IS THAT STILL JAZZ?
Arystan Petzold (b. 1983, Greifswald, Germany) is a multi-instrumentalist, music educator, composer and ethnomusicologist. Although — what does it really mean to call oneself a multi-instrumentalist or an ethnomusicologist today? And do these labels still say anything useful?
Since 2011, he has been dividing his time between Dresden (Germany) and Orvieto (Italy), moving between the rural context of Umbria and the urban cultural landscape in Germany.
Working with trumpet, wind instruments, strings, percussion, voice and live electronics, his practice moves across jazz, global music traditions and electronic contexts. His work is shaped by an interest in hybrid forms and in how musical languages intersect and transform through contact.
Jazz, in this sense, was never primarily a genre.
It marked an early encounter with improvisation — a practice of thinking, listening and acting in the moment, shaped by transition and experimentation rather than a fixed identity.
BEGINNINGS
His musical path began with the trumpet in local brass bands in East Germany and later expanded into DJing and beat production through the hip-hop culture of the 1990s.
After finishing school, Arystan spent several years in Madrid. The city’s inclusive atmosphere and everyday musical presence proved formative, opening up the possibility of pursuing music not only as an interest, but as a professional path.
In 2005, he returned to Germany to study jazz trumpet and music education at the Dresden University of Music, studying trumpet with, among others, Till Brönner and Malte Burba.
MUSIC, TRANCE AND RITUAL
His ethnomusicological work focuses on musical practice as a culturally situated activity — examining how sound, structure and performance operate within social and ritual contexts.
This led to ethnomusicological fieldwork in Morocco in 2010 under the supervision of the University of Music Dresden, with a focus on ritual music and trance phenomena. Questions of structure, repetition and intensity play a central role and continue to inform his artistic, pedagogical and compositional work.
Beyond academic research, these insights are actively embodied in contemporary ritual practice — particularly within the framework of Reconnection and in music-led ritual and movement contexts such as Ecstatic Dance.
TRANSCULTURAL PRACTICE, PERFORMANCE AND TEACHING
His work emerges from a multi-identitary background shaped by family history, migration, and long-term life in different European contexts, particularly Spain and Italy.
Building on jazz, hip hop, funk and soul, his musical practice expanded early on toward a wide range of global traditions — including West African and Latin American practices — as well as electronic music, approached through shared rhythmic patterns, modal, pentatonic and polyphonic systems, and vocal or instrumental performance practices.
Many of these musical traditions have been lived and developed through years of playing in bands and collective projects in Germany, Italy and Spain, which continue to inform his musical practice.
His solo project Arystan, based on live looping, brings these influences together within a polyinstrumental performance practice for clubs, festivals and participatory contexts. He also works as a composer for theatre and performative productions, creating music in close relation to dramaturgy and movement.
Alongside performance work, he has been active for many years in music education and mentoring, combining the transmission of musical skills and tools with the creation of relational and experiential learning spaces that balance clear structure with room for improvisation and experimentation, allowing participants to explore without fear of judgment.
He is a member of the music collective Banda Comunale and works in German, English, Italian, Spanish and Russian.
Live Looping Reel
Stage Performance
Workshop Snippet
