Group Maloka was founded as a part of Bridges — Musik Verbindet in the fall of 2018. They are a fusion of Latin-American music with Persian sounds, Eastern European folk songs, and Irish music. Every corner of the world comes together musically to build the Maloka House. The word Maloka comes from an indigenous language of the Amazon, and means a simple house built of straw and wood; a space that harbors community, celebrations and ceremonies; a room built for every occasion. The group Maloka arranges traditional music from the homelands of its members in the typical “bridges style”; with instrumentations and styles that are traditionally never seen together, yet here, you will find them all together in one home.
The Ensemble members of Grupo Maloka:
Andres Rosales, Tiple/Guitar (Columbia)
Johanna-Leonore Dahlhoff, Flute (Germany)
Reza Rostami, Percussion (Iran)
Samira Memarzadeh, Harp (Germany/Iran)
Diana Dinu, Voice (Romania)
Andrés Rosales studied Jazz Guitar and Composition at the Columbian conservatory “Autonomo de Bucaramanga” and at the Manhattan School of Music in New York. Currently he is living in Frankfurt. When not performing on stage throughout Germany, he works intensively in composition and music pedagogy. Besides jazz and composition, Rosales also writes new arrangements of traditional Columbian music. In February 2020, his first composition for the Bridges Chamber Orchestra will be premiered.
Johanna-Leonore Dahlhoff, the daughter of a musician couple, studied flute in Hamburg and Hannover and Music Therapy in Berlin. She won the first prize in the national “youth musician” competition and the Elise-Meyer-Wettbewerbs Hamburg and was a prize winner in the Studienstiftung of Deutschen Volkes and the DAAD. She has toured and performed throughout most of the EU as well as Argentina, Brazil, Japan, Madagascar, Mauritius, Russia, Switzerland, South Africa, and the USA. Since 2016, she has been the artistic director of Bridges - Musik Verbindet. She continues to free-lance as a Flautist, composer, and arranger.
Samira Memarzadeh studied Harp in Freiburg, London, and Frankfurt. Her studies were supported with scholarships from the Richard-Wagner-Association and the Rotary-Clubs through the German Scholarship Program. Besides performing regularly with the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra and other well-known youth orchestras, Samira performed as a soloist with orchestras such as the Baden-Baden Philharmonic and the Southwest German Chamber orchestra Pforzheim. As a regularly requested orchestra substitute, she has played among orchestras such as the SWR Symphony Orchestra. Samira Memarzahdeh has been active with Bridges since 2017; where she leads the open Sessions and brings her understanding and interest from her second area of education, Islamic studies and Ethnology.
Reza Rostami learned from early childhood to play various percussion instruments and played with several bands while he was in Iran. He has been active with Bridges - Musik verbindet, since it’s foundation, and has played in numerous ensemble and orchestral concerts in the Rhine-Main area as well as throughout Germany, such as in Berlin at a governmental ceremony in the presence of Angela Merkel. Reza Rostami is not only interested in traditional Iranian and Kurdish music, but also in getting to know other musical styles and is constantly expanding his knowledge of repertoire and instruments.
Diana Dinu began receiving voice and music lessons in childhood, and at a young age was active in various choirs and music projects. She studied education, art history, and mezzo-soprano, voice and graduated from the Bucharest National University of Music. She has performed at the Bucharest Opera and other various theatre productions as an opera soloist. Since 2017 she has been active in Bridges – Musik Verbindet, where she dedicates herself mainly to traditional Romanian songs and the music of the Roma.
