Daniel Cacija
Biographie Daniel Cacija
Daniel Čačija
was born in 1986 in Croatia. At the beginning of the 90s, his family fled after several months of war and immigrated to Germany. Frankfurt am Main became their new home. Even as a small child, Daniel drifted through a cosmos of church, folk, classical and jazz music. At just six years of age, he started professional music lessons in Frankfurt, and later received his degree as a classical pianist from the conservatoire.
And the singing? That story is quickly told, and for that very reason, all the more remarkable. Singing had always been a matter of course for Daniel Čačija. His voice accompanied him everywhere, even to his piano lessons. But it was a throwaway question by a staff member at the conservatoire in Frankfurt, who asked whether singing was his main subject, which finally opened Daniel's eyes. From then on he followed his inner voice, in the truest sense of the word! He got his Bachelor's as well as his Master's degree at one of the most respected placed to study Jazz in Europe, at the Kunstuniversität in Graz, Austria! Collaborating with Artists such as Kurt Elling, Sheila Jordan, Dena DeRose, Michael Abene, Rob Bargad,Morten Toftgard Ramsbol and Jim Rotondi to name but a few, has put Daniel Čačija into the path of performing at Jazz Clubs and Festivals all around Europe. He as well was the vocal soloist of the German National Jazz Orchestra (BuJazzO). Vocalists like Nat King Cole, Sarah Vaughan, Mark Murphy, Kurt Elling, Frank Rosolino and Gregory Porter are his secret heroes.
Even before the release of his first recordings, the trend-setting US magazine "DownBeat" chose Daniel Čačija as the best young singer of 2013. Then in 2014, he received the "Croatian Grammy" (Porin Music Award) in the "Jazz Album of the Year" category featuring the HGM Jazzorchestra.
And now, on MONS Records, Daniel Čačija is laying down his debut album with the significant title LifeLine where he presents his voice on record, and with it gives his musical career the brilliant setting it is due.
The British Croatian Society in London referred to his outstanding interpretive performace as a "meld of Slavic earthiness and liquid-smooth jazz phrasing with a unique hint of passion and improvisational flair."
