Halva

Halva plays music in traditional Eastern European styles. The band is unique in its approach, in that it exclusively plays new compositions by bandleader Nicolaas Cottenie, inspired by traditional style and repertoire.

The idea is to search for the greatest possible personal expression while celebrating the beauty of traditional music. The result is music that breathes a deep energy that invites to dance, with a touch of seriousness and moments of spiritual introspection here and there.

It is music that speaks to the mind and the heart. Halva has made a name for enchanting the audience with varied and subtle manipulation of the band sound, and for their expressive and virtuosic playing.

Halva is currently working on its fourth album and concert program with working title “Bulgaria: Where Two Universes Meet”, due to premiere in April 2027. It will be focusing on Bulgaria, and more precisely on the way Bulgarian traditional styles integrate the influences of both “European” tonal music and Ottoman modal music. Subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date!

This new project is a logical step after the third album “Musafir” (Zephyrus Records, 2024), which focused on Romanian and Greek music with guest musicians Andriana Achitzanova (Greece) on ney and vocals and Muhittin Kemal (Germany/Turkey) on kanun.

In the pandemic year of 2020, “Dinner in Sofia” (published in 2021 by Oriente Musik), Halva’s second album was recorded. It also consists of 12 original compositions and focuses on Romanian, Bulgarian and Greek music and was shortlisted for the prestigious “Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik”.

One of the central pieces of the album, “Khosidl für das neue Leben”, won second prize in the Bubbe Awards 2020, organized by the Instituto da Musica Judaica in Sao Paolo (Brasil) and was featured when Nicolaas Cottenie was guest composer in Akkordeon Magazin in 2020.

The band was founded in 2018 with the recording of the debut album “The Sweetest Klezmer Orchestra” (published by Galileo), featuring 12 compositions by Nicolaas Cottenie inspired by klezmer music.

The opening piece of the record was included on World Music Network’s “Rough Guide to Jewish Music” (2022).