The Turkish singer Sanem Kalfa, won the Shure Montreux Jazz Voice Comptetition in 2010.
In 2012, as a part of her prize, she spent a week recording with her band at the Balik Farm Studio, located in the breathtaking scenery of Switzerland’s Toggenburg region.
Here’s her diary.

26.02.2012 (1st day)
This place is so beautiful to make music. I'm so excited to record with my great friends and musicians (Kaja Draksler - p, George Dumitiru - g, Mattia Magatelli - b, Kristijan Kranjcan - d). So this is the plan, for the first 3 days I will record as a quintet and last 3 days I will record some duo stuff with the guitar. In our first day of recording, we used the opportunity of this beauty, played almost all the songs with a good concentration... now we have a very clear picture, this is going to be nice!

27.02.2012 (2nd day)
4 songs are in the pocket… we are doing great.. by the way the weather is so amazing outside!

28.02.2012 (3rd day)
This was the last day of the recording with the band and we finished it. Everyone in the band and of course me (especially me) are very happy about it.
The end of the day, a great dinner is waiting for us. I'm going to cook for everyone, looking forward..

29.02.2012 (4th day)
Everyone left this morning, now we are alone with George. We just moved to the small chalet, it's amazing, there is nothing around. I liked it here! Today we are going to record our duo songs. I guess a very very hard work is waiting for us.. Today is sunny, makes me happy !

01.03.2012 (5th day)
We are getting nuts :)

02.03.2012 (6th day)
It's 16:16! We just finished the recording. Me and George are pretty tired after 6 days of recording but it's going to be a beautiful CD. This was an amazing opportunity to record my first album under my name in this amazing studio. I'm grateful to be honored with this prize and I hope I used this oportunity in a good way… I feel like this is going to bring me some beautiful things. Also, thanks to Alexandre Bolle (Sound Engineer & Responsible Balik Music Studio) for his great work and patience and of course to Montreux Jazz Festival. It's so fancy to be a part of this ! wuhuu :)

By the way, special thanks to Tadas (Siksnys - Shop Manager) and Letizia (Moser - Personal Household), they've been always so nice to me and to us.

Sanem Kalfa  Blue Skies
 

The Balik Farm boasts one of the most modern recording studios in Switzerland. Many famous Swiss singers and international stars have recorded their CDs here. Every year, Balik offers the winners of the Talent Competition of the Jazz Festival in Montreux the opportunity to spend a whole week on the Balik Farm to record a CD in its music studio. Balik thus offers targeted support to young talents aiming at their international breakthrough.
 

Photo (from left to right)
Alexandre Bolle, Kristijan Kranjcan, Sanem Kalfa, Kaja Draksler, George Dumitiru, Mattia Magatelli