Press
BR-Klassik radio (GER)
February 2024
"Sparks & Visions" Jazz Festival 2024
“An excellently conceived festival enters its second edition: under the title “Sparks & Visions”, captivating bands from the international jazz scene are on the programme at Theater Regensburg from 19 to 21 January 2024. Setting off sparks, inspiring listening adventures, using music to open up new listening horizons: That’s what eight outstanding groups are all about – with exactly half of the programme items being projects or bands by women. Among others, the Ukraine-born singer Ganna Gryniva with her solo programme, the Estonian singer and multi-instrumentalist Kadri Voorand, the Greek-born drummer Evi Filippou and the great English jazz interpreter and songwriter Norma Winstone” – Roland Spiegel
London Jazz News (UK)
January 2024
"Sparks & Visions" Festival Regensburg 2024
“Ganna, originally from Ukraine, did a solo show with keyboards and electronics. The levels of talent – even wizardry – musicological, composer-ish, vocal – which run through her and in so many different ways are extraordinary, and she will make new fans at jazzahead! 2024 where she will have a showcase.”
rbbKultur radio / ARD media (GER)
January 2024
The Voice: ganna Gryniva
“The Berlin jazz singer, pianist and composer comes from Ukraine. She combines jazz and songs from the Ukrainian folk music tradition to create new worlds of sound. Her album “Home” in quintet formation was enthusiastically received by critics. Ganna Gryniva’s latest album “Kupala” is once again centred around the tradition of Ukrainian folk music. But now in a new electronic sound – peppered with loops, samples and digital effects.” – Ortrun Schütz
Spielräume, Ö1 Radio (AT)
January 2024
"Old Ukrainian songs, beamed into the present"
“Anyone who has heard her last album “Home”, which we presented in the Spielräume at the end of 2022, will be surprised by this sound. While Ganna took Ukrainian folk songs in the direction of jazz on “Home”, she interprets the traditional music of her homeland with electronic means on “Kupala”. Just as she has been doing for years in her solo performances with her five-track loop machine.
With her loops, samples and effects of all kinds, she works almost like a visual artist. We hear a few bars of a song a cappella, as it has been sung for hundreds of years, and then she virtually places this peasant girl in her traditional costume in the middle of a colourful, flashing dance floor in a trendy Berlin pub. And she manages the feat of bringing these two worlds into interaction and dialogue as if in a dance.
“Kupala” is the word for midsummer’s night, and many of the traditional songs are based on the rural cycle of the year: a harvest song, a winter song for an unmarried woman, a ballad about a pair of lovers in the fog. When the division of roles becomes too traditional – weak woman needs strong man – Ganna uses a poem by the Ukrainian author Tanya Malyarchuk instead of the old text, which tells the story of an independent woman.” – Mirjam Jessa
JAZZTHETIK Magazin (GER)
November, 2023
cover story on Ganna and "kupala"
“Everyone can only be delighted by her highly virtuosic and at the same time down-to-earth and accessible music” – Rolf Thomas
GRIMME - The German TV award (DE)
2023
Documentary "When Spring Came to Bucha" receives the German GRIMME Award
The documentary “When Spring Came to Bucha” by Mila Teshaieva and Marcus Lenz is traveling around the world and in 2023 it received the German TV award Grimme-Preis. Together with DakhaBrakha Ganna Gryniva wrote music for the film.
Slukh.Media Radio (UA)
December, 2023
35 BEst ukrainian EPs & Albums 2023: "KUPALA" is Nr. 13
With her album Kupala, Ganna Gryniva confidently asserts herself in the electro-folk genre. The three-dimensional sound design constantly changes the sound, and the artist tells stories based on folk motifs with a sensual voice and precise mood.
Stheorfunk radio (GER)
December, 2023
"Ukrainian Jungle"
“Over 20 years ago, Ukrainian singer Ganna Gryniva left her homeland. Berlin has since become the center of her life. But her close ties to Ukraine and its rich folklore have never wavered. On the contrary: it has always been expressed in her music, through research trips to her homeland and her performances as an artist.
This is also the case with her current solo program GANNA and the album KUPALA. An international collaboration with the Swiss drummer Julian Sartorius, the London producer Tomáš Kašpar and the Ukrainian author Tanja Maljartschuk, which made StHörfunk editor Miro Ruff dream of a Ukrainian jungle while listening to it.
Reason enough to ask the exciting artist for an interview between her many concerts.
A conversation about the meaning of her Ukrainian texts, how the Russian war of aggression has changed her life as a Ukrainian musician and what the well-traveled composer still wants to achieve as an artist.”
