Julia Úlehla - vocals & compositions
Aram Bajakian - guitar
Dálava, the genre-defying ensemble led by vocalist Julia Úlehla (Grotowski Workcenter, Darius Jones) with guitarist Aram Bajakian (Lou Reed, John Zorn, Diana Krall), present music from Understories (Pi Recordings), their deeply evocative new album that explores uncharted territories of sound. “Understories exudes the same spirit of freedom as [Pi Recordings’] releases by Steve Lehman, Henry Threadgill, and Tyshawn Sorey, which are united by refusing the limits of genre and national boundaries" (Artsfuse). Seamlessly weaving animist Slavic folk songs with an experimental, improvisational approach, Understories takes the listener on a journey through captivating, inspirited sonic worlds. "Úlehla’s astonishing voice freely inhabits these ancient songs and utterly transforms them, whether they become harrowing tone poems or modern folk tunes” (The Wire). "The album is both haunting and haunted. Úlehla shapes and narrates each song with such a ghostly intensity that you may find yourself remembering a history you never learned...Truly, Understories is a compelling reminder that the voice is an instrument, capable of just as much metamorphosis and mimicry as anything crafted by hands....The entire album is a feast of sumptuous tone, hypnotic rhythms, and keening emotion...This is a gorgeous, riveting album." (Spinal Tapdance). Dálava’s concert at the Jazz Gallery on March 25th will be the duo’s first appearance in New York since 2019.
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Julia Úlehla
Julia Úlehla is a vocalist, composer, improviser, and scholar whose performance research engages with ancestry, traditional culture, and extra-rational ways of knowing. After performing for several years as a lyric mezzo-soprano in the San Francisco Bay Area, Julia was a member of the Grotowski Workcenter in Italy, and now regularly performs throughout North America and Europe in a variety of performance milieus. She received a BA in Music from Stanford University, an MMus in Vocal Performance from the Eastman School of Music, a PhD in Ethnomusicology from the University of British Columbia, and a Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Her scholarship and other writing have appeared in journals and publications such as Music and Science (2026), The Wire (2026), Canadian Theatre Review (forthcoming), Performance Matters (2023), Ethnomusicology Translations (2018), and as a co-authored, métissage chapter in Research and Reconciliation: Unsettling Ways of Knowing through Indigenous Relationships (2019). As a composer and vocalist, she has recorded on Pi Recordings (2025), Songlines Recordings (2017), and Sanasar Records (2014). She lives as a guest on Musqueam traditional, ancestral, unceded territory.
Aram Bajakian
The music of guitarist and composer Aram Bajakian music has been called “a masterpiece” (fRoots), “shape-shifting” (FreeJazzCollective), and “sometimes delicate, sometimes punishing” (Chicago Reader). As a guitarist, “the virtuosic jack of all trades” (Village Voice) has toured extensively with Lou Reed, Madeleine Peyroux, John Zorn and Diana Krall. From 2018-2021, Bajakian served as the New Music Curator at Western Front in Vancouver, one of Canada’s leading artist-run centers for contemporary art and new music. Bajakian received his Bachelor of Music degree (Summa Cum Laude) from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst where he studied with Dr. Yusef Lateef. He holds a Master of Arts Degree in Music Education from Teachers College, Columbia University and Master of Music degree in Music Composition from the University of British Columbia. He is currently a PhD candidate at the University of British Columbia where his research focuses on contemporary and historic Armenian communities.
SPONSORSHIP
The Jazz Gallery is a not-for-profit arts organization presenting emerging artists who challenge convention, take creative risks, and lead their field as performers, composers and thinkers. We provide a platform for artists to discover their unique voice and a home for established musicians to continue to experiment and grow. At The Jazz Gallery, artists and audiences come together from around the world to explore new creative ideas, collaborate and celebrate jazz as a dynamic art form that reflects our ever-changing world.
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