julian datta

guitarist/composer

all pictures © Darek Gontarski


Berlin-based guitarist/composer Julian Datta now mainly writes and plays for his band, the Kancha Lanka Koalition - with Richard Koch on trumpet, Rafael Espinoza on bass, and Javi Reyes on drums.


He originally started out in garage rock bands as a teenager, while already being intrigued by contemporary classical, avant jazz and other types of explorative music. Mostly self-taught, he has been investigating jazz, rhythm & blues, classical guitar, and konnakol (south-indian spoken rhythms), while also developing a personal vocabulary for improvisation and a personal approach to composition.


(Rehearsal excerpt w/ Tayfun Schulzke, drums, and Gidi Farhi, bass, 2018)


He played many different styles over the years, with a special focus on driving poly-rhythms. Highlights include touring with Santiago Blaum's music theater company (Nietzsche Contra Wagner Nueva Germania Opera Tropical, 2013) and with rapper/activist Sister Fa, as well as completely improvised performances with Etoile Chaville, Meltem Nil, Steffen Faul, Adam Caine, Benedikt Bindewald, and others.


With various projects, he has performed on stages all over Germany, in Austria, Switzerland, Poland, France, Senegal, and the United States.


In the studio, he has worked with soundtrack composer Christian Conrad („Westwind“, 2011) and Frankie Flowerz (albums „Girlz and Boyz“, 2011 and „Tales from the Living Room“, 2019, both on Funkhaus Music), among others.



Copyright 2023 © Julian Datta. All rights reserved.