Folklore and futurism, graceful elegance and raw passion, virtuosic precision and spontaneous exploration all merge together in the music of Grammy nominated vocalist, songwriter and producer Sofia Rei. Redefining authenticity from an intensely personal perspective, Rei has carried diverse Latin American traditions from her native Buenos Aires to the multi-cultural mecca of New York City, where she’s fused those sounds with jazz, classical, pop, and electronic music influences to forge a singular and ever-evolving sound.

The Café Royal Cultural Foundation NYC has awarded its 2019 fall music grant for Sofia to complete her new work “Umbral”.

“Umbral” is an exhaustive exploration of the voice as an instrument of texture and expression. Sofía Rei breaks away from the established continuity of her work in an attempt to create a  new soundscape that blends South American folk with pop, electronic music and improvisation. During a recent soul-searching trip to the Elqui Valley in Chile, equipped only with two back packs of recording equipment and her charango, she created the core of this newest musical venture: “Umbral” (Threshold). These unorthodox compositions are built almost exclusively from vocal loops and incorporate the series “Cinco poemas cínicos” (Five Cynical Poems). Incisive and imaginative, Sofia’s poetry responds to heartbreak, deception and disappointment with elegant humor and a heavy dose of sarcasm. Umbral features long-time collaborators Jorge Roeder (bass), Franco Pinna (drums), Tupac Mantilla (percussion), and several guests from the current international music scene. The album is set to be released during the first half of 2020 and is produced by world music luminary JC Maillard (Lisa Fischer, Angelique Kidjo, Richard Bona, Touré Kunda). JC and Sofía decided to go deep into the DNA of South American folk grooves, taking the original rhythmic content of music styles such as Afro-Bolivian saya, Argentine chacarera and  Colombian seresesé and cumbia, and translating it into new sounds and instruments to create their envisioned sonic landscape. 

Sofía has released 5 internationally acclaimed albums under her name which won 4 Independent Music Awards, while her work on Geoffrey Keezer’s “Aurea” received a Grammy nomination in the Latin Jazz category. Her music has been praised and featured by The New York Times, Downbeat, NPR, Songlines and many other publications. She has collaborated with notable artists like John Zorn, Maria Schneider, Marc Ribot, Bobby McFerrin, Pedrito Martinez, Mike Patton, Jesse Harris, Susana Baca and Mycale, an international a- capella quartet with Ayelet Rose Gottlieb (Israel), Malika Zarra (Morocco) and Sara Serpa (Portugal) commissioned by composer John Zorn.  

Rei has been an advocate of South American culture through her work. She is a co-founder of El Colectivo Sur, an arts collective based in NY and curates its flagship program, the NYC South American Music Festival. In 2019, Sofia was presented the Spirit of Folk Award by the International Folk Alliance at the Montreal conference, for her active involvement in the preservation, presentation, and promotion of folk music through her creative work, community building, and demonstrated leadership. Sofía has been a faculty member of Berklee College of Music, and the New England Conservatory in Boston, MA. Sofia has joined the faculty of the  Clive Davis Institute of NYU Tisch (New York University) as Assistant Arts Professor in the Performance and Musicianship area.  

Sofía developed New Perspectives in Latin Music, a new course for the institute that  integrates aspects of music appreciation and rhythmic training while exploring the broad stylistic diversity of Latin American music today. 

Please visit Sofia’s Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and her website for more information.