one woman, one project:
Biography
Matzumi (Kathrin Manz): this is monumental symphonic-electronic music, accompanied by her unmistakable singing voice.
She made her first public appearance in 2009 and started her career as a solo project with the EP "Cryin` Soul" and the debut album "Sometimes", which was released shortly afterwards via her former label Candyrush-Music. A lot has happened since then. First she found her way into the electronic music scene, soon made a name for herself there and won the Schallwelle award in 2011 as best newcomer of 2010. In all the following years she was always among the nominees in the Schallwelle elections for the categories "Best Album" and "Best Artist".
The music project Matzumi - the one-woman-band, however, has been around much longer. She has been making music since her childhood. She found the stage name Matzumi, which should never become a stage name, in 2003 and for a long time it was only a pseudonym on various internet platforms for amateur musicians. She came up with this name through a documentary film about lions, in which a lioness bore the name "Madsume" - Madsume eventually became Matzumi.
Soon the live premiere followed. For the first time she performed with her own music in front of an audience. Years before, she had already been allowed to get a taste of the stage air - as the background singer of a synthpop band in 2000-2001.
In 2010 she released her next work: "Ad Infinitum", followed by "In Mutatio Tempora" in 2011, which received equally good reviews.
In 2012 she released the joint album "From distant times", which she had produced together with the Danish electronic musician Nattefrost, in 2013 another joint project with Emilsam Velazquez - the "Bravura Apasionada" and in 2014 her biggest and most important work so far was released: the "Symphony of silence and humility", on which she worked for 2 years. The "Bravura Apasionada" was created parallel to the production of the "Symphony".
Affectionately referred to by her fans as the "high priestess of synthesizers" or "monumental artist", she is now making a name for herself worldwide. Numerous interviews, album reviews and even the Lower Saxony daily newspaper "Die Harke" reported on her and her music in November 2013.
In 2012 she was signed by the Australian label "Wolf Entertainment", which is responsible for the download distribution. But Matzumi is also a self-distributor: she produces and sells her CDs herself.
Thanks to "Wolf Entertainment" and her then manager Udo Langner, she was able to get 3 guest musicians for her Symphony project: the label boss himself: Hellmut Wolf (flute), the German guitarist Frank Steffen Müller and the American Sean O` Bryan Smith (bass).
Emilsam Velazquez, who already produced for greats like Vangelis and Tomita, took care of them, declared Matzumi his protege and took over the mastering of the "Bravura Apasionada" and also the "Symphony of silence and humility" - which is described by the press as "Matzumi's masterpiece".
Each of her albums was a step forward, she continuously developed her skills as an autodidact. But what can follow after the Symphony? Matzumis big dream is to work with a real symphony orchestra one day.
Maybe it will come true...
UNIQUE SOUND WORLDS - THE CLAIM TO BE DIFFERENT
CD-Reviews
Sometimes (2009)
ad infinitum (2010)
In Mutatio Tempora (2011)
From Distant Times (2012)
Bravura Apasionada (2013)
Symphony of silence and humility (2014)
Media
Interviews
concert reviews
Awards & General
Interview with Matzumi of the Dortmund broadcaster Eldoradio* in the programme "Codos Traumreisen" from 7.7.2010 (german)
Contribution to the Schallwelle award ceremony on 12.3.2011 in the programme "Codos Traumreisen" by Eldoradio*, in which Stefan Erbe from Codo was interviewed about the award ceremony (german)
Fan comments
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Wow! Wow! Wow!
This music is really great - it reminds me partly of Enigma, Jean-Michel Jarre and Vangelis; but I think it also has something of Enja. Really very, very beautiful!
Vivat Kathrin et vivat imperium animalorum extinctorum!
Christian
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You've got a real fancy site
Your music is also still as beautiful and timeless as I got to know it at myownmusic.
I wish you good luck and much success.
Greetings Hartmut
Hartmut
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I like your music! Wonderful sounds and this voice - very, very beautiful !
Would be good for the soundtrack for Lord of the Rings !
Best greetings from Oldenburg.
Micha
Michael Peterwerth
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Most beautifull music and voice!
Like the films. It gives an idea from who you are and what you do in the Music. Greatz from Gasselternijveen Holland. Go on with the good Work!
