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JANUARY
CHRISTIAN WALLUMROD Quartet (Norway)
Link: www.christianwallumrod.com
Arve Henriksen – trumpet
Nils Okland – violin / hardangerfiddle / viola d’amore
Per Oddvar Johansen – drums
Christian Wallumrød – grand piano / harmonium / toy piano
“… Music of character and quiet strength from four of Norway’s most independently-minded musicians. Three of them have impressive CVs in jazz and improvisation, the fourth is recognised as an innovator in the world of folk music. The music they play together in the Wallumrod Quartet defines its own territory, as the players negotiate the leader’s subtle, finely-constructed compositions… ”
The Label ECM RECORDS www.ecmrecords.com
28.01 Brussels Espace Senghor / B
30.01 Amsterdam Bimhuis / NL
31.01 Groningen / NL
MARCH
IVO PAPASOV & HIS WEDDING BAND (Bulgaria)
Link: www.elen-music.com/art014en.php
“… With a huge gut and unwieldy frame, Ivo Papasov seems an unlikely source for some of the most nimble and virtuosic music you’ll be left in little doubt that he’s one of most interesting clarinettists around. He and his band race through numbers based on the complex rhythms of Bulgarian folk dances, grafting on jazzy improvisations… “
SIMON BRAUGHTON editor of THE ROUGH GUIDE TO WORLD MUSIC
18.03 Heidelberg Karlstorbahnhof / D
19.03 Dornbirn Spielboden / A
21.03 Fribourg La Spiralle / CH
22.03 Bern Bee Flat / CH
24.03 Munich Jazz Lines Festival (“Schwere Reiter” Hall) / D
25.03 Linz Posthof / A
26.03 Vienna Szene / A
27.03 Salzburg Jazzit / A
APRIL
UNNI LØVLIDs New Project RITE (Norway)
Link: www.elen-music.com/art089en.php
Unni Løvlid – vocal, electronica
Lene Grenager – cello
Hild Sofie Tafjord – electronica
Ingar Hunskaar – sound, electronica
Unni Løvlid is one of the most exciting folk music performers around day, who dares to take traditional music to entirely new places, and has the creative imagination to do so. She is a versatile musician and artist and has experience from a great variety of projects and genres in the region Norwegian folk, contemporary music and electronica. It has taken four years to complete RITE, for which Løvlid has written all the words and music herself. The music on RITE lies somewhere between electronica, contemporary and world.
23.04 Kassel Weltmusikfestival / D
24.04 Flensburg FolkBaltica / D (Fjord Skies Project)
25.04 Flensburg FolkBaltica / D
26.04 Sönderborg FolkBaltica / DK (Fjord Skies Project)
SEVDA AZERI JAZZ PROJECT (Azerbaijan)
Link: www.sonicbids.com/SEVDA
Sevda Alekperzadeh – vocal
Emil Mammadov – piano
Malik Mansurov – tar, ud
Ruslan Huseynov – double bass or bass guitar
Natik Shirinov – perc / nagara, davul
Vagif Aliyev – percussion
Her musical career has been formed by a synthesis between western and eastern music. She is also interested in classical and pop music. Her magical blend of music from East Asia, the Orient and the Occident caught the attention of experts from the East and from abroad. This unique way of adopting and adapting different musical traditions means that Sevda has opened up a whole new chapter in the history of Azeri Music.
21.04 Frankfurt Brotfabrik & Hessian Radio / D
22.04 Bielefeld Kammermusiksaal der Oetker-Halle WDRadio / D
23.04 Esch Kulturfabrik / LUX
26.04 Freiberg Jazz Festival / D
VOLKOV TRIO feat SERGEY STAROSTIN (Russia)
Link: www.elen-music.com/art039en.php
Vladimir Volkov – double bass
Slava Kurashov – guitar
Denis Sladkevich – drums
feat. Sergey Starostin – clarinet, vocal
The project Volkov Trio feat. Starostin is a very intensive music which combines jazz, improvisation and Russian folklore roots. Every musician impresses by his expressive style of music and convinces with absolute professionalism. You will feel dizzyfollowing the hands of the musicians but don’t be afraid of getting lost in the wonderful music.
