Ethnically and Culturally Inspired Music
and the guitarist Martin Weiss (Germany). On their debut album "GRACIAS A LA VIDA" they
present wonderful acoustic interpretations of great international classics by Édith Piaf, George
Gershwin, Antônio Carlos Jobim and Mercedes Sosa. ALMA’s great variety of styles from latin
("Gracias A La Vida") to jazz ("Love Is Here To Stay") and Italian Classics ("Quando") to chansons
("La Foule") flows into fascinating song arrangements with a very special touch.
Alicia's soulful and expressive vocal performance with lyrics in Spanish, Italian, Portuguese,
English and French makes ALMA's album repertoire so authentic and unique. Martin's marvellous
guitar accompaniment plays on a high artistic level and contributes to the unmistakable duo
sound with wonderful arrangements.
"GRACIAS A LA VIDA" is the first album by the innovative acoustic duo ALMA. The music brought
Alicia and Martin together in September 2019 in Stuttgart. Immediately the spark jumped between
them, both professionally and privately. At the beginning of 2020 they moved together in
Mallorca-Spain and founded the ALMA project, which combined all their love and passion in their
music. During the Spain-wide lockdown in spring 2020, they started with some song recordings
and videos for their YouTube channel and released their first EP "Lost On You" with pop cover
songs on Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon via the recordJET label.
From mid-2020, however, ALMA switched the musical course to international classics of various
styles: bolero, tango, jazz standards, bossa nova, French chansons and Italian works. The idea for
an album with a selection of immortal classics was born. Among them their favorite “GRACIAS A
LA VIDA”, which was written by the Chilean folklore musician Violeta Parra and made famous in
Latin America by the Argentine singer Mercedes Sosa. The song means a lot to Alicia because it
was one of her father's favourite songs, who died of devastating lung cancer in 2011. In fact, the
album is dedicated to him. Alicia and Martin agreed that "GRACIAS A LA VIDA" would also be the
perfect title for the album as it is a hymn to their love, their music and their life.
The great selection of songs from "GRACIAS A LA VIDA" and the artistic arrangements make this
album so diverse and passionate, intense and unique. The warm and spirited voice of Alicia and
the soulful, elegant guitar playing of Martin ennoble the interpretations of the great composers
George Gershwin, Kurt Weil, Edith Piaf, Antônio Carlos Jobim to a real listening pleasure. For the
album, Alicia and Martin finally composed the wonderful song “Soledad” with Spanish influences.
The ALMA duo received particularly high praise for their YouTube videos and releases on the wellknown streaming and download platforms Spotify, iTunes and Amazon. Including by the worldfamous artist Noa (Achinoam Nini). She enthusiastically commented on ALMA's version of
"Beautiful That Way" - the soundtrack title of the Oscar-winning film "La vita è bella" ("Life is
beautiful“): "The arrangement is just beautiful, so unique, the guitar is fantastic, the vocals so
deep and soulful, congratulations!“
