Alma, Spanish for soul. That's the translation of her name. No wonder Alma Naidu gave her debut album the same name. ‘With my music, I show a part of my soul.’ Her album has been on the market for about a year now. It was produced by none other than jazz drummer Wolfgang Haffner, who discovered her in Burghausen in 2019. Since then, he has not only provided her with musical advice and support, but also introduced her to the international music scene. She has toured Myanmar and India with him. He introduced her on his album ‘Kind of Tango’ in 2020 and she accompanied him on tour with his new album ‘Silent World’. Haffner and his band also took on the production of Alma's first album. She wrote the songs for it mainly during the coronavirus period at her home in Munich. ‘We recorded 18 tracks in three days at the Hansahaus studios in Bonn. It was a super intense time, like being in a parallel world.’ Eleven songs were finally selected and can now be heard on the album.

It was during this time that Alma first came into contact with the Grizzly Jazz Foundation. In 2019, Alma met the founder of the Grizzly Jazz Foundation, Prof Andreas Hoeft. Like Wolfgang Haffner, he recognised Alma's special talent, both vocally and on stage. In 2021, Alma became the first recipient of the Grizzly Jazz Foundation's 20,000 euro scholarship.

A lot has happened since then. The scholarship was a great support for her during the album release period, says the artist. ‘I was able to use the money to organise online campaigns on social media, which is very important these days. We were also able to finance the tour bus and top up the fees for the artists involved.’ But it's not just financially that she benefits enormously from the Grizzly Foundation's contacts and resources. ‘After our album release tour, we were able to perform at Xjazz, a jazz festival in Berlin, in May 2022 - thanks to the Grizzly Foundation. And when I was engaged for the contemporary opera ‘Angel's Bone’ in Augsburg in February this year, I used the Foundation's legal advice, which checked my contract.’

Following the release of the album in February 2022, Alma and her band went on a major album release tour from March to May. The band, consisting of drummer Valentin Renner, bassist Lisa Wulff, guitarists Philipp Schiepek and Lukas Häfner and Alma Naidu on piano, played around 40 concerts. The result is a very unique musical mixture that lies somewhere between pop and jazz. Rolling Stone calls it ‘soft jazz songwriter pop’. There is the beautiful song ‘Walberla’, named after a mountain in Franconia, or the surprising piece ‘Interlude’, an improvisation with meditative wordless vocals (which she also incorporates into all her concerts). Alma Naidu composes across genres. ‘I'm glad that I don't have to choose between classical, jazz and pop, but can make music that just comes out of me.’

Alma Naidu is now under contract with Germany's leading concert management company Karsten Jahnke. ‘They take a lot of the work off my hands that I would otherwise have to do completely myself.’ In addition to numerous concert appearances, this leaves time to prepare the new album, which is due to be released in spring 2024. ‘As with the first album, I'm writing my own music and will also be producing it myself this time. I've changed and that's why the second album will be different again. Germany has a great jazz scene with lots of festivals and venues, but we wouldn't mind taking the step out of Germany with the second album.’

Alma Naidu will presumably break through the narrow genre boundaries again in this production. Her experience in opera and musicals, acting and improvisation will help her to develop and strengthen her own artistic personality. Added to this is her talent for composition and her willingness to surprise the audience with completely new arrangements. In doing so, she has also taken Wolfgang Haffner's credo ‘No note too many. Every note needs a meaning’.

Alma has since moved to Cologne and is planning her next steps from here. She is still a Grizzly Foundation scholarship holder until autumn 2023 and is taking advantage of the associated opportunities for her new production, such as video shoots, public relations work and feature guests. In September, another major performance at the Telekom-Forum is on the programme, this time with the WDR Funkhausorchester as part of the Beethovenfest and you can once again look forward to her ‘delicate, beautifully clear and absolutely intonation-proof voice’ (Jazzthing magazine). In October 2022, Alma travelled to Japan with Wolfgang Haffner for a few concerts. Nothing stands in the way of an international career.