Built in 2023 by Christopher Cox (amplified trombone), Jakub Svejnar (amplified drums) and
Zeynep Sarikartal (electronics and keys), Sapient Paradox is taking its first journey within
Europe with a small tour in Amsterdam (SOTU Festival), and Vienna (Vekks). The band aims not only to bring together their own personal experiences on improvised music as professional
musicians but also to experiment within a specific concept.
The trio came together after the invitation of Christopher Cox, who played with the drummer
Jakub Svejnar and Zeynep Sarikartal on electronics, in different settings yet never as a trio
before. Cox`s new discoveries and experimentations on amplified trombone as one of the
pioneers of 80`s and 90`s avant-garde free jazz players in the US, led him to work with many
young professionals who use various techniques of amplification on acoustic instruments and the ones who work only with electronics or electroacoustics in the most experimental sense. Cox met Svejnar in Prag for a session and Sarikartal in Vienna spontaneously during his solo gig where she started to play with his effect rack. After that Cox came to the idea of bringing Svejnar and Sarikartal together in a trio format for recording sessions and a small tour in EU.
All artists coming from different backgrounds and musical styles, they will merge theirknowledge and skills in electroacoustics and free jazz together with underground electronicmusic genres such as „base music‟ or „core‟ in the most general sense. More specifically, the trio will serve a cocktail of glitchy polyrhythms, some taste of harsh noise, drone, breakcore, jungle, together with the richest harmonies and resonances that will be led by Cox, within a thematic focus given on human beings‟ self-destructive way of survival, that is a reference to David Graeber‟s recent reflexions on the long existing anthropological concept known as the „sapient paradox‟.
Jakub Švejnar
Jakub Švejnar is one of the leading drummers on the Prague underground, primarily focused on
free improvisation. Apart from the drumset, Jakub uses various percussion, objects, no-input
mixer and voice. He can be heard with the bands: Jungle Debris, Grandmothers Favourite,
Pudlax, Uthando, Pátra/Švejnar or Dust In The Groove. He also collaborates with performance
and dance theater ensembles such as: Špatné divadlo, Me-Sa Company and Divadlo Continuo.
Zeynep Sarıkartal
Zeynep Sarıkartal studied classical Piano in Ankara Bilkent Conservatory, had her Bachelor in
Musicology in Istanbul Yildiz Technical University and her MA in University of Vienna in
(ethno)musicology. Being based in Vienna since 2010, she experiments with electronics since
under the moniker ZS ZS, working as a composer/improviser in theater, film and multimedia
projects, having collaborated with musicians such as Vestas, Sevket Akıncı, Saadet Türkӧz,
Ignaz Schick, Vienna Improvisers Orchestra, and many others from the fields of noise,
flashcore, free jazz, and other related experimental genres. She took part in many compilation
albums by labels such as Syrphe, Camambert Éléctrique, Sub Rosa among others. ZS ZS‟s live
performances are about exploring harsh, rhythmical, and atmospheric soundscapes together with text and field recordings within a dramaturgical concept. She worked as a research assistant in theatre studies at the University of Laval in Québec City and was as a visiting researcher at the École Normale Supérieur des Arts Dramatiques de Paris. Recently she composed /played
acousmatic works for Nilüfer Gros‟ multimedia project Enterrer la Robe in la Chambre Sonore
/Gaîté Lyrique Paris, for Ulduz Ahmedzadeh‟s video installation Taste of Pearl, and for
octophonic concert series Circuit Fantôme in Vienna. Her recent work with free jazz musicians is
a new avenue for instant composition.
https://zszszszszszszs.wordpress.com
Born in Los Angeles in 1971 and raised along the Russian River in Northern California,
trombonist and composer Christopher Robin Cox is a veteran free improver, who has flown
under the radar for decades. Heavily influenced by Albert Mangelsdorff, he utilizes multi-
phonics and split-tones, often aided by effects pedals and looping. Once labeled a “musical
maniac” by the journalist Dwight Hobbes, Cox has always sought refuge in the unpredictable,
playing everything from free jazz to political hip-hop. His first gigs were with blues and funk
bands beginning in the late 1980s. He began playing with such legends as Marco Eneidi and
Glenn Spearman in his twenties, during the free jazz renaissance in Oakland and San Francisco
in the 1990s. After returning from a long professional hiatus, during which time he earned a PhD in critical human geography, he moved to Budapest in 2019. Following the Covid crisis he
became very active on the fertile underground improvisation scene. In the last year, he has made three live recordings and a solo record.
https://www.facebook.com/pathminusdestination/
