Since forming in 2013, Danish quartet Kalaha have carved out a distinctive, genre-defying sound, blending Brazilian samba, Anatolian rock, African highlife, desert blues, and modern electronic music into something entirely their own.
With multiple awards and a loyal following among critics and vinyl collectors, the band now announces their seventh studio album, Guirca, arriving October 24th on Denmark’s forward-thinking jazz imprint April Records.
The record follows 2024’s Nord Havn, a tribute to a rapidly gentrifying harbor district in their hometown, and marks a new creative chapter. Inspired by the energy of a Colombian cumbia concert, Kalaha spent two concentrated weeks in the studio experimenting with new percussion, electronic textures, and a talkbox. The result is an album that channels the pulse of cumbia while maintaining the band’s eclectic, collage-like identity.
The title Guirca merges the güiro and cuíca—two Latin American percussion instruments—as a symbol of unity and rhythm. Across the album, Kalaha draw from cumbia and samba, Gaelic roots music, spaghetti-western motifs, and ’70s jazz-rock fusion, all seamlessly combined with their signature electronics.
“Guirca is a true Kalaha album,” the band explains. “It’s about crossing borders through co-creative exploration.”
With Guirca, Kalaha continue their geographically expansive sound, bringing inspirations from around the world into a fresh collective voice.
Artist website: https://kalahamusic.dk/
