Marie Tjong-Ayong

Born in 1994, Marie Tjong-Ayong – a daughter of jazz musician and music teacher – grew up listening everything from John Coltrane to Earth, Wind and Fire on vinyl from an early age. She started learning violin at the age of 3 and trumpet at the age of 12 after graduating from high school. In 2014-2019, she studied jazz trumpet with teachers as Andy Haderer and Matthias Bergmann at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln. Since then she has played with many jazz bands (Leon Plecity's Extraordinary Machine, T.P.C.M.), pop groups (Luciel) as well as afrobeat and hip-hop projects (HYPNAGOGIA). She has also been a member of the Rundfunk-Tanzorchester Ehrenfeld of the ZDF Magazin Royales with Jan Böhmermann. During the pandemic, Tjong-Ayong began to dedicate herself to electronic music as a producer and DJ. After falling in love with the capital’s vibrant music scene, she moved from Cologne to Berlin in 2021. Looking back on it, this was not only a major change in scenery. “Since the first visit to Berlin, I was overwhelmed by the size in every way,” she admits. “Especially at the size of possibilities to express artistically. Insane free jazz concerts and an impressive exhibition with lots of red wax in Gropius-Bau.”