About us & Photos

++ NEW ALBUM “Gomera” OUT NOW ++

MARION & SOBO BAND (DE/FR/PL) has brand new songs to share with audiences and proves that handmade, acoustic music can not only be delicate, contemplative and colorful, but also highly energetic and powerful, even without drums! The band shuttles back and forth with fascinating lightness between vocal gypsy jazz and swing, chansons and sonorities from Western to the Eastern Europe and beyond. The French & US-American singer Marion Lenfant-Preus (who was raised in France in a bilingual family) and the Polish guitarist Alexander Sobocinski („Sobo“) and their band present their own compositions, chanson-like songs and sensitive arrangements of folklore melodies that they weave into a very special, beguiling world of sound.

„We travel. We explore. We play“ is their motto. Their international roots, their experiences with cultures around the world and many winters spent living, hiking and playing music on the Canary Island of La Gomera are the the source of inspiration for their new album “Gomera”. The stage is their home and for over 13 years now, these musicians and travelers have been connecting to cross-generational and cross-cultural audiences through their music with much charm, humor, fresh energy, authenticity and striking enthusiasm.

MARION & SOBO BAND make us travel the world with each song from a café in Paris, a walk through the streets of New Orleans, and bolero dance in Havana, to a hike on the Canary Islands. Marion’s love for languages transpires through her music as she sings in french, spanish, english, german, portuguese, albaresh, macedonian and romales. She also uses her multifaceted voice as an instrument for improvisation showing the same dexterity as the instrumentalists playing alongside her. The violin, guitars and double bass combine expressive and sensitive melodies with improvisation. They deliver an energetic and rhythmic sound without using any percussion instrument or drums. Instead, we follow the drive of the percussive guitars and their unique sound reminding us of the Selmer-Macaferri of the 1930s, and sounding both timeless and contemporary.

LINE-UP – The band plays in various line-ups: as a duet, trio, quartet and quintet.

Marion Lenfant-Preus // Vocals (& rhythmguitar, when playing in quartet or trio)
Alexander Sobocinski // Guitar
Stefan Berger // Double bass
Frank Brempel // Violin
Jonas Vogelsang // Guitar

MARION & SOBO and their band have been making music since 2011/2012, naviguating both the jazz and the global music scenes. It has performed concerts with world-renowned gypsy jazz guitarists Joscho Stephan and Lulo Reinhardt. It plays for anyone of any age, for smaller crowds in cozy jazzclubs to bigger crowds on stages of main theaters and reknowned open air festivals such as the global music festivals Bardentreffen (Nürnberg) and Horizonte Festival (Koblenz), and jazz festivals such as International Jazzweek Burghausen, Jazzrally Düsseldorf, and more. Although mainly playing in Germany where there are based, the musicians are looking to play internationally and have performed abroad at Django Festival Portugal (Portugal), St Gallen Festival (Switzerland), Graceland Festival (Netherlands). Marion & Sobo Band are always looking to meet new audiences everywhere so if you are a concert organizer anywhere on the globle, feel free to get in touch and let’s try to bring people together around music!
The band was chosen by the German cultural office NRW Kultursekretariat for the sponsorship “Musikkulturen” in 2019/2020 and were finalists at the “Creole NRW” competition in 2017.