Elina Duni

Swiss-Albanian singer Elina Duni was born into a highly artistic family in Tirana and first sang on stage at the age of five. In 1992 after the fall of the communist regime, she and her mother settled in Geneva. Soon after, she discovered jazz, before going on to study singing and composition in the jazz department at the Hochschule der Künste Bern. During this time she also developed the Elina Duni Quartet to explore 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 2017 Elina Duni released her solo project „Partir“ and was one of the recipient of the Swiss Music Prize. That same year she started to work with the highly acclaimed London guitarist Rob Luft. In 2020 "Lost Ships" was released on ECM records featuring Rob Luft, Fred Thomas and Matthieu Michel followed by "A Time To Remember" in 2023. Duni has said about her work with the band “We focus all on the intensity that the poetry needs. We have tried to convey its essence through our musical interpretation. To me, all improvised music is a jazz state of mind. We feel no obligation to play a song the same way twice.”