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Jazz Articles about Aleka Potinga
Aleka Potinga: Romania: Songs Of Love And Longing
by Ian Patterson
You can take singer/cellist Aleka Potinga out of Romania, but you cannot take Romania out of her musical soul. Classically trained in Bucharest, and Dublin-based since 2012, Potinga has slotted into the city's fluid jazz/improvised music scenes, working with Izumi Kimura, Ronan Guilfoyle, Tommy Halferty and Cello Ireland. Her debut album Person I Knew (Self-Produced, 2019) featured imaginative interpretations of modern jazz classics by Wayne Shorter, Thelonious Monk and Bill Evans. Prior to that, her debut EP Aleka (EM, 2016) ...
read moreAleka Potinga: Aleka
by Ian Patterson
Aleka is the eponymous debut EP--and stage-name--of Alexandra-Ioana Potinga, a Romanian jazz vocalist and cellist based in Dublin. Aleka performs in several bands, as vocalist in Tommy Halferty's Camus Jazz and as cellist/backing vocalist with Ruba Shamshoum. This outing features her working band at time of recording (bassist Barry Donohue has since replaced Kevin Higgins) on four selections--two of Aleka's originals plus Nik Drake's Riverman" and a reworking of a song from a Romanian film. At just under ...
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