WST- West Side Trio

With wood, voice, strings, cables, amplifiers and effect pedals they defy musical categorization, creating a world of their own.

They compose and improvise everything from soft sweet melodies to groovy distorted electronic noise.

West Side Trio is: Vera van der Bie (violin, fx, vocals), Rani Kumar (viola, fx, vocals) and Annie Tangberg (cello, fx, vocals). Classically trained, experienced in jazz and pop music and always looking for new sounds.

The colors and nuances are endless and innovative. This experimental string sound draws attention from jazz and pop musicians who ask WST to collaborate with them. They go on a European tour with Bill Laurance (Snarky Puppy) and play Pinkpop and Tivoli/Vredenburg with Jonathan Jeremiah. They also play with and record for Ken Stringfellow (R.E.M., The Posies), Sonja van Hamel, Fay Lovsky, Tini Thomsen, Sebastien Levanneur, Willow Mae, Lewis Phillips and Reveller.

The West Side Trio plays at festivals like the Cello Biënnale, ViolaViola Festival, Fringe Festival, Klik! Animation Festival, Peel Slowly and See, Love Supreme Festival, Düsseldorf Jazz Rally and Naked Song Festival.

The combination of WST with film appears to be a successful one: the trio is commissioned by EYE Filmmuseum and De Balie to write and play their music live for several silent and animated films. For the silent film “Tabu” they write and perform with the Metropole Strings at the Muziekgebouw aan het IJ. For TYME (Thirty Years MSX Event) they arrange old MSX computer tunes in their own West Side way, accompanied by images of the actual games. The WST is also part of the band “The Leonids,” in which the focus lies on blending music and live imagery.

West Side Trio is currently working on their third album.