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| This Week’s Highlights: Maria Mazzotta wins Premio Loano & Sekvoya’s Debut EP Released on April 23, 2024, Onde was created in collaboration with Ernesto Nobili and Cristiano Della Monica, and produced by the Apulian label Zero Nove Nove, which this year also placed 5th and 6th in the same rankings with Culla e tempesta by the all-female quartet Faraualla, and Talassa by singer-songwriter Dario Muci. Maria Mazzotta is one of the most powerful voices in the European world music scene. In this new album, her visceral interpretation meets the electric tones of post-rock, creating a deep and original fusion. Onde features twelve tracks, including collaborations with international guests such as Bombino (renowned guitarist and singer-songwriter from Niger) and Volker Goetze (trumpeter and composer). Onde (Waves), it's an album in which Maria Mazzotta has chosen for the first time in her twenty-year career to express the outspoken and vital force of peasant tradition through contemporary instruments with a rural flavor to its essence. With this project, Maria Mazzotta reveals both courage and freedom — qualities of a woman who carries her voice, strength, and vulnerability across the stages of cities like Paris, Barcelona, Jakarta, and Bogotá. Onde is distributed digitally by Believe, and physically by Self (Italy), Inouïe (France), Xango Music (BeNeLux), and O-Tone Music – Edel Kultur (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland). It's the result of powerful encounters, shared emotions, and reflections on our society. Onde is the result of encounters and influences and of emotions and reflections on modern society. The song "La Fortuna" ("Luck") opens the album and is the one in which Maria Mazzotta's trio affirms its sound and message. An arrangement steeped in Psychedelic Rock was created for this folk song from the Salento tradition, evoking the sensation of waves rolling in and gaining force until an all-out storm at sea forms. The verses tell the story of encountering "luck", a luminous and desperate figure who cries in the open sea for the wrongs and injustices suffered by those who cross it, and he faces the waves in search of a better destiny and instead finds his tomb. The sea has become a cemetery of sinking boats and ships not permitted to dock in ports. Accustomed as we have become by now to these macabre news stories, to the point that we are almost used to them, this song, however, shouts out a message of humanity, acceptance, and sharing. The invitation to share is still protagonist in "Sula nu puei stare" ("You cannot be Alone"), with the participation of the first of two international guests: Bombino, an exceptional guitarist and singer-songwriter from Niger and one of the major exponents of the global success of "Desert Blues". Tracing a route from Salento, with the classic expression of song and dialect, to Andalusia, with the rhythm strongly inspired by the Flamenco Bulería style, the trio arrives in North Africa where the rhythm remains as always in triplets which is at the same time quite close to how Salento pizzica pizzica is. With Bombino the result is a propitiatory 'good luck' rite made of intertwining guitar strings, a Macedonian tapan drum groove, and percussion that encourages dance and dialogue without prejudice; an invitation to show solidarity towards others by putting aside individuality. Onde is a story about continuous change, in which the sea resonates everywhere, from the gentle movement that can lull before it transforms into a tidal wave that destroys, making a clean sweep. It holds within itself numerous metaphors and multiple states of mind that, like sea waves, can take on thousands of forms. Electromagnetic waves, which represent the electricity the trio possesses, propagate sound and emotional energy. In physics, a wave transmits energy without moving matter, an image that reflects what happens live between Maria and her audience, when her voice manages to scratch skin or delicately caress the heart. The new sound, imbued with the expressive power of Ernesto Nobili's electric guitar with his personal effects research, and Cristiano Della Monica's customized percussion, contains and carries with it traces of the urban metropolis while preserving the deep and solid roots of the Southern Italian tradition. On February 7, 2025, Onde was also released as a limited edition double vinyl, with 300 hand-numbered copies. The LP includes two bonus tracks not featured on the CD: Nuotando nell'aria and Nu me lassare, both recorded live at the Auditorium Novecento in Naples in May 2024. The vinyl release is accompanied by a new set of photos by visual artist and photographer Alessia Rollo. Critics have warmly welcomed Onde: it was named Album of the Year by BlogFoolk, ranked #5 on the World Music Europe Charts, #15 on the Transglobal World Music Chart, and was also nominated for the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik (German Record