21.04 Lubljana Cankarjev Dom / SLO
22.04 Amsterdam Bimhuis / NL
24.04 Freiberg Jazz Festival / D
APRIL / MAY
REZ ABBASSI JAZZ QUARTET feat. KIRAN (Pakistan / India / USA)
Link: www.myspace.com/rezabbasi
Rez Abassi – guitar (Pakistan)
Kiran Ahluwalia – voice (India)
Gary Versage – hammond organ (USA)
Danny Weiss – drums, tabla, perc (USA)
Born in Pakistan on the Indian Sub-Continent, removed at the age of four to the sounds of Southern California, schooled at the University of Southern California and the Manhattan School of Music as well as a pilgrimage in India under the tutorial of master percussionist, Ustad Alla Rakha, Rez Abbasi is a vivid synthesis of all the above stated influences and genres.
Snake Charmer is a metaphor for the life energy in our body that rises like a snake through meditation or chanting. According to Eastern spiritualism, we can create a state of personal bliss and eventual world peace by becoming more aware of these properties within.
23.04 Prague Reduta / CZ
24.04 Wroclaw Jazzclub / POL
25.04 Gdansk / POL
27.04 Brno Jazz Festival / CZ
30.04 Darmstadt Knabenschule / D
02.05 Bray Jazz Festival / IR
EVA QUARTET (Bulgaria)
Link: www.myspace.com/evaquartet
Eva Quartet consists of some of the best Bulgarian female voices – the four solo singers of the world-famous female folk choir “Le mystere des voix bulgares”. Here the different voices are meeting in such a virtuosity that you are getting the feeling of listening to one. The singing of EVA is pure solo work and every tone can be felt very sensitively.
30.04 Vienna Konzerthaus / A
feat. DVUGLAS www.myspace.com/dvuglas
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12.05 Leipzig Acappella Festival / D
15.05 Theater Landgraaf Limburg / NL
16.05 Leipzig Gewandhaus Acappella Festival / D
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23.05 Algavre Festival / POR
JUNE
CHRISTIAN WALLUMROD Ensemble (Norway / Switzerland)
Link: www.christianwallumrod.com
Christian Wallumrød – piano, harmonium, toy piano
Eivind Lønning – trumpet
Gjermund Larsen – violin, hardanger fiddle, viola
Tanja Orning – cello
Giovanna Pessi – baroque harp
Per Oddvar Johansen – drums, percussion, glockenspiel
“The Ensemble is expanded to a sextet, yet sounds like one organic corpus. Fiddle, harp, cello and trumpet melt together in beautiful melodies… Jazz, baroque, minimalism, contemporary music are words that only begin to convey a small spectrum of Wallumrod’s musical universe. He has an authentic sense of sound and structure, and again we are spellbound by the unique syntheses and the balanced contrasts”
Verdens Gaang
31.05 Novara Jazz Festival / IT
03-05.06 Lugano Radio Recordings / CH
07.06 Zürich Taktlos Festival / CH
HAIG YAZDJIAN & GROUP (Armenia / Greece)
Link: www.sonicbids.com/haigyazdjian
Haig Yazdjian – ud, voice
Harris Lambrakis – ney
Petros Varthakouris – double bass
Vangelis Karipis – perc
Haig Yazdjian was born by Armenian parents in Syria, and has been living in Greece for the last 20 years. Yazdjian was hailed for the unique ways he was blending diverse elements of the eastern Mediterranean music traditions vested in the practice of considering tradition as a live creative force.
09.06 Esch Kulturfabrik / LUX
10.06 Brussels Musiekpublique / B
11.06 Esch Kulturfabrik / LUX
12.06 Wolfach Klausenbauernhof / D
13.06 Worms Jazz Festival / D feat. ENVER IZMAILOV
UBRE DEBRE GYPSY BAND (Bulgaria)
Link: www.myspace.com/ubredebre
Kostadin Kostadinov – kaval (wooden flute)
Sylvi Atanasova – vocal
Angel Metodiev – trumpet
Mitko Iliev – trombone
Stefcho Kolev – tuba
Kiril Karabadjakov – double bass
Stoyan Pavlov – percussion
UBRE DEBRE GYPSY BAND is a Bulgarian gypsy formation representing an extraordinary project with acoustic Gypsy music.
