If the motto of this year's Leipziger Jazztage "Tell me..." can be understood as an invitation to tell stories, the band Embryo has a lot to tell. Despite changing influences, their worldwide search for new narratives remains a reliable constant.

Where to start? When writing a text about Embryo, there are far too many possible starting points - the band's roots in bebop, their role as pioneers of krautrock in the early 70s or their collaborations with hundreds of musicians from North and Central Africa, the Middle East or India.

Marja Burchard also felt overwhelmed at first when she took over as leader of the band in 2016, as she reports in an interview with SWR Kultur. Her father and founder of the band, Christian Burchard, had suffered a stroke during a tour shortly beforehand.
Marja first appeared on stage with her father as a keyboard player at the age of 11 and had a strong connection to the band from an early age. 

Nevertheless, she did not want to follow unquestioningly in the footsteps of the self-titled jazz rock pioneer without making sure that the lifestyle associated with it really corresponded to her own wishes. "At some point I realized that I had to find my own way, and I tried out a lot of things and lived in a theater commune for a while."

For years, she performed a balancing act between participating in Embryo, supporting her father and taking part in her own creative projects. In 2016, multi-instrumentalist Marja found herself on her own for the first time "with this story, with this project." She was faced with the task of continuing her father's multifaceted musical dialog while adding her own touches. "Up, up", an appeal to set off, to carry on, was one of the last words of encouragement her father gave her, shortly before his death. It seemingly became the band's guiding principle and the title of the first studio album under new management, which was released in 2021. 

With compositional support from Maasl Meier, a core member of Embryo, and in collaboration with Afghan and Moroccan musicians, a symbiosis of sonic continuity and new facets was created. "Besh" takes the listener back to the band's beginnings with Embryo veteran Roman Bunka on the oud. "Yu mala" is initially based on a leisurely bass line reminiscent of West African blues, is extended by a vibraphone and surprisingly transforms into fusion jazz with a synthesizer interlude towards the end of the piece.

For Marja, making music is all about the feeling of connection, as she repeatedly emphasizes. Working with new and old collaborators keeps the metamorphosis of Embryo going. The use of previously unused instruments also helps to soften musical boundaries - most recently with the addition of a trombone. "Of course, I find it exciting to open up the project in other directions and bring in different musical styles. From electronic music, from hip-hop, so that it really retains this openness." So the band's musical terrain is far from completely mapped out.

TEXT: LEONIE BECKER