Emilia Vancini - Pigri (2025)

Netherlands-based duo Emilia Vancini (voice) and Guillermo Martín-Viana (drums) released their album Pigri on 4th July 2025. This is the first collaboration between the Italian singer and Spanish drummer, who met through common musician friends in The Hague and decided to start working at a voice and drums project one and a half years ago. The album was completed after two sessions in the studio, over the course of six months. The atmosphere is minimalist; the musicians decided not to use arrangements, striving to play and sing in the moment, the recording captures the spontaneity of their approach. Pigri is a collection of jazz standards, plus two originals by drummer Martín-Viana and an Italian song written by cantautore (singer-songwriter) Ivan Graziani in the '70s.

Together, Emilia and Guillermo bring distinct yet complementary energies. Their collaboration is a meeting of worlds: tradition and experimentation, voice and silence, Italy and Spain. Their album Pigri is not your typical jazz album. It is a minimalist and raw collaboration, a collection of beloved jazz standards, two intimate originals for solo drums, and a bold reinterpretation of Ivan Graziani’s 1970s protest song “Pigro," which gives the album its name. The song portrays people who are inflexible and mediocre, people who believe they are always right, willingly turning a blind eye to their true nature. Pigro is singular for lazy. The topic couldn’t be more actual. The musicians decided to play on the title of the song and to call the album Pigri (plural of lazy) because they were too lazy to find other musicians to play in their CD and too lazy to compose new songs (only two tracks are originals).

Opening such a repertoire with “Alfie" and not being trapped immediately testifies to Vancini and Martín-Viana. mastery. Almost a cappella with minimalist accompaniment they create an unreal atmosphere. You don’t dare hum along, as the impact is so overwhelming. Any form of mannerism is completely absent. Thunderclouds then rise on the horizon with the drum roll of Martín-Viana to frame Sting"s “Bring On The Night." This is clearly not a cover but a completely different number. A tour de force that the two continue with the rest of the program including “My Ship" (Gershwin, Weill), “Duke Ellington"s Sound Of Love" (Mingus) and “But Beautiful" (Burke, van Heusen). There is also a Brazilian touch with “Ilu Ayé," written by Norival Reis and a hit by Clara Nunes. This is also followed by the bossa nova “Chega De Saudade" (de Moraes, Jobim). The standards are supplemented by two refined solo pieces by Martín-Viana and, as a conclusion, the protest song “Pigro." The latter marks a break in style due to the more intense approach.

Recorded live in the studio with no overdubs, Pigri thrives on instinct and presence. The pair have chosen to abandon polished perfection in favour of emotional honesty, embracing the spontaneous imperfections that come with real-time performance. The title Pigri, is both a nod to Graziani’s song and an ironic reflection of the artists’ decision to keep the project intentionally spare. The result is surprisingly rich, bold, and intimate and it invites the listener to rethink what it means to do more with less. Pigri is a protest in softness, a challenge to convention.