Aleka/Oxygen Thief
Thursday 26th September
Dolans Upstairs 9pm
Tickets: €15
Aleka/Oxygen Thief
live at Dolans Upstairs 26th September 9pm
Fresh sounds with eastern tinges
- Irish Times
Experience, delight, vocation, hard work, emotion, recreation, variation, improvisation – all of these revealed a moment of musical quality'
- MagmaNews (Romania)
Hip cosmopolitan sounds... have a borderless, trans-national flavour, liberally spiced with bossa nova, downtown jazz, outlier pop, art rock and free improv
- The Irish Times about ‘Aleka’ EP
Line-Up:
Aleka Potinga - Vocal/Cello
Chris Guilfoyle - Guitar
Barry Donohue - Bass
Matt Jacobson - Drums
This year’s Festival opener is a show of two halves featuring the same personnel but two different programmes. In the first half singer Aleka Potinga showcases her 2024 EP ‘Romania: Songs of Love and Longing’ which draws on Romanian folk melodies, freighted with elements of jazz and rock to create a hip, cosmopolitan soundscape reflecting Aleka’s journey across boundaries and genres. The release reflects Aleka's life journey from being born and raised in Romania as a classical cellist to moving to Ireland and becoming one of the most exciting and versatile vocalists in the Irish jazz scene, garnering attention of Irish jazz household names, working alongside the likes of Tommy Halferty, Michael Buckley, and Ronan Guilfoyle. As well as playing in Ireland, she has been a featured guest with the Romanian Radio Big Band.
The second half of the shows sees Chris Guilfolye’s Oxygen Thief trio joined by Aleka extend the cosmopolitan feel. Oxygen Thief's music aims to reimagine the traditional confines of the jazz guitar trio by blending elements of math rock and electronica together with jazz. The trio featuring Chris Guilfoyle on guitar, Barry Donohue on bass and Matthew Jacobson on drums - has a unique chemistry through their years of playing as the rhythm section in the critically acclaimed quintet Umbra.