ALFA MIST

SUPPORT: Q (Qisheng Zheng)

Qisheng Zheng (Q) is a China-born, Netherlands-based multidisciplinary artist and flute player.
Moving fluidly between flute, composition, singing, rap, spoken word, poetry, and painting.
Q creates from a belief that when one fully opens to art and music, all forms naturally emerge.
Deeply spiritual and driven by fire, Q’s playing has been described as fierce and fearless “a
fighter on the flute.” Active in the Dutch jazz and improvised music scene for over five years, Q
has performed at major venues such as Bimhuis and TivoliVredenburg and collaborated with
musicians including Martin Fondse and Kika Sprangers.

Growing up in east London, Alfa’s journey to jazz was an unexpected one. “There’s no access to jazz where I come from,” he says. “Society made us think that there were only three options for success for Black kids who had the same amount of money as me: be a musician, sportsperson or criminal.” Naturally drawn to music thanks to the vitality of the grime scene that was breaking across the capital, Alfa would play with music production software during his break times at school, learning to put together fast-paced grime instrumentals. As he dug deeper into UK rap and hip-hop, he became curious about the samples used on records by the likes of Blackstar, Madlib and J Dilla. “Those producers were the gateway to jazz,” he comments. They ultimately led him to teach himself piano by ear to break down the harmonic intricacies of their formative tracks.

It is a balance between feeling and perfectionism that ultimately gives Alfa’s music its depth and capacity for repeated listening. It is also an ethos that has enabled his remarkable work-ethic to date. “I’ve never been a ‘one album every four years’ artist – I want to put out new projects every year,” he says. “Music is an extension of my life; it is the practice of creating.”

“Music is the gift that will never stop giving because I am always trying to figure out something new,” he says. “There will always be a question and I’m just searching for new ways to answer it.” We are the lucky ones, left to listen to Alfa’s soulful responses