Elina Duni (born 10 March 1981, Tirana, Albania) is a Swiss-Albanian

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

singer and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

. She left

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

at the age of ten to live and study in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. She went on to study singing, composition and teaching at the

University of the Arts Bern __NOTOC__ The University of the Arts Bern (german: Hochschule der Künste Bern) is an art school with locations in Bern and Biel/Bienne. It was created in 2003 from the merger of the University of Music and Theatre and the School of Design, Art and ...

, but from 2004 onwards

Albanian folk music The music of Albania ( sq, Muzika Shqiptare) is associated with the country of Albania and Albanian communities. Music has a long tradition in the country and is known for its regional diversity, from the Ghegs in the North to the Tosks in the S ...

became a prime influence. At this moment, in 2004, she formed a quartet under her own name with the Swiss jazz pianist

Colin Vallon Colin Vallon (17 November 1980 in Lausanne) is a Swiss jazz pianist. Biography Vallon studied classical music for two years before he started studies with jazz pianist Marc Ueter at fourteen years of age. In 1998 he attended the Swiss Jazz Sc ...

, bassist Patrice Moret and drummer Norbert Pfammatter. In a review,

John Fordham John Fordham (died 1425) was Bishop of Durham and Bishop of Ely. Fordham was keeper of the privy seal of Prince Richard from 1376 to 1377 and Dean of Wells before being named Lord Privy Seal in June 1377. He held that office until December 1381. ...

concluded that "This quartet definitely sounds like rising star material for

ECM ECM may refer to: Economics and commerce * Engineering change management * Equity capital markets * Error correction model, an econometric model * European Common Market Mathematics * Elliptic curve method * European Congress of Mathematics ...

." After two albums – ''Baresha'' (2008) and ''Lume Lume'' (2010) – on Meta Records, the quartet went on to record for ECM in 2012, with ''Matanë Malit'' (Beyond the Mountain) and in 2015, ''Dallëndyshe'' (Swallow). In 2014, she released her first album as a singer-songwriter in Kosovo and Albania, entitled ''Muza e Zezë'' (The Black Muse). In 2017, she was nominated to receive the annual Swiss Music Prize and in 2018 she released the album ''Partir'', a solo programme in which she accompanies herself on piano, acoustic guitar and percussion. The album features traditional folksong from across the globe, sung in 9 different languages. Duni currently lives in Zurich,

, and shares a fruitful collaboration with British rising star guitarist Rob Luft, with whom she has released two albums on

ECM Records ECM (Edition of Contemporary Music) is an independent record label founded by Karl Egger, Manfred Eicher and Manfred Scheffner in Munich in 1969. While ECM is best known for jazz music, the label has released a variety of recordings, and ECM's a ...

. The 2020 album ''Lost Ships'' comprises six Duni/Luft originals and six interpretations. Sidemen are Matthieu Michel on flugelhorn and multi-instrumentalist Fred Thomas on piano and percussion,. Their sophomore collaborative album ''A Time To Remember'' was awarded Jazz Album Of The Month in

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

newspaper, with John Fordham describing it as a sonically ''"delicate yet diamond bright"'' listening experience.

Discography

* 2007 - ''Baresha'' * 2010 - ''Lume, Lume'' * 2012 - ''Matanë Malit'' * 2014 - ''Muza e zezë'' (''The Black Muse'') * 2015 - ''

Dallëndyshe ''Dallëndyshe'' ("The Swallow") is the fifth studio album by Swiss-Albanian jazz musician Elina Duni and the second under ECM Records. It was released in April 2015. Composition Like her previous album, the troubled past of the Balkan region i ...

'' * 2018 - ''Partir'' * 2019 - ''Aksham'' * 2020 - ''Lost Ships'' (with Rob Luft) * 2023 - ''A Time To Remember'' (with Rob Luft)

References

External links

Elina Duni
{{DEFAULTSORT:Duni, Elina Albanian emigrants to Switzerland 21st-century Albanian women singers 1981 births Living people Musicians from Tirana 21st-century Swiss musicians 21st-century women musicians 21st-century Swiss women singers ECM Records artists