Sigi Finkel & African Heart

After the first concerts in 1995/96 the band had a successful tour in Austria and Germany in the spring of 1997 where they performed to sold out houses in front of enthusiastic audiences.
Subsequently they were invited to the Jazz Fest Wien 1997, where they were celebrated as one of the best acts that year. Radio Austria made a live-recording of the concert.
In March 1998 the band presented its first CD "Heart-Beat" on a 4 week tour through the German speaking countries which gathered wide media resonance.

Following these successes and due to a large and ever-increasing demand, the band performed at the following festivals in 1999: Czech Republic (Jazz Festivals Hradec Kralove & Ustinad Labem), Germany (Birthday Party Radio MultiKulti/Berlin), Israel (Jerusalem Jazz Festival), Senegal (St. Louis Jazz Festival), Kap Verde (meeting with the group Simentera), Croatia (Krk Jazz Festival), Slovakia (Bratislava Jazz Days), Austria (Wiesen Sunsplash) and Italy.
In December 1999 the group recorded their 2nd CD.

In February 2000 the group did a workshop in cooperation with the Goetheinstitut and played concerts in Senegal for the 2nd time.
In September and October 2000 the group presented their 2nd CD "African Echoes" on a 5 week tour through Austria, Germany, Greece and Turkey.

In April and May 2001 the band toured Zimbabwe & South Africa. Besides concerts at the Harare Int. Festival of the Arts and the Chimanimani Festival the group also gave workshops in the townships of Johannesburg and Pretoria.
In the summer 2001 the band could be heard at the festivals "Jazz across the border"-Berlin, Afrofestival-Osnabrück, Wiener Neustädter Frühling and others.

Through the year 2002, Sigi has been very active with African Heart: besides touring Germany, Switzerland and Austria in March and a cooperation with Ch. Kolonovits (Voestival), the band was busy with playing at various festivals and open air concerts in June and July throughout Europe. In the fall the new CD "Spirits of Rhythm" has been released (with special guests Joseph Bowie, mastermind of Defunkt & Soriba Kouyaté). Following that the band went on a five week promotion tour.

The year 2003 started with some further concerts in Africa: For the first time the band performed in Burkina Faso in January 03. In spring and summer the group played in Austria (LIVE broadcast by Austrian Radio!), Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Slovenia and reknown Tunisia Jazz Festival Tabarka (LIVE broadcast by TV and Radio!!)

2004 saw the band performing all over Europe (NL, B, CH, D, A, CZ, GB), Turkey (TV-recording for the National Broadcasting Company TRT) und Morocco (also TV-recording for the National TV).

2005 release of the 4th CD "Sarango"

2006 & 2007 – further concerts and festival performances mainly in the German speaking countries

2008 – festival performances in Tunesia and Cyprus