When Shleinus ate the sandwich at Basmah, a Sudanese restaurant in Berlin, Kreuzberg, for the first time, he thought to himself, that he wanted his music to feel like this sandwich tasted: Savoury and fruity, slightly spicy, nutty and earthy, but fresh, satisfying but complex, harmonious but unique.
Born and raised in Berlin, he picked up the drums at age 8, but it wasn’t until he founded his first band in 2014, in which he would play guitar and sing, that he truly fell in love with making sweet music. Since then he was like a sponge, learning about new styles, new approaches, new ways in which music can make you feel. He founded 2 more bands since then and several smaller projects.
When he recorded his first solo album in his room during the start of the pandemic, you could here influences of Jazz, Soul, Hip-hop, Rock, West African, Middle Eastern, Chilean and Cuban traditional music and all the instruments played by him, which included various percussion instruments, different horns, bass, piano, guitar, drums and vocals.
But this effort was due to the circumstances of the confinement. Usually Shleinus is all about collaboration, playing with lots of different people throughout Germany, France and Belgium, developing specific projects for culture room events and making albums and concerts with his three main bands Antimeta, Flug des Gesundbrunnen and High Action Perzik Smaak which range from Avantgarde Indie to instrumental Laser Hip-Hop to Spiritual Jazz.
So even though Shleinus is quirky, colourful, weird and crazy, when he plays his main instruments, his true power lies in assembling and leading projects, bringing people together and composing the tunes.