BR-Klassik Radio (GER)
November, 2023
New Jazz releases: "LEt´s hear gooD music and talk about it!"
“These are sounds of enchanting beauty. The singer Ganna Gryniva, who was born in 1989, grew up in Ukraine and has lived in Germany since 2002, has also recorded her own arrangements of traditional Ukrainian songs for this album. In contrast to her earlier album “Home”, however, she does not have a band with her here, but can essentially be heard alone; in five of the eight pieces she is accompanied by drummer Julian Sartorius – with great sensitivity and a flair for gentle sound expansion. In pieces such as “Sokolonko” (which tells of a falcon that leads people home after the harvest), “Luli” (a tender lullaby) or “Lebidonka” (about Cossacks defending their country while their relatives pray for them at home, a song that was also included in a different version on Ganna Gryniva’s first quintet CD “Dykyi Lys”), a fascinating variety of voices unfolds: Ganna Gryniva has layered several vocal parts on top of each other with the help of a looping device; in doing so, her voice takes on the most diverse color nuances, sometimes sounding dark and throaty, sometimes climbing to silvery, shimmering heights, sometimes floating cautiously in the middle registers. One voice becomes many, all of them captivating. And tell stories with very touching songs.” – Roland Spiegel, Beate Sampson & Uli Habersetzer
Jazz thing & Blue Rhythm Magazin (GER)
November, 2023
"KUPALA" REview: modern/electronic
“The Ukrainian Ganna Gryniva has been wrapping Ukrainian folk songs in electronic arrangements for some time now. While these musical sources with her quintet are more in the direction of transformation into a jazz language, the charismatic singer, who lives in Berlin, focuses solo on the essence of the old songs, which should be heard and not forgotten. Even though Ganna has occasional support from drummer Julius Sartorius for “Kupala”, everything else is recorded, played and arranged by her alone. The old folk songs from her homeland, which revolve around the longest summer day of the year, the harvest, nature and, of course, love and missing, are touching, even if you naturally don’t understand the lyrics without knowing Ukrainian. But it sounds so wonderfully poetic and soulful. And is also skillfully contrasted by the loops, samples and sounds with which Ganna envelops her enchanting vocals.” – Christoph Giese
The Village Ukraine Magazine (UA)
November, 2023
"KUPALA" REview by sergii cane
“On her wonderful new record KUPALA, Ganna weaves together intelligent electronics, sophisticated ornaments of broken beats and colorful arcs, between which she paints Ukrainian motifs and images.” – Segii Cane
WDR 5 radio (GER)
November, 2023
"KUPALA" REview
In her solo album “Kupala”, Ukrainian musician Ganna presents fat beats, sampled noises, alienated animal sounds and traditional songs. She gives old folk songs from her homeland a new lease of life, reports Anna-Bianca Krause:
“Since then, the folk song has been grooving and has arrived in the present (…) There have been many attempts to bring musical traditions and electronic together, but the result is rarely as compelling and magical as on the album KUPALA. Ganna’s musicality, her compositional talent and the range of her voices and improvisational possibilities make listening to the album a moving experience.”
Tonart, DLF Kultur Radio (GER)
October, 2023
"KUPALA" REview
“The singer Ganna transposes old Ukrainian folk songs into the present (…) Ganna Gryniva is one of the most important voices in Ukrainian music.”
Variante Newspaper (UA)
October, 2023
"KUPALA" REview
“One of the best albums of the year with a conscious desire to get rid of all words for the sake of the ineffable.” – Oleksandr Kovalchuk
SKJazz Magazine (SK)
April, 2023
5/5 stars for the album "HOME"
Peter Dobšinský gives 5/5 stars for the new album of GANNA Ensemble “HOME” . Huge thanks for the great and detailed review of the album.
JAZZ Magazine (SE)
April, 2023
GANNA Ensemble in Stockholm - concert review
As part of the tour in Sweden in March 2023, the GANNA Ensemble also played at the Stockholm Women’s International Festival. Rikard Rehnbergh writes about it: “Her appearance, her traditional singing, which occasionally sounds like Björk, and her compositions convey feminine power.”
JAZZ FORUM (PL)
April, 2023
"HOME" review
“Sincerity and lyricism of folk songs are given power by modern arrangements…” – Ula Nowak
rbb Kultur radio (GER)
February, 2023
"Ganna Gryniva - ukrainian jazz singer"
A portrait by Holger Zimmer: “Ganna Gryniva comes from a small village near Kyiv, Ukraine. When she came to Berlin in 2013, it was a shock – and a challenge. Her debut album “Dykyi Lys” (“Wild Fox”) received great praise from the music press. Lately, she has been extremely active – as you can imagine – in concerts and charity events, and recently released the new album “Home” with her quintet GANNA.”
taz newspaper (GER)
February, 2023
"journey through a country"
“Ukrainian-German jazz singer Ganna Gryniva combines old songs with jazz. Now she is going on tour with her new album “Home”.” Katja Kollmann wrote a review of “Home.”
