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Kalaha is a Danish electronic band that debuted in 2014. The bands artistic style takes inspiration from Afrobeat, Anatolian rock, electronic rave music, and jazz improvisation. Its members include drummer Emil De Waal, guitarist Niclas Knudsen, synthesizer player Rumpistol, and electronic producer Mikael Elkjær, also known as Spejderrobot. [1]
Since their 2014 debut, Kalaha has been using Danish artist Zven Balslev as their art director. [2] Balslev has also directed three of the bands music videos. [3] [4] [5] Kalaha has collaborated with a wide range of artists from around the world including Hilal Kaya [6] and Uffe Lorenzen of Spids Nøgenhat and Baby Woodrose. [7]
Kalaha's debut album, Hahaha, was released in 2014. [8] The album was a live recording from their first show ever as a band. Their follow-up album Masala (2016) received a Danish Music Award for Jazz in the category "Special Release of the Year". [9] It also received airplay by Gilles Peterson on BBC Radio 6 Music. [10] Their third album Mandala (2019) was also well received by the critics [11] [12] [13] [14] and highlighted as album of the year in the Danish newspaper Information . [15] The album featured the band's first Turkish song "Çok Küstüm", which became the beginning of a long time collaboration with the Turkish singer Hilal Kaya and also secured the band some attention in Turkey. [16]
In 2019 they played a show together with American bass player Bill Laswell at Black Diamond during the Copenhagen Jazz Festival. [17] In 2020 their single "Eymen" brought Kalaha a Danish Music Award nomination for Danish Roots Track of The Year [18] and their single "Dans Det Op" featuring Uffe Lorenzen was nominated as "Song of the Year 2020" for the Danish Critics Award Steppeulven. [19]
| Title [20] | Label | Format | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hahaha | Rump Recordings | Digital Album | 2014 |
| Masala | Rump Recordings | Vinyl & Digital Album | 2016 |
| Masala – Extra Spicy | Rump Recordings | Vinyl & Digital Album | 2018 |
| Mandala | DME | Vinyl & Digital Album | 2019 |
| Mystafa | April Records | Vinyl, CD & Digital Album | 2021 |
| Title [20] [21] [22] | Label | Format | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quarquaba | Rump Recordings | Digital EP | 2016 |
| Wahwahwah | Digital EP | 2016 | |
| Dragon Jenny (Extended Version) | Digital Single | 2018 | |
| Mama Ngoma | Digital EP | 2018 | |
| Çok Küstüm feat. Hilal Kaya | DME | Digital Single | 2019 |
| Eymen feat. Hilal Kaya | Digital Single | 2019 | |
| Eymen feat. Hilal Kaya (Junglelyd & Merlyn Silva remix feat. Huaynot) | Sofa Beats | Digital Single | 2019 |
| Dans Det Op feat. Uffe Lorenzen / Eymen feat. Hilal Kaya | April Records | 7" Vinyl | 2020 |
| Vivo | Digital Single | 2020 | |
| Özgürüm Ben feat. Hilal Kaya | DME | Digital Single | 2020 |
| Hurt You Once Again feat. Hjalte Ross | April Records | Digital Single | 2021 |
| Year | Award | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Danish Music Awards | Jazz: Special Release of the Year for Masala | Won | [9] |
| 2017 | Danish World composer of the year for ‘’Quarquaba EP’ | Nominated | [23] | |
| 2019 | Carl Prisen | Roots Composer of the Year for the EP "Mama Ngoma" | Won | [24] |
| 2020 | Danish Music Awards | Danish Roots Track of the Year for "Eymen" | Nominated | [18] |
| 2021 | Steppeulven | Track of the year for "Dans det op" featuring Uffe Lorentzen | Nominated | [19] |
| This Danish musical biography article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |