RELEASES (English)
With the support of the Neustart Kultur scholarship program, the solo album “Halfway” was created in 2022 and was published on online platforms. In September 2024, Habib Elias is re-releasing the album with some changes.
The album includes 5 original compositions with German lyrics, three poems he set to music, by William Wordsworth, Eduard Mörike and Victor Hugo and 2 jazz arrangements of classical works (Johann Sebastian Bach, Giacomo Puccini).
The rerelease of the album is soon available on the online platforms iTunes, Spotify.
The album title “Halfway” has several meanings.
Experiences in different geographical locations as well as experiences with different musical styles flow into the pieces of the album:
Habib Elias and his wife, who comes from Brazil, met halfway in Barcelona, and the years of stays in Berlin, Barcelona and London consciously and unconsciously influence the way he makes and writes music.
At the same time, Habib Elias combines in his compositions and lyrics, settings of poems and arrangements of two classical works his experiences in jazz with those in working on the classical song repertoire from his time as a student.
With Puccini's “Che gelida manina” Habib found in this wonderful composition combined with the charming Italian lyrics the motivation for attempting a jazz arrangement.
He is, one might say, constantly on the move between musical styles and ways of expression.
The album "JOURNEYS" is a compilation of recordings made between 2005 and 2015.
Habib Elias recorded “Just the way you are”, “J'ai ta main”, “La Bohème” and “Daydreams” in Berlin with the Italian, Berlin-based jazz drummer Andrea Marcelli and the Canadian, Berlin-based bassist Jonathan Robinson . On “Just the way you are” and Elias’ composition “Daydreams” the Berlin jazz musician Dirk Engelhardt plays the saxophone.
“You moved in my mind”, originally written and recorded by Habib Elias in Berlin for a television series, he later reharmonized it and rerecorded it in Barcelona with a jazz arrangement, also with scat improvisations.
For his song composition “Ahora” Habib wrote Spanish lyrics and recorded and produced the song together with “Fly me to the moon”, “Besame mucho”, and the above-mentioned “You moved in my mind” in his mini-studio in Barcelona.
Habib Elias recorded “Time after time” in London, England. The recording was made one day after he had played the song in a jazz restaurant in Kensington, London.
“Sous le ciel de Paris” and “Boplicity" were recorded in Rottenburg, Germany, where Habib Benedikt Elias lives with his wife and two children since 2012.
He always wanted to record “Sous le ciel de Paris” in this way, and the idea to record “Boplicity” came about after an inspiring jazz jam session in the jazz club Tübingen.
In these recordings, too, the different languages German, English, French, Portuguese and Spanish in which he sings are an important element that expands Elias' sound and possibilities of expression, making them even more versatile.