OBARVANA

Jazz

Format: Digitalno + CD

Code: 118494

EAN: 3838898118494

On March 3rd ZKP RTV Slovenia In cooperation with Radio Slovenia - First Programme and RTV Slovenia Music Production is releasing the album Obarvana (Such Color) by singer Mia Žnidarič & Big Band RTV Slovenia with guests Gašper Bertoncelj (drumms) and Peter Ugrin (violin) under the baton of Steve Klink. The album contains 13 Mia's songs from her more than 40 years long musical career. Until March 3rd you can get CD at a 15 % discount.

“Follow your heart, dreams are forever” is a sentence that comes to mind when thinking of beloved singer Mia Žnidarič. Those very dreams began many years ago in a small village in the Slovenian Styria region. The passion of those youthful dreams led her to a wider musical world, and at the same time guided her to the deep-rooted essence of her being: singing. And with this passion she has persisted, tenaciously following her heart many decades later with the spirit of that same young girl.

The colors of those youthful dreams can be felt in the album’s title: Obarvana (Such Color) - an exquisite selection of songs she has accumulated during the forty years of her music career. At the end of the 80s, after moving to the capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana, Mia dedicated herself completely to music. With her first album Kako lep je ta svet (1992), Mia took both the general public and the musical establishment by storm. Soon thereafter she was able to develop her own distinctive singing style, radiating a pure sincerity in herself and to the world. As she matured, her singing ability acquired an undeniable elasticity, strength, wholesomeness and femininity. Today her vocal interpretations consistently win over the hearts of a wide spectrum of the general public.

It seems like whenever Mia sings a song she is experiencing it for the first time, in the deepest of ways, allowing her vocal interpretation to touch something even deeper in the listener. The long distance between the stage and the audience disappears and she merges with the world, forming a single entity. Mia is an individual who experiences things deeply and genuinely, and gives of herself generously. Thus this album is powerfully infused with the colors of her captivating vocal presence.

The compositions on the album are from Mia’s past small-band collaborations, performed here with Big Band RTV Slovenija. All the arrangements were written by Steve Klink, and all solely for the purpose of being released on a recording that brings forth the powerful colors of the ever greater perfection of the "twosomeness" that is Mia and Steve. The arrangements leave ample space for the breadth of Mia's distinctive sound and exquisite interpretations, while at the same time inviting each member of the Big Band individually and as a unit, to create a unique sound colored by the singer's subtle vocal.

The thirteen songs form a totality, a unique, original dramaturgy that is colored by thirteen complementary stories of sound. Aside from a Slovene adaptation of an American jazz standard, all the compositions are by Steve Klink, lyrics by either Feri Lainšček or Dušan Velkaverh. They all come from Mia’s various previous albums: Pobarvanka, Iskre, Preblizu predaleč, Nevidni orkester and her penultimate one, Z dotikom.

In this way, the new album's content is a snapshot of Mia's musical journey and builds a bridge to her first album in a completely spontaneous manner, creating an integral whole in the process - especially with Moje najljubše reči, the Slovene rendition of My Favorite Things. The musical style of the singer remains deeply genuine and authentic. And let us not forget that this very vocal style has also colored Slovene jazz itself - with Mia Žnidarič, forever following her dreams, being its First Lady.

- Alja Kramar, Simona Moličnik

Creating this album has been a crazy, colorful journey.

Mia Žnidarič is a jazz vocal stylist, her voice filled with depth and emotion. She tells exquisite stories of love and loss, all by bending a single note or laying back on the beat. Her pure voice still rings with childlike honesty. “Obarvana” has many subtle meanings besides “colored," such as “touched" or “tinged”. Mia’s voice is the main color of this album, and her beautiful voice touches us all to the core; and her songs are tinged with sadness, joy, melancholy and hope.

She also lives for reading poetry, and is extremely picky about what text she will sing. When I first met Feri Lainšček in the 90s, we talked about his wonderful poetry of nature and how the landscape of his Eastern Slovenian Prekmurje was flat like my native Iowa. Since then we have collaborated on three albums of his poetry set to music, and Mia is also an integral part of the process. Each song on Obarvana (Such Color) has gone through years of rigorous writings and re-writings until the final version of the song fits exactly to Mia’s voice and temperament. This is another color.

Taking these finished songs and arranging them for big band has been challenging and fulfilling. One of the joys of working with a great big band is that not only are the members in tune with each other as an ensemble, but that it is possible to write parts or conceive of a bigger instrumental picture based on individual soloists. For example, to be able to write for one trumpet player specifically, so they can shine. In classical music, individual instrumentalists strive to be able to play a given part perfectly, interchangeably — ultimately deferring matters of style to the composer. While this phenomenon can also occur in big bands, far more often in jazz (in my opinion) an individual musician’s quirks and passions are desired, a CELEBRATION of their uniqueness.

- Steve Klink