Biography - Longital

Longital is a duo formed by Daniel Salontay and Shina, eclectic songwriters from Bratislava, Slovakia. Longital build their songs on vibrant and energetic music full of surprises and dynamic changes. Their lyrics reach inside the human soul and tell the stories of its travels in this world. Shina’s charismatic voice, strong stage presence and her fretless bass deeply played by bow are balanced with Daniel’s sophisticated and wild acoustic guitar craft ranging from minimal patterns to jazz creations.

Within 13 years of existence, Longital have been crossing the borders not only in musical sense, but also territorially. The band name Longital refers to the hill where the band resides and from where they travel all over the world. Longital have toured 12 countries in Europe, USA and Canada, including the famous SXSW festival in Austin. The band has released 9 albums in their own label Slnko Records which is nowadays the foremost indie label in Slovakia.

Besides records and touring, Longital’s cinematic style has been discovered and used in numerous movies and theatre plays in Slovakia and the Czech Republic

THE STORY OF LONGITAL
He dreamed a lot * She wrote poetry * He sharpened his imagination and built aeroplanes and ships * She sang and played piano * He got a guitar and loved jazz * She ran college radio and played folk * They both loved music and skiing * He graduated in mathematics * She graduated in engineering * He taught computer science and played the blues * She did graphic design and photography * He found some wrecked guitars and rescued them * She left some old friends * They met and became friends* He went to Cleveland USA to study jazz * She stayed in Bratislava * He missed her * She missed him * They met again in the US * They fell in love * They returned home * He looked for new sounds on his guitar * She got bass guitar * He wrote songs * She wrote songs * They moved to a beautiful place on a hill called Longital * They formed the band and named Longital * They started their record label Slnko records * They quit their proper jobs and jumped into music * They recorded some albums and lost some drummers * They became two * And finally came the dream of White Tiger revealing to them the secrets to be shared with others

Wrote about Longital :
„I saw them in Budapest. Amazing duo… I’ve got two of the CDs. Excellent.“
Gerald Seligman, Womex director 2009

„Strange in its originality and beautiful in its profundity, this is music like you have never heard before… ”
Eddie Cooney in five star review of the album „Teraz“ for R2 Magazine UK, 2011

„Samples of melting icebergs and bowed guitars are enveloped by beautiful duets between the man and woman behind the band.”
Rock Paper Scissors, US

More Longital press reviews: http://www.rockpapersissors.biz/go/longital

Members of the band:
Daniel Salontay – guitars, bow, vocals and samples
Shina – bass and vocals

Short history of Longital:
Daniel Salontay and Shina formed the band in 2001.
Before that Salontay was an active musician with background in jazz and blues, won an award of Slovak Jazz Society and a scholarship in the Jazz Studies programme at Tri-C College in Cleveland in 1997. After his return to Slovakia he continued with his previous jazz&blues collaborations and also co-founded the famous Slovak alternative band Neuropa.

Salontay and Shina met in 1997 in the US. At that time, Shina was a graphic & layout designer, but also a secret poet and a folk singer. From the US they returned to Slovakia as a couple and two years later they started to work together on their own music, which would later become the base repertoire for the band.

In early 2001 they decided to focus on music full-time, recorded two albums, and named the band after the place where they live, the hill Dlhe Diely in Bratislava. This place is on the border of three Central European countries and it has been a natural crossroads of cultures, which influenced the band in their eclectic multi-genre approach.

Along with the first recordings Shina and Salontay launched their own music label Slnko Records, which had soon gained respect in the music community and business, and grew steadily to became today‘s foremost and the biggest independent label in Slovakia.

The duo is one of the most recognized Slovak bands not only in their homeland, but also in the Central Europe. When the band started to perform further in the West, they realized how difficult it was to pronounce and remember the old name Dlhe Diely for international and English speaking audience. Therefore in the year 2005, after 5 years of existence and 5 albums, they decided to change the band’s name to Longital, the historical name of the hill and the band’s residence.

Longital has gained a reputation of most travelled and export ready band from Slovakia. So far the band has toured 12 European countries and US. In March 2010 Longital entered the US indie scene from the most desirable point, when the band was invited by the South by Southewest festival in Austin (SXSW). Three performances at the festival and short tour of the US. The duo returned to America in 2012 for performances at SXSW and CMW Toronto. On tours Longital prefer trains, having shortest possible carbon footprint, keeping their vintage guitars safe on the board and enjoying the time spent together.

Longital was among winners of the Ableton remix contest in 2006, receiving a „Top ten“ award for remix of Coldcut’s “Everything Is Under Control”. Matt Black, Member of Coldcut and the founder of the renowned UK label Ninja Tune selected the remix.

Selected appearances at festivals
US – SXSW Austin (2010, 2012) / CAN – CMW Toronto (2012) / UK – The Big Chill (2005), Small Nations Festival (2008) / SK – Pohoda (2001-2008, 2012) / IE – International Guitar festival Clonakilty (2006) / HU – Mediawave (2005), Regionconference Budapest (2008) / CZ – United Islands of Prague (2004, 2006, 2009), Colours of Ostrava (2004, 2006, 2008) / D – Nacht der Schonheit Berlin (Piranha prod. 2007) / CH – Gena Festival, Geneve (2008) / FR – Les Oreilles en Pointe Unieux (2006), Europavox Vichy (2007), Mimi Marseille (2007), Electro choc Bourgon (2008), Gare aux Oreilles Coustellet (2008), Musiques Innovatrices St.Etienne (2008), Les Nuits Europeennes Strasbourg (2008), Le printemps de Bourges (2009), SR – EXIT Festival Novi Sad (2011)

Selected club gigs
UK – London (Cargo, Spitz, The Big Chill Bar) / IE – Cork (Cyprus Avenue), Clonakilty (Debarra) / CZ – Prague (Palac Akropolis, Delta, Lucerna music bar) / FIN – Turku (Koulu) / RU – Moscow (OGI), St.Petersburg (Platforma) / HU – Budapest (Trafo, Take5), Gyor (Romer Haz) / PL – Krakow (Lokator, Re, Gwarek), Warszawa (Jazzgot, plan Be, Stodola), Poznan (Eskulap,Blue Note, Meskal), Lodz (Jazga), Wroclaw (Sala Radio)/ AT – Wien (Ost-klub, Wuk), Salzburg (Rockhouse), Graz (Orpheum), Linz (Posthof) / D – Berlin (Kulturforum) / FR – Marseille (Le Balthazar), Grenoble (La Bobine), Paris (Les Trois Baudets)

Longital shared stage with
Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova – The Swell Season, The Frames, Emiliana Torrini, Moloko, The Ruby Suns, Tujiko Noriko, Lali Puna, Claire DiTerzi, Aaron, Narrow Terence, Xploding plastix, Medeski-Martin-Wood, Ralph Myerz, The Levelers, Susanne and the Magic Orchestra, Nina Hynes, Hidden Orchestra

Tours 2002-2012 : US, Canada, UK, France, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland, Ireland, Russia, Finland, Hungary, Italy, Ukraine.

Recordings of Longital
Teraz (2010), Long Live (live album, 2010), Gloria (2008), Vyprava/Voyage (2006)
Label & distributions: Slnko Records/ CDBaby /iTunes

In the years 2001-2005 Daniel and Shina released five more albums under previous band name Dlhé Diely with other guest musicians.