German Music Press Award (GER)
January, 2023
Long list 1/2023
The album HOME by GANNA Ensemble has been longlisted for the German music press award “Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik” in category Jazz II (contemporary jazz). Congratulations to all nominees!
SR2 radio (GER)
January, 2023
"Album of the week"
“HOME is a personal album that skillfully dresses Ukrainian cultural heritage in a new and contemporary jazz garb and that also becomes a protest against the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine” – Daniela Ziemann.
BR-Klassik radio (GER)
December, 2022
"top 10 - the best jazz albums 2022
It is a great honor that the album HOME has been named one of the Top 10 Albums 2022, together with the new releases by Julia Hülsmann, Esbjörn Svensson and Eva Kresse: “Jazz from the USA, Germany, Ukraine, Sweden and elsewhere – the Top Ten Jazz Albums 2022 is again an international affair, selected by our jazz editors.”
Ö1 radio (AT)
December, 2022
"GANNA - Ukrainian voice of resistance"
December, 2022
“Ganna is one of the most impressive singers and musicians of the European jazz and world music scene” – Mirjam Jessa.
Corso, DLF Kultur radio (GER)
December, 2022
"GANNA - Ukrainian voice of resistance"
“An organic fusion of jazz and Ukrainian folklore. Ganna’s voice conveys intense emotionality on the eight tracks of HOME: anger and sadness are very noticeable in the music, but there are also bright moments and confidence” – Jumoke Olusanmi.
Jazzfacts, DLF Kultur radio (GER)
December, 2022
"news from improvised music"
“Her voice sounds clear as sparkling water … But then it condenses into that vibrant, almost metallic tone that also resonates in traditional singing … ” – Odilo Clausnitzer
TONART, DLF Kultur radio (GER)
Berlin, November 2022
"new jazz albums: you have to hear this..."
“HOME is how the band GANNA has called their new album. All pieces have a story, sometimes a deeply sad one, sometimes a hopeful one. HOME by GANNA is certainly an album of the year, poignant, powerful, great singing and playing!” – Ulrich Habersetzer
BR-Klassik radio (GER)
Munich, November 2022
"Deeply touching jazz with folk songs from ukraine"
“Today she is one of the most impressive singers of the German jazz and world music scene. Her just released album is called “Home” – full of stirring beautiful songs in modern arrangements. A jazz highlight of the year.” – Roland Spiegel
taz newspaper (GER)
Berlin, July 2022
"Music as a form of resistance"
In an interview with Jens Uthoff for the taz, Ganna talks about her interpretation of the old songs from Ukraine and how she is trying to help people from Ukraine who had to flee the war.
Deutschlandfunk Kultur radio (GER)
Berlin, March 2022
"Singing, educating and helping" - Sigrid Brinkmann
In an interview on the national German radio Dlf Kultur, I talked about the role of culture in the war, about my encounters with Ukrainian refugees in Denmark and the urgent need to mediate and educate about what Ukrainian culture is and why it needs to be considered completely on its own.
VIRGIN JAZZ FACE (GER)
Gelsenkirchen, December 2021
"a great concert"
“Ganna brought a highly emotional mixture of folk, jazz and contemporary sounds to the people with her wonderful voice and great effects on the synthesizer in connection with her songs from Ukraine.
It was really touching how she conveyed love songs, her homeland and her history in text and sound to the audience.
A great and concert came to an end and at the end of the year it couldn’t have been better.” – Kurt Rade
Interview with Sophia Fischer for Deutschlandfunk Kultur radio (GER)
Berlin, May 2021
A vixen in the city
Ukrainian artist Ganna Gryniva effortlessly combines jazz with the traditions of her homeland and classical music. The debut introduces the current album Dykyi Lys in conversation.
JazzPRESS Magazine (PL)
Warsaw, December 2020
One of the 5 best vocal releases 2020
Krzysztof Komorek and the Polish Music Magazine Jazz Press selected the new album of GANNA Ensemble “Dykyi Lys” as one of 5 best vocal releases 2020! Congrats to the amazing vocalists Sophie Tassignon, Lucia Cadotsch, Dan Loomi and Agnes Bazsinka!!!!