13.06 Brussels Musiekpublique / B
JULY
EVA QUARTET (Bulgaria)
Link: www.myspace.com/evaquartet
Eva Quartet consists of some of the best Bulgarian female voices – the four solo singers of the world-famous female folk choir “Le mystere des voix bulgares”. Here the different voices are meeting in such a virtuosity that you are getting the feeling of listening to one. The singing of EVA is pure solo work and every tone can be felt very sensitively.
02.-04.07. Forde Folk Music Festival / NOR
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11.07 Malmö Festival / S
13.07 Trento Festival / IT
ENSEMBLE AYARKHAAN REPUBLIC SAHA (Yakutiya)
Link: www.elen-music.com/art096en.php
Video: click here
The soloists of the ensemble appear by the conquerors and by the laureats urban, republic and regional competitions on playing khomus, singing and solo “Osukhaya”. They sing in the style “d’ieretii”, characteristic head-voiced overtones, which comprise unique decorating “counterpoint” to the sounding by the main thing melodious line. Musicians can depict with the aid of the voice and khomus jumps horses, noise wind, cries seagulls and many others natural sounds .
04.07 Rudolstadt Festival / D
05.07 Rudolstadt Festival / D
06.07 Cologne WDRadio Recordings / D
07.07 Trento Festival / IT
RENÉ LACAILLE & BAND (Reunion)
*** NEW ALBUM on label CONNECTING CULTURES ***
Link: www.elen-music.com/art095en.php
René Lacaille – accordion, ukulele, guitars, voice
Julian Babou – guitars
Yanis Lacaille – percussions, charango, backing vocals
Marc Lacaille – percussions, backing vocals
Oriane Lacaille – backing vocals, percussions, keyboard
Lacaille is the master of the spicy séga rhythms of l’Île de la Réunion, a volcanic island paradise located deep in the southwestern Indian Ocean. The embodiment of la Réunion’s vitality, René is a man steeped in his culture’s celebration of life and good times.
“The gravel-voiced troubadour in rumbustuous form, swinging between rum-soaked chansons and thumping singalongs”
The Observer UK
09.07 Berlin HdKW Festival / D
A MOVING SOUND (Taiwan)
Link: www.myspace.com/amovingsound
Mia Hsieh – vocal and dance
Tang Hsuan Lo – erhu
Hwa Jou Hsieh – zhong ruan, western guitar
Scott Prairie – zhong ruan, bass
Cheng Chun Wu – percussion, flute, erhu
Traditional Taiwanese, Chinese and neighboring Asian music forms are fused in new original song compositions. Instruments such as the Chinese erhu (a vertically held, bowed instrument), the zhong ruan (Chinese guitar), an assortment of western instruments, and the transcendent vocals and dance of lead singer Mia Hsieh, transport listeners on a journey that Global Rhythm magazine describes as “…delicately balanced between many worlds. an entryway to Eastern music and artful expression
of the human condition”.
“One of the most original outfits working in the world music arena today”
Tom Pryor / Global Rhythm Magazine
18.07 Augsburg Festival / D
CYRO BAPTISTAs Beat The Donkey Perc Project (Brazil / USA )
Link: www.elen-music.com/art090en.php
“There’s nothing comfortably familiar here; Beat The Donkey’s highly visual polyethnic (or perhaps omni-ethnic) high-voltage percussive ensemble will push your mind to its limits. Don’t be scared, though; Beat the Donkey puts on what just might be the most exciting live show you’ll ever see. This is pure, addictive pleasure, fun and funny… trust us, you’ve got to see it to believe it.”
Grassroots
24.07 Sines Festival / P
KIRAN AHLUWALIA (India)
Link: www.elen-music.com/art088en.php
Link: www.myspace.com/musickiran
Kiran Ahluwalia – voice
Rez Abbasi – guitar
Gurpreet Chana – tabla/dhol
Enzo d’Aversa – accordion
Kiran Ahluwalia’s music is a reflection of her on-going quest to bring the ghazal style into a modern and global context – while maintaining the connections to it’s storied and poetic past. Though she may sing about unfulfilled desires, her music reveals a compelling harmony that unites diverse inspirations, into a truly sublime and satisfying whole.
