von Niederhäusern, she developed and created the first Xala, an instrument which is played by dancing upon it with flamenco shoes and six-foot high poles. Today, three Xalas exist which vary in size and timbre. The Xala I: an acoustic musical instrument with 24 sounding boards made of padouk wood and metal. The Xala II: a completely acoustic instrument comprised of two octaves of chromatically tuned sounding boards made of Padouk and Cordia wood. The Xala III: a portable, electro-acoustic instrument which can be packed into 5 cases and transported by plane.

Selected Performances

 * 2009 GAIA Chamber Music Festival: Works by Don Li, performed by the composer with Ania Losinger, Matthias Eser, and the Tonus String Quartet are introduced to the public.
 * 2003 The Longest Journey. Music & video installation by Pierre-Yves Borgeaud with Don Li (composition, clarinets), Ania Losinger (Xala), Björn Meyer (bass) and Jojo Mayer (drums). Premiere at the Swiss Peaks festival in New York, March 2003.
 * 2000 Tournees with Soneto, the first dance and music production featuring Xala in Switzerland and abroad.

Discography

 * Scope,(Tonus Music Records)2015
 * Fu, (Tonus Music Records)2014
 * Shanghai Patterns,(Tonus Music Records)2014
 * The Five Elements, (Tonus Music Records)2009
 * New Ballet for Xala, (Tonus Music Records)2004
 * Ania Losinger Xala, (Tonus Music Records)2001

In the News
September 2, 2002 - Zeitung im Espace Mittelland - Jazz’n’Blues in den Clubs