©Maximilian Schachtner
About Enji
With her totally one-off sound and magnetic visual identity, Enji is gathering fans from the likes of BBC 6 music’s Gilles Peterson, as well as an invitation to perform a session for COLORS in Berlin. Enji’s previous album ‘Ursgal’ found fans with the likes of Nowness, Loud and Quiet and CLASH, as well as with MOJO describing her as “Like Ella Fitzgerald singing in Khalkha”.
Born in Ulaanbaatar, Enji grew up in a yurt to a working-class family. Having always been drawn to music, dance and literature, she initially wanted to become a music teacher with little ambitions to compose or be on stage. A program by the local Goethe Institute sparked her passion for Jazz and eventually led her to become a performing artist. Inspired by the music of Carmen McRae, Ella Fitzgerald and Nancy Wilson, Enji started writing songs of her own, cherishing this newfound means of expression. Ursgal is the first record featuring her original compositions.
- she now shares these experiences and passions with a band made up of people from all over the world. Along with longtime musical partners and integral parts to Enji’s music, guitarist Paul Brändle and bass player Munguntovch Tsolmonbayar, Enji is joined in the studio by renowned jazz drummer Mariá Portugal and experimental clarinet player Joana Queiroz. Both musicians come from Brazil and reflect Enji’s upbringing, but from the other side of the globe, sharing experiences across cultures and growing up in some truly incomparable parts of the world. This new found sense of understanding reinforces Enji’s songs, further depth added from her feeling of belonging and affinity to her creative partners.
As Enji continues her journey of self-discovery, she continues to grow and adapt into new roles. With Ulaan, she bares more of her heart than we’ve seen from her yet, but she’s still got more to give—as a vocalist, a bandleader, and most importantly, as a storyteller.
- Shy Thompson
Jazz singers like this rarely sound so unpretentious, original and free.
- The New York Times