Critics' Award). "Gathering of Enchanted Herbs" is the title of the debut EP by the Serbian born band Sekvoya who intertwines eastern melodies with western arrangements and, by mixing traditional sounds with modern rhythms, creates a unique and timeless fusion of Anatolian Rock, Psychedelia, and World Music. "Gathering of Enchanted Herbs", produced by the record label Zero Nove Nove, is distributed in digital stores by Believe and it was released on June 20th, 2025. Sekvoya's artistic adventure is the result of Ivan Krstićs' visionary project, guitarist and producer of the band. In Novi Sad, Serbia, he opened the creative space Soundbubble Studio where he started cultivating ideas and sounds that would have the potential to branch out and grow. The name evokes the majesty of the sequoias, ancient and mighty trees, deeply rooted in the earth but able to touch the sky, extending to heights where the human eye cannot take in the overall image, a place where only our imagination can follow them. Within the sequoia, a silent and immense creature and keeper of time, an ancient memory lives. The project, born out of a desire to use this symbol, bears its name as a spiritual and sound manifesto. The mission of the band is to awaken, through music, a more authentic way of living, as our ancestors did: connected to nature, in harmony with it, and therefore more at peace. Their music does not limit itself to being simply listened to: you move through it as if walking along a mysterious path hidden among the trees, it takes you to another dimension where every sound is a leaf that whispers archaic memories, and every rhythm a beat that recalls the heart of the Earth. Nature is not a backdrop, but a spiritual, living presence, a guide; it is a dimension where the music does not 'decorate silence', but rather fills it with visions. In this kaleidoscope of sounds, you can get anywhere, closing your eyes - even to the other side of Serbia. It is right there, in the village of Stol, that some centuries-old sequoias from the other side of the world grow. These trees, native to California but also rooted here as a sign, become a symbol of an ancestral connection, a silent bridge between distant lands. Similarly, in the original compositions written by Ivan Krstić, the ramifications of his musical influences intertwine: the Afro blues of Tinariwen and Mdou Moctar merges with the psychedelic vibrations of Khruangbin, Karl Hector and Sven Wunder, creating grooves that engage in dialogue with traditional Balkan rhythms. All this without forgetting about having been influenced and nurtured by Serbian rock bands such as Leb i Sol, Vlatko Stefanovski and Radomir Mihajlović Točak, from the legendary band Smak and the modern echoes of Derya Yildirim, Altin Gün, Satellites and Bab L'Bluz. The result is a sound that is a sensorial journey that sinks deep roots into the fertile soil of traditional Eastern melodies while feeding on Western bright light, in which contemporary arrangements and sound contaminations peep out, in a language that celebrates nature and runs through it, soaring to heights that know no limits of expansion. With their debut EP Gathering of Enchanted Herbs, the first of a trilogy, Sekvoya deliver five songs that transcend time and space, using the grandeur elicited by the boundless power of nature. Each song is symbolically associated with a medicinal plant or a strong spice, such as “Mugwort” (Sagebrush), “Firebird Plant” (Agastache plant) or “Black Pepper”, and this helps to create a crescendo of hypnotic fusion between very ancient melodies and contemporary acid sounds. This paired with tribal grooves and folk melodies leads you all the way to experiencing a feeling that you have reached the other side of a sensorial gateway that has opened up. The result is an eclectic and captivating auditory experience. The fanciful language of Balkan sounds, in which trills stand out, an essential part of Serbian music that has ancient influences dating back to the ancient Byzantine Empire, creates an immersive and psychedelic experience that transcends conventional boundaries. Their style is like a sound forest: dense, vibrant, and full of chiaroscuro and sudden openings. With hypnotic grooves and folk elements, their music recalls the primordial echo of ancient forests: an invitation to trace the deep connection to things that are wild, to rediscover what lies just one stimulus away from us. It offers the possibility to feel guided by what nature safeguards and is in the music through the visionary idea that does not alter, but rather reveals. Credits: Ivan Krstić: guitars, bass, synths, percussions, drum programming Produced by Zero Nove Nove - (Italy) Recorded & mixed by Ivan Krstić at Soundbubble Studio - Novi Sad (Serbia) Mastered by Uroš Milkić & Ivan Krstić at Down There Studio - Beograd (Serbia) Artwork: Marija Đurđević (Addictive Studio) Photo: Mladen Kekić - Costumes: Marija Kozomora write your comments about the article :: © 2025 Jazz News :: home page |