Elina Duni is a Swiss-Albanian jazz singer and composer. She left Albania at the age of ten to live and study in Geneva, Switzerland. She went on to study singing, composition, and teaching at the University of the Arts Bern, but from 2004 onward, Albanian folk music became a primary influence.

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& ROB LUFT

Elina Duni is joined by guitarist and BBC New Generation Artist Rob Luft, one of the rising stars of London’s flourishing contemporary jazz scene. Luft’s playing incorporates echoes of West African high-life, Celtic folk and textural minimalism. His joyously original sound finds an ideal counterpart in Elina Duni’s vocals. Together, they take us on a journey through timeless folk songs which still resonate so truly today, as well as playing their co-written original material about contemporary issues facing us all.

SOLO

“Partir” (Departure)
Text, music, arrangements and interpretations of traditional songs by Elina Duni.

We are all departing in one way or another, bound to be torn away from what we love, and this is the point of origin of this particular creation. Throughout the course of “Partir” (nine sketches accompanied by songs in nine different languages), we travel through the deepest abysses of pain, with the heart rough like a desert, to finally arrive at the ultimate refuge, that is, joy. It is through her voice, accompanied in turns by guitar, piano and percussion, that this journey is able to become both singular and universal.

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