Carolina Katùn – TEOL
Carolina Katùn is a Swiss-Mexican singer. With profound voice, Katùn is an artist of pure expression carrying strength and sincerity through her music. At times weightless, other times firmly grounded, she harnesses the nudity of raw emotion. With slow and capsizing phrasing, Katùn is capable of carrying both deep melancholy and liberating joy.
Growing up between a French-speaking Swiss father and Mexican mother, Katùn developed a fascination for the richness of traditional Latin American repertoires early on. She completed a study in classical piano at the conservatorium, became interested in Baroque and Jazz and began to sing. Situated in Paris, Katùn encountered jazz musicians Nicolas Moreaux (contrabass/double-bass), Pierre Perchaud (guitar) and Arthur Alard (drums) with whom she formed the band TEOL in 2016. TEOL means ‘the spirit of the tree’ in Mayan, referring to a tree whose pollination depends on the winds, speaks several languages and sings different kind of music.
TEOL’s music is an eclectic crossover between Jazz, South- and Central American Folk, French chanson, Baroque and improvisational music. With sparse arrangement, and well timed additions of surprising instruments, the band generates space for Katùn’s voice to unfold. Since its formation in 2016, TEOL has become a known act in Parisian and Swiss jazz venues, played at the Montreux Jazz Festival, the New Morning (Paris), the Moods (Zurich), and performed as opening act for Roberta Flack and Randy Brecker’s shows in New York.
Al Silencio is Carolina Katùn’s first album. The album is a tribute to songs and singers which have impacted Katùn musically. In it, she explores the vocal possibilities across a diversity of music styles. It features a collection of some standards of latin American music from Violetta Para’s, John Purcell’s, Atahualpa Yupanqui’s, Tomás Méndez’s, Carlos Gardel’s, but also less well-known pieces, such as the poem "Le tengo al silencio", from Athahalpa Yupanqui, the song that gave the album its title. Al Silencio achieves an original reinterpretation, and TEOL leaves a distinct signature on each song. Listening, we can explore the rifts in the traditional Mexican song ‘la Llorona’ and distress of ‘Alfonsing y el Mari’ of classical Argentinian Ariel Ramiress, stripped to its raw foundation, then thrown into a charred joy. The record also includes songs composed by the band-members themselves. Al Silencio features guest musician Bugge Wesseltoft on the piano and accordion, and Julien Pontvianne on the tenor saxophone. The album was recorded by Tony Paeleman in the studio des Bruères in Poitiers, France and later released under OkWorld Records.