The Pharos Arts Foundation and the Goethe Institut Zypern jointly present pianist Axel Zwingenberger, internationally renowned as the ‘ambassador of Boogie Woogie’. Boogie Woogie is a very profound, expressive and powerful style of ! piano playing, firmly rooted in the Blues. It emerged in the South of the US, around the turn from the 19th to the 20th century, created by African-American pianists in a most unusual manner, ignoring most of the rules of conventional piano playing but achieving, nevertheless, an impressive level of pianistic virtuosity. Zwingenberger has effectively attached his personal mark to this kind of music and has defined the style to a great degree. Music critics have labelled him “The Boogiemeister of the world”, since he is not only a creative and innovative composer, but he has explored the facets of authentic Boogie Woogie and Blues piano like nobody else and put fresh life into this music by his irresistible interpretations. 

THE BOOGIE WOOGIE STYLE: 
Boogie Woogie is a very profound, expressive and powerful style of piano playing, firmly rooted in the Blues. It emerged in the South of the US, around the turn from the 19th to the 20th cen! tury, created by African-American pianists in a most unusual manner, ignoring most of the rules of conventional piano playing. Nevertheless, its greatest exponents achieved an impressive level of pianistic virtuosity. Its rolling eight-to-the-bar rhythms, created by the player’s left hand, are the trademark of the genre, and these rhythms consequently had a lasting effect on the popular music until today. Following a brief period of huge popularity during the 1940s, Boogie Woogie dropped into obscurity for a while, but its rhythm has been perpetuated by Rock’n’Roll and other musical forms. During the 1970s, it started to regain popularity, especially in Europe, not the least through Axel Zwingenberger’s efforts.

AXEL ZWINGENBERGER
Born in Hamburg, Germany, in 1955, pianist Axel Zwingenberger is travelling the world as the ‘ambassador of Boogie Woogie’ since the age of 19. The keyboard virtuoso has given concerts in ov! er 50 countries all over the world and he has performed in almost every European country.

Zwingenberger has effectively attached his personal mark to the music that is nowadays regarded as the ‘classical Boogie Woogie’, and he has even defined the style to a great degree. He has combined the diverse musical styles of his idols, Boogie pioneers Pete Johnson, Meade ‘Lux’ Lewis and Albert Ammons of the 1930s and 1940s, with his own ideas in an inimitable way. Thus, he has created a distinctive style which has been widely copied. Music critics have labelled Zwingenberger “The Boogiemeister of the world” which makes him particularly proud, since he is not only a creative and innovative composer, but has explored the facets of authentic Boogie Woogie and Blues piano like nobody else and put fresh life into this music by his irresistible interpretations.

Zwingenberger performs as a piano soloist most of the time. He likes to play un-amplif! ied at a big concert grand piano, which enables him to demonstrate his outstanding pianistic and musical prowess from massive ostinato-bass clusters to lyrical pianissimo passages. He is renowned for his collaboration with famous Jazz and Blues musicians and he has been featured in 30 Audio CDs, among them recordings with US legends like Big Joe Turner, Jay McShann, Champion Jack Dupree, Sippie Wallace and many others, together with 8 solo albums. Zwingenberger is also a prolific photographer and has issued a book documenting night shots of steam trains in action. The book combines Axel’s photographs with his music and his written stories about steam railroading in a most captivating manner.