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<\/a>As a flamenco dancer and a rhythmic artist Ania Losinger has dedicated herself wholeheartedly to the fascinating undertaking of committing her entire body to the process of musical creation. The specially prepared wooden sounding board she dances upon becomes a membrane for her, the movements of her flamenco shoes with their associated footwork correspond in many ways to those of a drummer. The idea of becoming at the same time a dancer and musician becomes increasingly important. Through collaboration with Don Li she begins to find a new orientation both musically and in dance. She builds herself a dancing platform of different kinds of wood and metal plates (in part with the addition of sound pickups) and plays rhythmical patterns composed by Don Li on it.It is during this time that she first becomes aware of the fact that the particular phrasing that is created by the interplay of weight and balance and the dancing of repetitive rhythms, yields her own, personal music .
From this awareness, the vision of an acoustic sounding floor which produces vibrant and tuned sounds that react to dynamic of movements and strokes, springs forth. The form of this sounding floor develops in collaboration with Hamper von Niederh\u00e4usern (1997-99).
After building several prototypes he produces sounding boards which are attached to a framework and which can carry the weight of a human body yet still produce sounds \u2013 the first XALA. While playing on the Xala with her flamenco shoes and man-high poles, Ania Losinger can visualize the music and inspire her audience to listen ever more intensely.
Self-portrayal in dance and in musical virtuosity is eliminated in favor of coordination, sensuality, precision, permeability, tension and concentration, which make the danced music resonate. The limitations in range, the individual characteristics of certain sound boards, the spatial limitations in reference to dance have an extremely positive effect on Ania\u2019s personal artistic expression.
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<\/a>In 1999 the first solo performance (\u201cSoneto\u201c) is developed for the Xala I in collaboration with Christian Mattis, and performed in Switzerland, Germany and Italy. In 2001 Ania Losinger produces her first XALA-Solo-CD-Rom \u201cAnia Losinger XALA\u201d together with Swiss Radio DRS2 and Don Li. She appears under the label Tonus-Music-Records<\/a>, whose products are marketed in many countries throughout the world.Immediately afterwards Hamper von Niederh\u00e4usern and Hanspeter Ehrsam added microphones to the entire instrument (Xala I<\/a>) This entailed adding a pick-up with relative preamplifier to each of the 24 tones. With my digital mixer it is possible to finely tune each note by electronically accentuating particular frequencies and adding effects.\u2028
The Xala combines a mixture of archaic and highly developed technical knowledge in its method of construction, its amplification and the techniques used when playing it. In addition to Ania Losinger\u2019s own research on this new instrument, Don Li influences her style of playing through his compositions. On the other hand, the Xala itself, both as acoustic and visual instrument also significantly influences his compositions.\u2028This fruitful interaction leads not only to the productions with Xala as solo instrument such as Don Li\u2019s Speech-Pattern-Compositions \u201cThe Longest Journey<\/a>\u201d in New York 02, \u201cTime-Experience\u201d for the Jazzfestival in Willisau 03 and Jazzfestival Cully 04, but also to the one hour long composition \u201ctonus-music\u201d for XALA and symphony orchestra, directed by Kaspar Zehnder which premiered with great success in the Casino Theatre in Berne.
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<\/a>The solo live-performance \u201cAnia Losinger XALA\u201d is performed in all of Europe.\u2028As a further documentation of the Xala the first XALA-Sound-\/ Photo (DVD<\/a>) is released which focuses more on the visual aspects of this sounding floor. For this purpose Don Li wrote a one hour electronic surround composition for Xala and string quartett. (\u201cNew Ballet for XALA\u201c<\/a>).\u2028Pierre-Yves Borgeaud (winner of the Golden Leopard 03 in Locarno for video) takes on the direction of the film. His idea is to take advantage of the rarely used multi-angle technique for this film. This allows viewers to choose from interactive perspectives and image areas as the surround-music plays. The live-performance of \u201cNew Ballet for Xala\u201d<\/a> was viewed by audiences at the Jazzfestival Schaffhausen 05, the Minimal-Music Festival in Kassel 05, BE Jazzfestival ir Bern 06 and in the USM-showroom in Manhattan NY 05.\u2028Thanks to the first concert tours and parallel to requests for workshops and seminars for teachers in music conservatores and music schools (Trossingen DE, Bern, Aargau, Solothurn) Hamper von Niederh\u00e4usern received contracts to build permanent Xala installations made of stone, metal and wood for educational institutions and social therapy centers. In time, not only the artistic potential of this instrument is recognized but also its therapeutic and educational potential.\u2028The new Xala (The Xala II) is completed in February of 2004. All the experience that Ania Losinger and Hamper von Niederh\u00e4usern have aquired has led to improvements in the quality of the sound spectrum, the fine-tuning of the overtones, the order of the notes and ease of transportation. ![\"USM_48\"](\"https:\/\/www.anialosinger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/USM_48-e1393339258815-199x300.jpg\")
Ania Losinger begins an intense collaboration with the musician and composer Mats Eser (marimba\/percussion). In 2005 their first joint composition \u201cThe Five Elements<\/a>\u201d is produced. The focus point of this five-piece concert performance is Ania Losinger\u2019s Xala II and Mats Eser\u2019s five-octave marimba. With this debut they immediately are able to create a distinct tonal universe that sparks enthusiasm in audiences and organizers both at home and abroad. (Festivals and concerts in Switzerland, Germany, Russia, Finland, Holland, Poland, Italy).In 2007 Ania and Mats develop a concert performance for children and young adults commissioned by the city theatre in Winterthur, titled \u201cBeat, Ready and go!\u201d This performance contains first elements of music-theatre and is later developed and becomes Colorful Times or the invention of the fifth season<\/a> that is playes in Luxembourg. Together with actor and director Clo Bisaz they adapt the famous fairy-tale \u201cCinderella\u201d. The instruments that are developed especially for this performance are at the same time stage props made of sounding objects and the electro-acoustic danceable sounding floor TM-Xala (TM means Tanzmeter (Dance meter). After 2008 \u201cCinderella\u201d tours the whole of Europe. In 2009 \u201cTo the Beat of the Times\u201d premieres and their first music for film is composed for the documentary \u201cDIARIOS CINETICOS de una escultura de Angel Duarte\u201d by Carlos L\u00fcgstenmann.
