Nino de Gleria (bass), Aljoša Jerič (drums), Igor Leonardi (guitar), Jelena Ždrale (violin), Blaž Celarec (percussions), Primož Fleischman (saxophones), Ana Vipotnik (vocals)
Fake Orchestra is a Slovenian “orchestra” which fuses Slavic folk, Latin jazz, African guitars and balafons, avant-garde tendencies and pop sensibilities. It was founded in 1997 by guitarist Igor Leonardi. In the early eighties Leonardi was a member and co-founder of influential avant-garde projects Begnagrad and Quatebriga. Even though he gained his education at the rather traditional Graz Academy for Jazz, his musical horizon was far too wide to play only one type of music. He was overwhelmed by West African and Oriental music and his knowledge of traditional ethnic instruments led to a meeting with Don Cherry, with whom he played and associated for years. During his stay in the United States he was actively involved in the San Francisco jazz revival in the early nineties, and with the New York eclectic music scene. Fake Orchestra is a seven piece band that comprises musicians’ of different ages, sexes and musical orientations. Their repertoire allows for a lot of interplay through improvisation. Elements of surprise are frequent guests at Fake Orchestra concerts (sometimes in a form of guest artists). Fake Orchestra has performed at many international world music and jazz festivals in Europe and the United States. So far they have released 3 albums: Fake Life (2001), Fake World (2004) and Made in China (2009).