Martin
Martin Veenstra
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Dear Kathrin, thanx for the music.
Klaus
Klaus Müller
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Just four words Kathrin: Your music is CLASS!
Andreas Schwietzke
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Kathrin, the things that are really important cannot be put into words, they just happen along the way we go - your music is definitely one of them.
Reiner
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Are you from the star system "PLEIADES"
You are unique as there is no one quite like you,i have all your albums.
Love and kisses from this humble human.
Keith
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I downloaded the symphony 'from Amazon as an MP3 'earlier. I must say: A masterpiece. Put it back and enjoy it to the fullest. Wonderfully soulful.....just.....very beautiful !!!
Volker
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I discovered you on the Youtube site together with Nattefrost and became a big fan, beautiful music you make, I wish you continued success, you are a great talent.
Best wishes,
Detlef Buchholz
Detlef Buchholz
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Your music is beautiful,
Your music moves me,
Your music makes me feel,
Your music is!
Keith
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I think it is very nice that you have found so many grateful listeners with your music. You have convinced me anyway. In fact, you bring a very special touch with you, which is very good for electronic music.
Thomas
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What a voice, great synth sounds, great ideas! While reading your biography I discovered some similarities - mixing at night, the most creative time... I wish you many more beautiful ideas and sound experiences! Best wishes from Freital near Dresden, Heiko
Heiko
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It's a really beautiful site. It's obvious that you care about music!
Nina
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Great sounds what I have heard so far, great.
I have to order a CD longplayer.
"Without music life would be a mistake" Nice Monday by sven e.
Sven Ericksen
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You hit the right nerve with many people !!!! Keep up the good work I hope we will hear from each other ;-)
Jens Kelpin
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Your music is simply touching once it does come from the deep of your heart ! And it feels just great to listen to it. Keep on playing !
Alexandre da Costa
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great music you make
just love to listen, the vocal is strong about expression love that, so keep on touch our hearts with your lovly music. see you.
Ivar F. Hansen
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Thanks for the small, inspiring moment your music is giving me
Basilius
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Hello, Kathrin.
I got your latest disc delivered the day before yesterday. It's been in heavy rotation ever since. An absolutely strong piece of music. Wish you continued success and creativity.
Thomas Kadner
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Greetings from Australia! You have amazing talent!! Keep it going
Shady
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Dear Kathrin, I am thrilled. Please keep up the good work. Great music that is totally on my "wavelength".
Stay true to yourself and take a chance, because you've got what it takes.
greetings
Wolfgang
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i stumbled upon your official website rather by chance and, to be honest, i'm quite happy about it. i already found your music very interesting and fascinating at mom's time, which hasn't changed until today. i really enjoyed the audio samples here and am absolutely overwhelmed. enchanting music that you produce. all the best from my heart, many creative moments and success with your unique music. you are welcome to further enchant us musically...
Karma Influx
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Hello, Kathrin,
since 1995 I am a fan of EM music and my CD collection is in the 4-digit range - the 3 albums I have of you now are among my absolute favourites! Such beautiful music! I have to listen to it again and again.
All the best for you furthermore!
Peter Sauermann
Peter Sauermann
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Dear Miss Matzumi, i'm love the electronic music, you are very very great artist, congratulation and many wishes to your work and good luck to you, i'm new your friend and fan from Italy
Excuse me if i haved embarassed you but i never seen in my long life an very delicious and genuine and sensible artist of sing like you with your wonderful voice,congratulation very muchFrancesco
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i have seen 2 of your longer videos. mega music ! Your voice is fantastic, your performance really carries you away. Deeply chilled, should not even come close to describing what I felt yesterday, it is really rare for me that I feel something as a real highlight. And that is exactly what makes you and your music. I have read the comments. Deeply impressed. But for some listeners it is and remains : MAGIC ***** And that's how I felt with you.
Harald B.
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I'm in love with your music.
I especially like this special blend of spherical and ethnic sounds. You really got that!
I haven't seen you or Bjorn live so far, but I've got the 09.06.12 in mind.
DANIEL g.
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Yes of course, this is a very own style, very beautiful
and I think the sound even surpasses the music of the artists I mentioned (Vangelis, Kitaro, Enya) in its complex diversity.
