Swing on Snow concert: Aluna ensemble

“Aluna” can be described in a simple key: a viola, two guitars, a trombone, a double bass, five enthusiastic voices from South Tyrol, and songs from all over the world. So, a cover band without drums?

It’s not that simple. “Aluna” is a term from the multilingual vocabulary of the Kogi, Arhuaco, and Wiwa, mountain peoples who retreated to the Colombian highlands 400 years ago while fleeing the conquering Spaniards. At that time, “Aluna” referred to the soul, human thought, and imagination. Today, the Aluna ensemble uses multicultural imagination to pursue an inspired musical reinterpretation of music from many regions and cultures of the world—by five musicians from the multilingual mountain region of South Tyrol.

Zeno von Braitenberg, Umberto Carrescia, Hartwig Mumelter, Gregor Marini, and Gigi Grata live in Merano and are at home in many places beyond it. Their music has Neapolitan, Yiddish, Egyptian, Latin American, and Central European roots. It thrives on the uniqueness of their arrangements and on the hope that something soulful can transcend linguistic borders and mountain peaks, transforming into a unifying soundscape that connects peoples across the world.