ECM Festival: Elina Duni Quartet
21:00
Opus Jazz Club
Featuring:
- Elina Duni
- Colin Vallon
- Patrice Moret
- Norbert Pfammater
An event of Cafe Budapest
Supported by Telekom
Elina Duni - voice Colin Vallon - piano Patrice Moret - double-bass Norbert Pfammater - drums Matanë Malit (Beyond the mountain), Elina Duni’s ECM debut after two previous releases for Meta Records, is an hommage to Albania. A singer looking at her roots from a present-day vantage point as a musician engaged in improvisational processes. Jazz experience informs her exploration of Balkan folk songs – with attention to atmosphere, the shape of the sound, the tactility of the structures, the implications of the words… It’s about serving the song, she explains, and about reclaiming and reinventing it.
Duni was just 10 when she left Albania in 1991, and found her route to its songs only after forays into classical music, blues and jazz standards. At the urging of Colin Vallon, she began to sing in Albanian in their duo, formed in 2004 while both were studying at Berne’s Hochschule der Künste. “I simply fell in love with the old songs, and discovered that not only could I sing them and feel them but that this was really my voice, emerging in a very natural way.” As the duo became a trio, then a quartet, Duni began to explore the music of Albania in earnest, digging deeper into the region’s troubled history, uncovering many songs of real beauty and power, older songs from her homeland and from its vast diaspora. Matanë Malit includes songs of lovers, heroes, workers, shepherds, exiles, songs of resistance. Traditional songs arranged by Elina Duni Quartet, and new music expressively moulded in the tradition.
Over the last several years, her quartet has bloomed into a subtle unit of broad artistic reach. They make the integration of modal jazz and folk music sound organic. And, reinforcing Duni’s stark delivery, the players seem to get inside the texts, focusing all the intensity that this poetry needs. Colin Vallon, who has long counted singers amongst his most profound influences, often seems like an answering voice at the piano. Bassist Patrice Moret brings his keen choice of notes to both the Elina Duni Quartet and the Colin Vallon Trio, and interacts persuasively with drummer Norbert Pfammatter. Leader Duni recognizes that it is what they create together that is important. “I never wanted to be a singer with backing trio. From the beginning I gave a lot of space to the musicians for improvising, and experimented also with my voice. It’s another instrument. Over time, we have built up an understanding that allows us to go anywhere...”
www.elinaduni.com www.ecmrecords.com
Tickets available on site or at the website of
CAFE BUDAPEST
Elina Duni - voice Colin Vallon - piano Patrice Moret - double-bass Norbert Pfammater - drums Matanë Malit (Beyond the mountain), Elina Duni’s ECM debut after two previous releases for Meta Records, is an hommage to Albania. A singer looking at her roots from a present-day vantage point as a musician engaged in improvisational processes. Jazz experience informs her exploration of Balkan folk songs – with attention to atmosphere, the shape of the sound, the tactility of the structures, the implications of the words… It’s about serving the song, she explains, and about reclaiming and reinventing it.
Duni was just 10 when she left Albania in 1991, and found her route to its songs only after forays into classical music, blues and jazz standards. At the urging of Colin Vallon, she began to sing in Albanian in their duo, formed in 2004 while both were studying at Berne’s Hochschule der Künste. “I simply fell in love with the old songs, and discovered that not only could I sing them and feel them but that this was really my voice, emerging in a very natural way.” As the duo became a trio, then a quartet, Duni began to explore the music of Albania in earnest, digging deeper into the region’s troubled history, uncovering many songs of real beauty and power, older songs from her homeland and from its vast diaspora. Matanë Malit includes songs of lovers, heroes, workers, shepherds, exiles, songs of resistance. Traditional songs arranged by Elina Duni Quartet, and new music expressively moulded in the tradition.
Over the last several years, her quartet has bloomed into a subtle unit of broad artistic reach. They make the integration of modal jazz and folk music sound organic. And, reinforcing Duni’s stark delivery, the players seem to get inside the texts, focusing all the intensity that this poetry needs. Colin Vallon, who has long counted singers amongst his most profound influences, often seems like an answering voice at the piano. Bassist Patrice Moret brings his keen choice of notes to both the Elina Duni Quartet and the Colin Vallon Trio, and interacts persuasively with drummer Norbert Pfammatter. Leader Duni recognizes that it is what they create together that is important. “I never wanted to be a singer with backing trio. From the beginning I gave a lot of space to the musicians for improvising, and experimented also with my voice. It’s another instrument. Over time, we have built up an understanding that allows us to go anywhere...”
www.elinaduni.com www.ecmrecords.com
Tickets available on site or at the website of
CAFE BUDAPEST