Elina Duni

Elina Duni is a classically trained vocalist and composer who melds the folk music customs from the Balkans and other Western areas with jazz, blues, and other components. Duni was created in 1981 in Tirana, Albania, right into a family of performers. She began carrying out publicly at age five and learning music significantly while in senior high school. At age 20, as the federal government of Albania dropped into strife — and finally disintegrated amid sectarian assault — she and her family members fled to Geneva, Switzerland. Between 2004 and 2008 she examined singing, structure, and teaching on the School of Arts in Bern. It had been while at school that she produced the Elina Duni Quartet with pianist Colin Vallon, bassist Patrice Moret, and drummer Norbert Pfammatter. She documented Baresha, her debut record using the group, in 2007; it had been released in 2008 by Meta Information. Its meld of main sources and contemporary jazz fulfilled with favorable testimonials throughout Europe. This year 2010 she implemented it up for the same label with Lume Lume, that was much more focused toward blues and jazz criteria, though it do includes some folk music. Because of her association with Vallon, she garnered the interest of ECM’s creator, Manfred Eicher, who agreed upon her. Her debut for the label, Matanë Malit (Beyond the Hill), featured many traditional music of obscure and contemporary origin. She organized the established to tell the storyplot of Albania, its people and background, and the issues which have enveloped it because the fall of communism. Matanë Malit made an appearance in nov 2012.