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BOI AKIH

BOI AKIH effortlessly weaves modern jazz and improvised music with folk traditions from all over the world, creating a unique sound that is unconventional, yet totally recognisable and accessible. Acoustic sounds merge with the versatile, warm voice of Monica Akihary, who sings and writes her poems in both English and Haruku, the endangered language of her father’s island (Moluccas/Indonesia/Melanesia). She is an exceptional vocalist who sends her song directly into the listener's soul.

In Storyteller, the new album, Akihary and virtuoso guitarist and intriguing composer Niels Brouwer, who form BOI AKIH, are joined by Hungarian recorder player Dodó Kis and Guinean kora player Sekou Dioubate. With musical curiosity Kis moves nomadically between styles and traditions, from early music to Hungarian folk music. Dioubate plays a 35-string kora with additional chromatic strings, specially designed for BOI AKIH’s repertoire. He combines his knowledge of the West African musical tradition with an inquiring mind. These four evoke a world where boundaries dissolve and the distances between places, time and traditions don’t seem to exist.

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Album Review

Boi Akih: Circles in a Square Society

Read "Circles in a Square Society" reviewed by Ian Patterson


The soul of Boi Akih--a duo, sextet, and all configurations in between-- is Monica Akihary's soulful voice and guitarist Niels Brouwer's jazz/world-inflected acoustic guitar. Boi Akih has always experimented; Lagu Lagu (Bromo, 2005)--an exquisite meeting between jazz, blues and Indonesian folk--was sung in the almost extinct Haruku language of Akihary's ancestors. With Indian percussionist Sandip Bhattcharya, Boi Akih roars and sighs like a little Shakti. Innovation and adventure defines--and inspires--Boi Akih, but an album of interpretations of the alternative pop/folk ...

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All About Jazz, Feb 2021 “Storyteller is a wonderfully resonant blend of cultures and textures which hails traditions and innovations alike. Akihary and Brouwer have always shown deep respect for tradition but know, too, that without evolution there is stagnation. Above all, however, the music is a tale of ingenuity, loss, resilience and, ultimately, of triumph.”

Heaven Magazine , Feb 2021 “Boi Akih have been playing together for 22 years and they treated us to a phenomenal concert, …combining sublime instrumental interaction with Akihary’s vocal beauty and emotion.” “High-quality music that despite its mostly light tone is not lightweight, and precisely because of that can withstand a lot of spins without becoming tiresome”

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Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

[yalelol]

Unknown label
2007

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Circle5

From: Circles in a Square Society
By BOI AKIH

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