Between the 8th and the 11th of May 2014, Berlin is going to get a new festival called XJAZZ. The focus of the festival is set on the current music scene of Berlin. In this regard audiences will get to see Berlin-based artists in unique line-ups.
In addition Iceland will be the partner country, which offers an innovative and influentlial music scene that is unmatched in Europe. The festival will present a broader and more contemporary understanding of Jazz by including electronic music, singer/songwriters and neo-classical music.
Emiliana Torrini | Jungle Drum
An Icelandic singer/songwriter whose music embraces elements of folk, electronica, pop/rock, and trip-hop, Emiliana Torrini has earned favorable comparisons to such vocally gifted artists as Beth Hirsch, Kirsty Hawkshaw, and Björk.
Torrini was raised in Kópavogur, where she worked at her father’s Italian restaurant and attended opera school as a teenager. After releasing three albums in her native Iceland (Spoon, Crouçie D’où Là, and Merman), she joined forces with Tears for Fears’ Roland Orzabal to produce her first widely released effort, 1999’s Love in the Time of Science.
Emiliana Torrini | Tookah
http://vimeo.com/82379004
The famed Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson heard her cool, otherworldly croon and approved Torrini to voice the finale music for 2002’s The Two Towers, a job that Björk had previously accepted before backing out due to pregnancy. Torrini followed up this cinematic achievement by co-writing a pair of songs for Kylie Minogue (including the number one hit single “Slow”) and releasing the soft-spoken but beautiful Fisherman’s Woman, her first album for the London-based label Rough Trade Records.
Fisherman’s Woman was a back-to-basics effort that deemphasized Torrini’s use of electronics in favor of acoustic guitar, piano, and the singer’s cherubic vocals. It also cemented her fruitful partnership with producer Dan Carey, who remained with Torrini during the recording of her next solo effort, 2008’s Me and Armini. The record spawned European hit single “Jungle Drum,” which shot to number one in her native Iceland, as well as Germany and Belgium.
Emiliana Torrini | Speed of Dark
Torrini took the album on a two-year worldwide tour and then became a parent in 2010, after which she took a short break from music. Both of these events changed her approach to music and influenced her songwriting process heavily.
She was introduced to Oberheim synths and producer/collaborator Dan Carey’s drone synth the Swarmathon, with both instruments inspiring songs on her fourth record, Tookah, which was released in 2013.
Xjazz Festival: Emiliana Torrini
Thursday, 08 May 2014 | 19:30 CET
Bi Nuu | Im Schlesischen Tor | 10997 Berlin/Kreuzberg
emilianatorrini.com | xjazzfestival.wordpress.com | binuu.de
