Edinburgh Tradfest: GANNA

“One of the most impressive singers and musicians of the European jazz and global music scene” – Ö1 Radio

Mermaid ghosts, assertive Ukrainian grandmothers and traditional Peruvian grooves all appear in the eclectic and brilliant new album UTOPIA by acclaimed singer and composer GANNA. The solo project of live looping artist Ganna Gryniva bridges Ukrainian folk traditions, jazz-tinged arrangements, electronic soundscapes and improvisation.

GANNA has performed across Europe at major festivals including Jazzahead, WOMEX, Reeperbahn Festival, and she has extensively toured in Australia including Sydney Festival and WOMAdelaide.

For UTOPIA, Ukrainian-born, Berlin-based artist dove deep into the archives and oral traditions of her homeland, travelling through Ukraine to record elders, document forgotten folk songs, and uncover the stories behind them. Working with local researchers and musicians, she collected field recordings from villages and mountainsides, voices of grandmothers, ritual songs from Kyiv, and fragments of everyday life, which she then reimagined through a contemporary lens. The result is a vivid, dreamlike sound world where ancestral melodies meet modern production, exploring themes of matriarchy, resilience, and belonging. As GANNA says,“...hope is sometimes the only thing that keeps us going. The Ukrainian folk songs are part of my Utopia: A space for my country and to help make my culture visible.”

GANNA describes her music as “improvised electro-folk with solo parts. I love discovering new things. It’s a completely new world of sound that draws on both folklore and jazz."

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