Such a thing can only be created by people with a lot of feeling and out of love for the music and the whole thing with an above-average sense of hearing and feeling.
There are not many of those.
As I said, very beautiful and extraordinary...!
Greetings,
Musician David
David
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Hi, Kathrin,
now there is one more, who likes to listen to your music and what comes along : the first rezi of your beautiful CD -Sometimes- on my site...at Amazon
Great music, beautiful site.
Greetings from Bremen, Uwe
Uwe
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Music as a diary of your own life, there is no better way to express the art of making electronic music
Fred E.
Can music be magic?
Can a voice carry you away into other worlds?
decide for yourself, because:
MUSIC IS SO MUCH MORE THAN JUST THE SOUND IN YOUR EAR
We have all waited a long time for it - the Symphony Of Silence And Humility.
Good things take time - the saying is rarely true as it is with this wonderful piece of music. It hasn't left my playback devices for almost two weeks.
A complete work of art as if from a single mould, which demands full attention from the listener, but in return rewards him with soundscapes that redefine the word bombast and which in this intensity were previously only known from Vangelis or Enigma. But comparisons limp; Matzumi has always had her own distinctive style. In her music, one can still go on voyages of discovery even after listening to her music several times. I never get tired of it.
A nice idea is Matzumi`s personal addition to the album - a kind of written travel guide through the whole symphony. And yet every attentive listener will create his own pictures in his head.
Dear Matzumi - please keep it up. Just like that.
My innuendo tips: The Creation, The Eternal Struggle
Daniel Gessert
Symphony of love.
When I messaged you to say that I was ordering your latest album, you asked me to write a comment on it.
I promissed I would, so here it is:
Listening o the Symphony of Silence and Humility (again) I hear a symphony of love.
Love for life (what this album is all about) and love for music as it is a beautiful, complex and well balanced piece of art.
The concept: a journey through time from the first basic form of what what is to become 'life' to the dawn of mankind (at least that is my interpretation) packed in a prologue and 8 tracks that, as life itself, glide fluently from one into the other.
It's hard to formulate and write a good comment, sitting alone in a room with my earphones plugged in and listening to this album.
I tend to close my eyes and just let the myself be drawn into the music completely.
It took 2 years to complete this album, but it was time well spend.
It is, to my standards, a masterpiece and already one of the favourites in my collection.
I hope you will find time and inspiration to make more of this great music in the years to come.
Jan Lathouwers
Today was the first time
Your album 'Ad Inifinitum' has grown. I have it 3 times.
and my enthusiasm grew from time to time.
On the fourth piece, I tried desperately to find the 'petite person Matzumi' on the huge Taiko drums, after...to whom the piece sounds, was not easy! It's impressive what you can do
dynamics and sonority out of a synthi and then as MP3 file reaches the ear via headphones. But also the vocals in the first piece and the exciting middle section in the second piece I liked very much. So
a turmoil and such emotions I would have given you after my impression of the silent person at the award ceremony.
It took me a long time to get another EM album and then it had to be my favorite CD to be able to listen to to get to it.
Just great, keep it up!
Hans Schmitz
I downloaded the symphony 'from Amazon as an MP3 'earlier. I must say: A masterpiece. Put it back and enjoy it to the fullest. Wonderfully soulful.....just.....very beautiful !!!
Volker
I'm buying "Bravura Apasionada" right now. Can't wait to hear it! Much love and admiration from the U.S.A.
Vince Font
From Distant Times is a wonderful new work, which I enjoyed very much on my trip home on Saturday.
Please keep it up with more vocals.
Wolfgang
outstanding work you have done together with Bjørn! the Klangwelt presents your album today (26.05.12)! (From distant times)
Keep up the good work. the work of the journeymen, soon masterly becomes Wink
Many greetings
Karsten
Karsten
I received your current disc the day before yesterday. Since then it has been running in "heavy rotation". An absolutely strong piece of music. Wish you further success and creativity
Thomas Kadner
"Symphony..." Again a wonderful, soulful album, whose full beauty I have not yet fully grasped. I am looking forward to the next few hours in which I can immerse myself in your music.
