(CH/ Stattmusik, Perlon)
 
Switzerland’s Kalabrese (Sacha Winkler) caused an international stir with his goofy, not-disco 12" Chicken Fried Rice on Zip and Markus Nikolai’s label, Perlon, in 2004. His production debut was in 2000 with the reggae-flavoured house record, Airolo. Airolo was released on Zurich based label Stattmusik, the same imprint that released his Perlon follow-up, Hühnerfest, – produced with a brass band – in 2004. He’s since released the acclaimed long player, Rumpelzirkus, and put together a rockin’ live show with a band set-up.
 
Winkler was very active in the Swiss music scene long before his Perlon breakthrough. After spending his formative years learning swing as a drummer in a jazz combo, Winkler spent four years as the drummer of the Zurich hip-hop outfit, Sendak. They recorded an EP in 1995 on Xtra-Rec. as well as two longplayers, one on Xtra-Rec., and the other, Moving On with Sendak on MV. The group toured extensively in Switzerland. Winkler began DJing as Kalabrese in 1997 after Sendak split, and went on to make himself well known to those in the Zurich club scene as a DJ, producer, promoter and club owner.
 
The early influence of his parent’s record collection on Winkler has begun to creep into Kalabrese productions of late; listening to Hendrix, John Coltrane and Frank Zappa as child left a lasting impression that came to light in music that’s been dubbed ‘folk-house’. Kalabrese’s debut album, Rumpelzirkus (Muve Recordings, 2007), was noted for its organic-funk feel and song orientation.
 
The album featured contributions from Kate Wax – vocals in 'Not The Same Shoes', Flo Götte – bass on 'Body Tight', and the trombonist Michael Flury as well as Da Mezga and Guillermo Sohrya. Winkler, a skilled percussionist, added sounds from the kitchen and garden over the micro-funk atmosphere, and drops his own vocals into the mix to create tragi-comic pop songs from the wreckage of minimal, disco, soul and afro beat, with the backing of acomplished jazz musicians.
 
Winkler commenced his album support tour in 2007 tour with a full support band, the Rumpelorchestra. Band members include Valentino Tomasi (synths, laptop, vox), Michael Flury (trombone), Marton di Katz (bass), Francesco Carpino (tb, perkussion), Benjamin Danech (trumpet) and Ramon Orza (fx, vox).
 
Winkler is also one half of the duo Massimo with Valentino Tomasi.
 
> www.kalabrese.com
> www.myspace.com/kalaspatz
 
Appearances:
> CTM.08 > GOLDEN GROOVE