“Ahluwalia’s voice is caressing and seductive and the arrangements are magnificent.”
Songlines
18.07 Augsburg Festival / D
22.07 Paleo Festival / CH
23.07 Paleo Festival / CH
25.07 Mals Xong Festival / A
AUGUST
BANDA ADRIATICA (Italy)
Link: www.elen-music.com/art094en.php
Link: www.myspace.com/adriatik
The band is made of by musicians from different cultures and origins under the star of the Adriatic Sea.
The music represents a long path of searching and experimenting relationships between the music from the South of Italy, Albania, Greece and the north-east Adriatic side.
Original lyrics and music search for a new kind of language able to match traditions and peculiarities of Adriatic cultures.
A hypothetical voyage through the ports of the Adriatic Sea.
A long trip made of chance encounters and spasmodic research.
From the shores of Italy’s Salento to Albania, from Venice to Dubrovnik and as far afield as Crete, dreaming of a safe haven.
06.08 Feldkirchen / A
07.08 Wieselburg / A
BULGARA (Bulgaria)
Link: www.myspace.com/bulgaragroup
Their music is a homogenous very groove mixture of extracts of Balkan and Bulgarian folklore with modern beats like drum & bass, funk etc.
Modern sound, adding to the beauty of the traditional Balkan Music.
11.-16.08 Antwerpen Summer Festival / B
EVA QUARTET (Bulgaria)
Link: www.myspace.com/evaquartet
Link: www.sonicbids.com/evaquartet
Eva Quartet consists of some of the best Bulgarian female voices – the four solo singers of the world-famous female folk choir “Le mystere des voix bulgares”. Here the different voices are meeting in such a virtuosity that you are getting the feeling of listening to one. The singing of EVA is pure solo work and every tone can be felt very sensitively.
23.08 Sopot Festival (The Music Of Cheslaw Niemen) / PL
SEPTEMBER
MUNADJAT YULCHIEVA (Uzbekistan)
Link: www.elen-music.com/art055en.php
Munojatkhon Yulchieva – vocal
Shavkat Mukhamedov – rubab
Khodjimurad Safarov – doira
Malikakhon Ziyayeva – dutar
“Leading performer of classical Uzbek music and its Persian-language cousin Shashmaqâm. One of the Great Artist and Voices from Mid Asia!”
As a performer she is incredible, like a Queen – She is a part of the World Heritage!
11.09 Utrecht Rasa / NL
12.09 Brussels Bozar Festival / B
CHRISTIAN WALLUMROD Quartet (Norway)
Link: www.christianwallumrod.com
Arve Henriksen – trumpet
Nils Okland – violin, hardangerfiddle, viola d’amore
Per Oddvar Johansen – drums
Christian Wallumrød – piano, harmonium, toy piano
Music of character and quiet strength from four of Norway’s most independently-minded musicians. Three of them have impressive CVs in jazz and improvisation, the fourth is recognised as an innovator in the world of folk music. The music they play together in the Wallumrod Quartet defines its own territory, as the players negotiate the leader’s subtle, finely-constructed compositions.
10.09 Russelsheim Jazz Fabrik / D
ENVER IZMAILOV & LENYE DUO (Crimea Tatar / Uzbekistan)
Link: www.elen-music.com/art008en.php
“By two handed hammering on he is making the guitar a new instrument which is in no way inferior to the polyhone possibilities of the cembalo. Izmailov’s tours through baroque quotations, Slavian folklore and sound excesses are technically and artistically pure magic.”
Uli Olshausen / Frankfurter Allgemeine
17.09 Leipzig Telegraph / D
18.09 Radebeul / D
20.09 Lich Musik Welten Festival in Bezalel-Synagoge / D
OCTOBER
EVA QUARTET (Bulgaria)
Link: www.myspace.com/evaquartet
Eva Quartet consists of some of the best Bulgarian female voices – the four solo singers of the world-famous female folk choir “Le mystere des voix bulgares”. Here the different voices are meeting in such a virtuosity that you are getting the feeling of listening to one. The singing of EVA is pure solo work and every tone can be felt very sensitively.
