Martina Almgren

Drums & composer
Gothenburg

The drummer and composer Martina Almgren has long belonged to the leading figures in Swedish jazz. With rhythmic intensity and playful improvisation, she has been a colorful addition to the jazz scene since the 90s with her groups Martina Almgren Quartet, Oh Yeah Orchestra and international collaborations with, among others, British pianist Zoe Rahman and Scottish saxophonist Laura MacDonald.

She has released about ten CD productions with her own music and has received several scholarships and awards, among other things she composed the commissioned work "Freedom of Movement" for Sweden's Jazzradio for the group Oh Yeah Orchestra. The tentette, with five female and five male musicians was added after Martina was awarded the Iris Scholarship - for an equal musical life.

Current projects are Martina Almgren This Song of Mine, compositions by the Indian-Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore in a chamber music format, Martina Almgren Majestic, where the collective improvisational interplay is in focus, as well as Duality - electric bass and hand drums in a boiling interplay.

Martina is a lecturer in improvisation at the University of Stage and Music in Gothenburg and runs the record company Oh Yeah Records together with her family.