Thomas Kadner
There were days when the journey to work of over 50 km was an ordeal. The highway was like one stinking metal package in a traffic jam. I was cooking inside, the precious time was running through your fingers, so senseless and lost forever. Yesterday was again such a disaster but I heard you, time didn't matter anymore. It seemed to me as if I radiated a calmness, as only an older person can show, who escaped the hectic pace of years ago. While some were furiously banging on the steering wheel, others were venting their frustration on their mobile phones. I looked at the label of this beautiful muse, turned the CD cover countless times and seemed to be freed from all evil, until I was brought back into this goddamn world by the sound of hoots. Matzumi, yes, that's it. Many thanks Kathrin for these treasures. Best wishes, Thomas
Thomas
Hi, Matzumi,
I dusted two of your CDs in Gütersloh (ad infinium and cryin soul) and I think the CDs are really great. I will definitely get more CDs from you in the course of time. One title reminded me a bit of David and Steve Gordon. Do you know them?
I would like to make the European Championship more public in my area, but unfortunately I don't know exactly how (although we people from Stuttgart have some experience in the matter of instigation).
See you later, I'm sure I'll see you again at concerts and events. Unfortunately, I can't come to everyone, because it's a bit far away.
Greetings from the rebel city
Armin
Hello Key Wizard
I received the three CDs - it was really worth it to put on these wonderful works.
Wonderful pieces! I listen to them regularly - in the evening, at night and while painting...
As you already know, I, like you, often have the most creative phases at night.
Now I'm looking forward to your latest album...
Greetings from Bavaria-Germania
Mrs Adely
Review of Matzumis album "ad infinitum"
"ad infinitum" is her third album after "Cryin` Soul" and "Sometimes".
It begins with the piece The lonely path - Prologue. A slow piece with vocals and floating synthi pads that gently tune into the album.
In "Sense of life" it continues instrumentally. Surfaces and unobtrusively used leadsound tempt to dream.
"We are one" is characterized by spherical synth sounds and vocals. In
"Dreamtraveller" stands out above all for its extraordinary beat, which brings the journey forward.
The "Epilogue" is again filled with spherical synths and vocals with a dreamy rhythm.
Overall the album is very calm. It is sound painting, which creates images in the listener's head. There is a lot of feeling. Especially the purposeful use of vocals contributes to it. The production method of Matzumi, to record everything directly and not to tinker with Midi and sequencer software, certainly makes an important contribution.
Text: Jens Röcher (Bandforum.de)
Matzumi's rendezvous with the listeners: Cryin' Soul
Matzumi
on 10.10.2009
The EP Cryin' Soul by Matzumi is a first appetizer for the album Sometimes, which is expected to find its way to the download portals on November 1st 2009. Available since the end of August via candyrush-music.com, their label, the EP contains five tracks and a playing time of 20 minutes and 58 seconds.
Rather short in length, the Extended Player offers a rather versatile presentation of Matzumi's music. Although all tracks were created at different times and phases in the life of the musician, the 5-pack still looks surprisingly closed and as if all of a piece. Responsible for this is the mixture of catchy and sophisticated themes, which are always found in certain variations and shape the "character" of the music.
Whoever listens to Cryin' Soul will hear ethno-pop, the detailed arrangements and atmospheric vocals of producer and singer Matzumi. It sounds a little bit like Michael Cretu's Enigma with singer Sandra, but it still sounds more like modern arrangements with a soft spot for imaginative and bridging style mixes, which, similar to Christopher Tin, take borrowings from classical world music and bring along their very own stylistic fidelity.
The presented music is not only accessible, but in a creative way "special". The big and small highlights in the tracks are alive. Partly interwoven by tangible weight of thoughts in the sounds, partly hymnically pulled up by prosaic narrative art - Matzumi describes the music as a diary of her life and as it draws a picture of her experiences, thoughts and feelings, so secure and wrapped up you feel in the sound carpets.
It is not the great highlights that the music strives towards; it is the horizon of experience in which reflecting scenarios and events shake hands. At the same time, you listen to the EP with a varied and accessible repertoire of the musician, which is completely convincing. Rarely will one deal with the music in a direct way and much rather, as in Waiting for a sign, let oneself be carried away by the dynamic and rousing composition - and this is also the strength of the music: it stands for itself. The handwriting of Matzumi in the ear.
Text: myownmusic.de Redaktion
Studio Equipment
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Mixer
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Monitores & Headphones
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