Hailu Mergia, Gutu Abera, Ana Lua Caiano and Daniela Pes to Oslo World!
An Ethio-jazz legend, a Norwegian-Ethiopian sensation, Portuguese pop futurism and an Italian shooting star to this year's festival.
Hailu Mergia
It’s been a little over ten years since keyboard and accordion-player Hailu Mergia re-emerged on the international music scene. Following the first in a series of his classic recordings reissued in collaboration with Awesome Tapes From Africa, Mergia assembled a band and began performing live again after many years driving a cab in Washington, DC. His first show back appeared on the front page of the New York Times along with a stellar review and he took off from there performing all over the world in the years since, including Radio City Music Hall and Montreal Jazz Festival.
It is possible to buy a ticket to the concert with Hailu Mergia only, but also to buy a double ticket that includes the live show of the Norwegian Ethiopian pop sensation Gutu Abera the same evening.
Gutu Abera
In recent years, the artist Gutu Abera has experienced a breakthrough on the Ethiopian music scene. Last year he received the highly prestigious All Africa Music Awards prize for best jazz song with the single "Demi" - which was produced in a home studio at Bønes in Bergen. This year there is more music to come from the songwriter and artist - and we are guessing that more people in Norway will catch on to this rare talent.
Gutu Abera draws inspiration from his roots in Oromian traditional music. At the same time he has a great urge to explore and a willingness to challenge musical conventions. His performances are passionate, characterized by a deep understanding of the power of music and a wonderful voice.
It is possible to buy a ticket to the concert with Gutu Abera only, but also to buy a double ticket that includes the live show of the Ethio-jazz legend Hailu Mergia the same evening.
Ana Lua Caiano
This year, Ana Lua Caiano truly announced herself to the world of music with her debut on Glitterbeat Records, Vou Ficar Neste Quadrado – a whirlwind of pulsing, glitchy, atmospheric tunes, inspired by the artists deep love for everything from art pop to Portuguese folk music.
It had been coming for a while – her EPs Se Dançar É Só Depois (2023) and Cheguei Tarde A Ontem (2022) made a name for her around Europe and the world. Before that, Caiano had studied for four years at a jazz music school both enjoying the freedoms the music had to offer, becoming more curious about what laid beyond its boundaries. Artists like Björk and Portishead, workshops where she learnt about musique concrète and group singing - everything fed into the music she had begun composing at the age of 15.
The concert is a double bill with the Italian shooting star Daniela Pes.
Daniela Pes
Daniela Pes is one of the most interesting new talents on the Italian pop scene. In 2023, her album “Spira” was awarded the prize for best debut work at Targa Tenco, the most prestigious Italian music award. It is not like other debuts. On the album, Daniela Pes sings in a language that does not (yet) exist. Shrouded in elegant, dark electronic beats and cosmic ambient breaths, we hear ancient Gallurese words, fragments of Italian terms and entirely invented words. They form the building blocks of something new, where verses are free from metrics, and words are pure sound.
The concert is a double bill with the Portuguese experimental pop artist Ana Lua Caiano.
