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.
Since their 2014 debut, Kalaha has been using Danish artist Zven Balslev as their art director. Balslev has also directed three of the bands music videos. Kalaha has collaborated with a wide range of artists from around the world including Hilal Kaya and Uffe Lorenzen of Spids Nøgenhat and Baby Woodrose.
History Kalaha's debut album, Hahaha, was released in 2014. 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". It also received airplay by Gilles Peterson on BBC Radio 6 Music. Their third album Mandala (2019) was also well received by the critics and highlighted as album of the year in the Danish newspaper Information. 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.
In 2019 they played a show together with American bass player Bill Laswell at Black Diamond during the Copenhagen Jazz Festival. In 2020 their single "Eymen" brought Kalaha a Danish Music Award nomination for Danish Roots Track of The Year and their single "Dans Det Op" featuring Uffe Lorenzen was nominated as "Song of the Year 2020" for the Danish Critics Award Steppeulven.
Discography
Albums Title 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
Singles & EPs Title 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
Awards YearAwardCategoryResultRef.2017Danish Music AwardsJazz: Special Release of the Year for Masala2017Danish World composer of the year for ‘’Quarquaba EP’2019Carl PrisenRoots Composer of the Year for the EP "Mama Ngoma"2020Danish Music AwardsDanish Roots Track of the Year for "Eymen"2021SteppeulvenTrack of the year for "Dans det op" featuring Uffe Lorentzen
References
External links Official website Kalaha on Spotify Bandcamp – Rump Recordings Bandcamp – April Records