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In the premiere of the work for orchestra \u201cTonus-Music for Xala, Marimba and Orchestra<\/a>\u201d 2008 in Burgdorf directed by Bruno St\u00f6ckli the Xala I is once again played. The CD production<\/a> \u201cThe Five Elements\u201d Vol. 1 with Xala II and marimba\/percussion is released in 2009 in Switzerland, Germany and Austria. A CD release tour througout Europe follows.\u2028Ania Losinger and Mats Eser are protagonists in the Swiss film \u201cB\u00f6d\u00e4l\u00e4-Dance the Rhythm\u201d directed by Gitta Gsell, which premieres in January of 2010 at the Solothurner Filmtagen film festival, wins the audience prize and then is shown in cinemas throughout Switzerland. After further film festivals such as Locarno and M\u00fcnchen the film <\/a> is shown in theatres in Germany and Austria.\u2028At the beginning of 2010 Ania Losinger, Mats Eser and Hamper von Niederh\u00e4usern develop the Xala III. The Xala III is for the first time a airworthy instrument which can be taken apart and packed into five cases. It functions electroacustically and is a synthesis of Xala II and Dancemeter. In the summer of 2010 the duo Losinger-Eser flies to Shanghai with their instrument for the first time to take part in the World Exposition and play their new program \u201cf\u00fa-danced Soundsculptures<\/a>\u201d (Xala III and Minimal-Percussion) in the Spanish pavillion for three weeks.\u2028Performances at home and abroad follow as well as a new premiere \u201cShanghai Patterns<\/a>\u201d (SF 10vor10 Swiss News) played on Xala III and marimba\/percussion during the BE Jazz Winterfestival in Berne. In 2012, the premiere of \u201cScope<\/a>\u201d with the Xala III and Fender Rhodes takes place in the Franz Gertsch museum in Burgdorf. <\/p>\nIn 2014 the CD Trilogy<\/a> with Xala III (F\u00fa, Shanghai Patterns, Scope) is released.<\/p>\n 2015 gr\u00fcnden Ania Losinger und Mats Eser zusammen mit Bj\u00f6rn Meyer und Chrigel “Tian” Bosshard die Band NEN [e]merging structures – hypnotic soundscapes <\/a>. NEN plays at festivals and in clubs in Switzerland, Germany and Italy. The music of this band is published on Bandcamp. nen-music.bandcamp.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n In 2017, the composition Music for an Open Space<\/a> premieres at the Festival for European Church Music in Schw\u00e4bisch Gm\u00fcnd. Since its debut, The Five Elements, once again becomes a composition for the purely acoustic instruments Xala II and marimba\/percussion. The world premiere of the arrangement of this work for xala, marimba and orchestra, Open Space Suite<\/a>, follows in 2018. <\/p>\n Die Zuwendung zu akustischen Kl\u00e4ngen und Raumkl\u00e4ngen, bringt die Begegnung mit dem Stahlcello-Spieler und Obertons\u00e4nger Jan Heinke. Mit ihm realisieren sie die LP\/CD<\/a> Produktion \u201cThe Lugano Session\u201d (Co-Produktion mit dem RSI Lugano) und gr\u00fcnden das Trio A\u00cbR<\/a>. <\/p>\n Swiss radio magazine (Schweizer Radiomagazin): “… layers of sound and rhythms overlap to create compositions in the tradition of minimal music, yet enchantingly renewed and without any mechanical elements. Ania Losinger dances on her floor xylophone Xala, coaxing warm tones from it, vibrating in the sound of steel cello (Jan Heinke) and marimba (Mats Eser). The Bernese dancer, a pure physical presence on stage, becomes part of an invisibly floating sound mobile on the CD production…”<\/em><\/p>\n The duo Losinger-Eser composes the theatre music for the Christmas fairy tale MOMO<\/a> at the Stadttheater Bern. They are involved in the production as musicians, embodying the era with their sound and playing live. The MOMO soundtrack is available on CD<\/a>. <\/p>\n