8. 10.
Enji / Tuesday Clubbing / Cankarjevi torki
Enkhjargal Erkhembayar, glas; Philipp Schiepek, kitara; River Loring Adomeit, bas
Enkhjargal Erkhembayar – Enji, for short – equates music with freedom, originality, singularity, belonging, her music reflects colours and natural phenomena, through her music Enji vocalises unspoken emotions that touch even listeners unfamiliar with her language. Her songs are soulful and confessional, rooted in Mongolian folk tradition.
Enji’s third release ventures beyond the structures of the Western musical canon she studied at the Conservatory. Alongside her long-time music collaborators, guitarist Paul Brendel and bassist Munguntovch Tsolmonbayar, she recruited two Brazilian musicians, drummer Maria Portugal and clarinettist Joana Queiroz to join her at the studio. She titled her most personal album to date Ulaan, which means ‘red’ in Mongolian. Ulaan is the nickname that has stuck with her since childhood. When a baby, Enji was crying so much she turned red as a beetroot, and her family just called her Ulaan.
13. 10.
Aziza Brahim / Music of the World Season Series / Glasbe sveta
Fleeing from the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara, Aziza Brahim grew up in refugee camps, listening to the radio for hours on end. Through music, she was able to communicate her personal story, relating it to those of others, and her life seemed to get easier.
Her latest album, Mawja, mirrors that feeling. “It refers to that magical moment when you turn on the radio and that song you like just starts playing,” explained the singer when the album came out. The music reflects the percussive beats of the Iberian Peninsula, the pulsating rhythms she soaked up as a student in Barcelona. Infused with blues, folk music and desert punk, the album also finds inspiration in The Clash. In addition to sorrow and tender elegies – dedicated to her late grandmother, an important poet of the Sahrawi revolution and culture – the music conveys a strong sense of hope, exploration and adventure.
15. 10.
Harold López-Nussa – Timba a la Americana / Tuesday Clubbing / Cankarjevi torki
Harold López-Nussa, piano; Luques Curtis, bass; Grégoire Maret, harmonica; Ruy López-Nussa, drums
Cuba is an island with widely branched musical family trees, and it is not uncommon for them to yield excellent pianists. Harold López-Nussa is certainly one of them. Chucho Valdés describes him as “at the forefront of a new generation of musicians”, and a pianist with “a subtle sound, brilliant ideas, and a unique musical style.” With numerous albums as band leader under his belt, he has taken audiences worldwide by storm with his infectious energy. Harold López-Nussa's latest album and his first on Blue Note Records, Timba a la Americana is closely linked to his personal life. Melancholy and homesickness, the longing for “the colours, the food, the people and the ocean”, the homeland he left behind in late 2021, when he moved from Cuba to France.
The album is the result of López-Nussa's long friendship with Michael League, Snarky Puppy producer and bassist, who produced the album, and the “blessing” of Don Was, President of the notable Blue Note Records, who’d been keeping track of López-Nussa in Havana for a long time. Their joint effort culminated in an eclectic album that the Rolling Stone magazine hails as “a true jewel of Latin jazz”.
