Neda

The most prominent Lithuanian jazz singer and a master of flute. On stage she spreads emotions and sincerity, and her voice, mostly used as an equal instrument in the ensemble and often leading up to emotional culminations, is both full of vitality and intimately mild. Since 1986, when Neda first appeared on the jazz stage with the student ensemble, led by her teacher Vladimir Chekasin, her flute and colourful voice was heard in projects with almost all of the Lithuanian jazz masters, as well as with her international partners. Neda has mastered diverse jazz styles; besides, she is closely related to classical music (she graduated from the classical flute studies at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre). Developing the mainstream tradition in jazz, the singer also successfully appears as a pop singer, and has won multiple awards in this field. Neda Malūnavičiūtė (b. 1971) made her debut on jazz stage in 1988 with the Youth Jazz Ensemble led by Vladimir Chekasin. Since then she has performed with nearly all Lithuanian jazz musicians, making the most important appearances with such groups as NNB, Artūras Anusauskas Quintet, Gone With Jazz, Vilnius Jazz Quartet, Vytautas Labutis Octet, Dainius Pulauskas Sextet, Leonid Shinkarenko Jazz 4. She has been featured by the international projects with Michail Finberg Big Band (Byelorussia), Daniil Kramer Trio (Russia), Bernd Homann Quartet (Germany), Kestutis Stančiauskas and his group Streetdancer (USA), Raivo Tafenau Group (Estonia-Finland-Lithuania) and others. She has performed in the USA with different groups and has been featured by the famous European jazz festivals, the Imatra (1994), Tampere (1995), Pori (2000). In 1994 Neda won the Grand Prix of the International Vocalists Competition in Białystok (Poland). In 1999, together with Dainius Pulauskas Sextet, she won the Grand Prix of the Yesterday Pärnu International Competition in Estonia. In 1997 she received the Bravo Award for her achievements as a pop singer. In 2000 Neda signed for “Patriotai Productions” indie record label and released 5 original pop-rock albums while in collaboration with successful Lithuanian producers and sonwriters duo - Audrius Balsevičius and Andrius Darius Borisevičius. and commanded many tracks that became calssical and still in high demand including hit tracks "Pasaka", "Likę vieni", "Mėlyna saulė", "Sena nauja pasaka", "Šalia", "Eilinę dieną rojuje", "Šokis lietuje", "Back in Business", "Laiškas" etc. (Pakeiciam foto!.pakeiciam pakeiciam...) Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.