About Me

The music that Oran Etkin creates with his Group Kelenia is an aural
reflection of the new global landscape, painted by a young clarinetist
and saxophonist born in a small town in Israel, now living in New York
and leading a band comprised of Malian and American musicians.
Etkin’s distinctive sound is honest and unforced, infused with the
constant presence of ancient influences – reverberations from the
Malian Empire and the ages-old cry of the Jewish prayer. At the same
time it resonates with an urban vibe and the energy of the modern New
York jazz scene. “I love the contrast of old and new: of a tradition
that has evolved over centuries and the creative individual expression
of one man playing his own approach, in his own way, against that
tradition and toward it,” states Etkin.