Biography

Ganna Gryniva is Berlin based singer and composer. At the age of 13, she emigrated with her parents from Ukraine to Germany in 2002. Today Ganna is considered “one of the most impressive singers and musicians of the European jazz and world music scene” (Mirjam Jessa, ORF). Her new album HOME was released in November 2022 on BERTHOLD records and was celebrated by the music press as “Album of the Year” (Ulrich Habersetzer, DLF Kultur) and “Jazz Highlight of the Year” (Roland Spiegel, Bayerischer Rundfunk). In her music she unfolds her different cultural roots. In her multinational ethno-jazz quintet GANNA and in her solo program for loops and electronics she combines Ukrainian folklore with jazz, improvised and experimental music. Inspired by folklore research travels in different regions of Ukraine, Ganna is actively engaged in spreading the cultural heritage from Ukraine internationally. 

Recent highlights also include performances at the Stockholm Women’s International Jazz Festival (SE), Nefertiti Jazz Club Gothenburg (SE), XJAZZ Festival Berlin (DE),  Jazz in Park Cluj-Napoca (RO), Green Hours Jazz Festival Bucharest (RO), BMC Opus Jazz Club (HU), Jazzopen Festival in Stuttgart (DE), Volksbühne Berlin (DE), Schauspiel Hannover (DE), Deutsche Oper Berlin (DE), Konzerthaus Berlin (DE); collaboration with Kurt Rosenwinkel, Louis Cole, Michael League, Pedro Martins and Daniel Santiago for the realisation of  “Heartcore for Ukraine”, a project of the Heartcore  Records label of  Kurt Rosenwinkel and Michaela Bóková. In August 2020, Double Moon Records and JazzThing Next Generalion released GANNA ́s album “Dykyi Lys” (“Wild Fox” from Ukrainian) which received great recognition from the international music press. 

At the moment Ganna is working on a new album with producer Wanja Slavin, featuring lyrics of the aspiring Ukrainian writer Kateryna Babkina. Ganna is also preparing her solo debut album for loops and electronics, to be released in 2023. 

With her own bands, as a sidewomen and as a tutor for jazz and improvised voice Ganna regularly tours in Germany, Sweden, France, Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, Greece, Poland, Ukraine, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Hungary, Slovenia, Romania, South Africa and other countries. In 2019, Ganna completed her jazz studies at the  Music  Academy  Franz   Liszt  in  Weimar,  where  she  studied  with  Michael Schiefel, Jeff Cascaro and Frank Moebus.  She also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from the University of Leipzig.