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Elina Duni

Born into an artistic family in Tirana, Albania, in 1981, Elina Duni made her first steps on the stage as a singer aged five, singing for National Radio and Television.

In 1992, after the fall of the communist regime, she settled in Geneva, Switzerland, with her mother, where she started studying classical piano and thereafter discovered jazz.

She went on to study on the jazz programme at the Hochschule der Künste in Bern. During this time, she formed the Elina Duni Quartet with Colin Vallon on piano, Patrice Moret on double bass and Norbert Pfammatter on drums. This represented a return to her musical roots, a combination of Balkan folk songs and jazz.

After two albums, “Baresha” (2008) and “Lume Lume” (2010), both on Meta Records, the quartet went on to release for ECM in 2012, “Matanë Malit” (Beyond the Mountain) and in 2015, “Dallëndyshe” (Swallow), which were praised by the wider European media for their lightness as well as their subtle manner of exploring Albanian folklore.

In 2014, Elina Duni released her first album as a singer-songwriter in Kosovo and Albania, entitled “Muza e Zezë” (The Black Muse).

In 2017 Elina Duni was one of the recipient of the Swiss Music Prize and started two new projects: - A duo with the highly acclaimed london guitarist Rob Luft

- “Aksham” a quintet featuring pianist Marc Perrenoud and trumpet player David Enhco

- The project entitled “Partir” featuring Elina Duni as a soloist (accompanying herself on piano, acoustic guitar and percussion), has been released on record in April 2018 on ECM.

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Radio & Podcasts

Elina Duni, Veronica Swift, Maria Pia de Vito, Gabriela Martina & More

Read "Elina Duni, Veronica Swift, Maria Pia de Vito, Gabriela Martina & More" reviewed by Ludovico Granvassu


Too often we focus our attention on instrumental jazz... in this hour we remedy that by paying special attention to jazz vocalists who excel at surprising and challenging expectations.Happy listening!Playlist Ben Allison “Mondo Jazz Theme (feat. Ted Nash & Pyeng Threadgill)" 0:00 Kurt Elling, Charlie Hunter “Freeman Square" SuperBlue: The Iridescent Spree (Edition) 0:16 Host talks 5:26 Veronica Swift “Closer" Veronica Swift (Mack Avenue) 6:50 Host talks 11:43 Maria Pia de Vito “The Elephant in the ...

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Album Review

Elina Duni: A Time to Remember

Read "A Time to Remember" reviewed by Chris May


Someone once described Leonard Cohen's music as “uplifting in a peculiarly depressing way." The music of singer Elina Duni and guitarist Rob Luft is not depressing, though it certainly is uplifting. It is, however, full of tristesse, of sadness for things that are lost, be they people or places. This feeling goes deeper than mere nostalgia. Listening to A Time To Remember and its predecessors, Duni and Luft's Lost Ships (ECM, 2020) and Duni's Partir (ECM, 2018), ...

Live Review

Biennale Musica 2021 - Drammaturgie vocali

Read "Biennale Musica 2021 - Drammaturgie vocali" reviewed by Libero Farnè


Venezia Varie sedi 17—26.9.2021 Lucia Ronchetti è la prima donna ad essere nominata alla direzione artistica di Biennale Musica dopo sessantaquattro edizioni di monopolio maschile. Un fatto che ci appare come un evento straordinario solo per il fatto di essere tardivo; ci si domanda perché mai non sia potuto accadere prima e si auspica che non debba rimanere un caso isolato nei decenni a venire della manifestazione. Ronchetti, che fa seguito alla direzione di Ivan ...

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Album Review

Elina Duni / Rob Luft: Lost Ships

Read "Lost Ships" reviewed by Chris May


Released just in time to make the Best Albums of 2020 lists, the Albanian-Swiss singer Elina Duni and the British guitarist Rob Luft's Lost Ships is an exquisitely beautiful, emotionally complex, words and music masterpiece from two of the most distinctive talents on the European scene. Passionate and grave, serene and desolate, it is a kind of sequel to Duni's acclaimed 2018 ECM debut, Partir. Partir explored the humanitarian crisis which was then (as now) sweeping across Europe ...

Interview

Elina Duni: L'Universalità Della Partenza

Read "Elina Duni: L'Universalità Della Partenza" reviewed by Paolo Marra


Il poeta greco Euripide scriveva che “non ce più dolore della perdita della propria terra natia" Elina Duni nell'ultimo disco Partir interiorizza con la sua voce struggente, in certi tratti sussurrata ma espressivamente ardente, tale sentimento profondo di allontanamento, spesso forzato, da ciò che più si ama. La partenza diventa l'inizio di un viaggio profondo per sondare stessi confrontandosi con la scoperta di un mondo sconosciuto. Lei stessa è costretta a confrontarsi con la partenza sin da piccola quando, a ...

22
Album Review

Elina Duni: Partir

Read "Partir" reviewed by John Kelman


Sometimes a change in musical direction is instigated by life experiences; sometimes it's driven by nothing more than choice. Following two recordings for ECM Records with her Switzerland-based quartet, Elina Duni makes a significant directional shift with the entirely solo Partir. Given the generally introspective nature of 2012's Matanë Malit (Over the Mountain) and 2015's Dallёndyshe (The Swallow), it's no surprise to find Partir even more intimate still, the Albanian-born singer accompanied by nothing more than her relatively spare but ...

Album Review

Elina Duni Quartet: Dallëndyshe

Read "Dallëndyshe" reviewed by Neri Pollastri


Secondo album ECM per il quartetto della cantante albanese--ma svizzera di adozione -Elina Duni, composto con lei dal rodato trio, anch'esso svizzero, di Colin Vallon. E la Svizzera--da sempre punto d'incontro di culture diverse, ma da qualche anno crogiuolo ove si mescolano in particolare molteplici influenze provenienti dall'immigrazione dell'area balcanica--si dimostra un eccellente brodo di coltura. Infatti i brani tradizionali del folk albanese, interpretati dalla voce calda ed espressivamente avvolgente della Duni si sposano magnificamente alle atmosfere ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

A Time to Remember

ECM Records
2023

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Lost Ships

ECM Records
2020

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Partir

ECM Records
2018

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Dallëndyshe

ECM Records
2015

buy

Matane Malit

ECM Records
2012

buy

Baresha

Divine Records
2008

buy

A Time to Remember

From: A Time to Remember
By Elina Duni

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