10.10 Bielsko-Biala Festival / POL
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21.10 Budapest Palace of Arts / HUN
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29.10 Uppsala Sacred Music Festival / SWE
31.10. Womex Copenhagen Koncerthuset Studio 1 / DK
www.womex.de
NEW EAST EUROPEAN QUARTET
Link: www.elen-music.com/art058en.php
Anatoly Vapirov – saxophone (Bulgaria)
Antoni Donchev – piano (Bulgaria)
Vladimir Volkov – double bass (Russia)
Vladimir Tarasov – drums, percussion (Lithuania)
Organized and presented by Barbican in London this project combines some of the most creative musicians in East-European jazz. A kind of Superformation which caused a very big sensation.
24.10 Cormons Jazz & Wine Festival / IT
NOVEMBER
*** NEW ALBUM on ECM RECORDS / 40 Years ECM ***
CHRISTIAN WALLUMROD Ensemble (Norway)
Link: www.christianwallumrod.com
Christian Wallumrød – piano, harmonium, toy piano
Eivind Lønning – trumpet
Gjermund Larsen – violin, hardanger fiddle, viola
Tanja Orning – cello
Giovanna Pessi – baroque harp
Per Oddvar Johansen – drums, percussion, glockenspiel
“The Ensemble is expanded to a sextet, yet sounds like one organic corpus. Fiddle, harp, cello and trumpet melt together in beautiful melodies…
Jazz, baroque, minimalism, contemporary music are words that only begin to convey a small spectrum of Wallumrod’s musical universe. He has an authentic sense of sound and structure, and again we are spellbound by the unique syntheses and the balanced contrasts”
Verdens Gaang
01.11 Ingolstadt Jazz Festival / D
02.11 Münich Schwere Reiter / D
03.11 Nürnberg Tafelhalle / D
KIRAN AHLUWALIA (India)
Link: www.elen-music.com/art088en.php
Link: www.myspace.com/musickiran
Kiran Ahluwalia – voice
Rez Abbasi – guitar
Gurpreet Chana – tabla/dhol
Enzo d’Aversa – accordion
Kiran Ahluwalia’s music is a reflection of her on-going quest to bring the ghazal style into a modern and global context – while maintaining the connections to it’s storied and poetic past. Though she may sing
about unfulfilled desires, her music reveals a compelling harmony that unites diverse inspirations, into a truly sublime and satisfying whole.
“Ahluwalia’s voice is caressing and seductive and the arrangements are magnificent.”
Songlines
04.11 Vienna Festival / A
05.11 Steyr Akku / A
06.11 Nürnberg Villa Leon / D
09.11 Amsterdam Bimhus / NL
17.11 London Jazz Festival / UK
SEVDA AZERI PROJECT (Azerbaijan)
Link: www.sonicbids.com/SEVDA
www.networkmedien.de
Sevda Alekperzadeh – vocal
Emil Mammadov – piano
Malik Mansurov – tar, ud
Ruslan Huseynov – double bass or bass guitar
Natik Shirinov – perc / nagara, davul
Vagif Aliyev – percussion
Her musical career has been formed by a synthesis between western and eastern music. She is also interested in classical and pop music. Her magical blend of music from East Asia, the Orient and the Occident caught the attention of experts from the East and from abroad. This unique way of adopting and adapting different musical traditions means that Sevda has opened up a whole new chapter in the history of Azeri Music.
22.11 Bern Bee Flat / CH
26.11 Basel Birds Eye / CH
DECEMBER
ENVER IZMAILOV (Crimea Tatar / Uzbekistan)
Link: www.elen-music.com/art008en.php
“By two handed hammering on he is making the guitar a new instrument which is in no way inferior to the polyhone possibilities of the cembalo. Izmailov’s tours through baroque quotations, Slavian folklore and sound excesses are technically and artistically pure magic.”
Uli Olshausen / Frankfurter Allgemeine
09.12 Hofheim Festival / D