With erratic roots in alternative rock and world music, the orchestra Travelling Tribes has made its marks as part of the psychedelic scene in Copenhagen, unafraid of mixing the musical color palette completely. Tribal percussion, cello melodies inspired from abroad, synthesizers and impressionistic playing on the guitar are just some of the elements that come along, when this daring collective goes on a journey over the continents and out in the corners of the provinces. Review of the Live Concert at Roskilde Festival 2013:

“The songs can bulge of African percussion, rumble in furious noise, strum of exotic cello or be blown blue by jazzy brass. And every single one of the movements has idea, root and shape based around the enormous widths of music, that they encapsulate brilliantly.” (Ralf Christensen, Information)

In November 2012 Travelling Tribes released their debut album ‘Everything Seems to Change’ on the record label ILK. It was well received by reviewers and the audience.

“Convincingly they pore enormous amounts of references; to lived life and impressions from all over. …But the exciting news is especially that this is an extraordinarily great record. Intoxicating and true. I bow my head in the dust.” (Torben Holleufer, Gaffa – 5 stars)

In 2013 the quartet won a Danish Music Award as the world composer of the year, with the song: Unheard Songs of Sorrow. The same year they played at the Roskilde Festival stage called Pavillion Junior and toured the rest of the country. Furthermore the band created two art videos in cooperation with the movie artists Martin Kogi and Mette Mærsk. Both videos can stand alone as solo pieces. The music, as well as the visuals, are not necessarily the main focus. The focus is set on the actual meeting between the music and the video art. It is the quality oriented work process and dedication to the expression of the whole that interest the band.

November 24th the quartet released their second album ‘Artificial Moonlights’, that among others is presented on the sampler of the internationally recognized music magazine The Wire.

The members of Travelling Tribes are all active in the music scene of Copenhagen. Each one of them play with award nominated orchestras such as Valby Vokalgruppe, Girls in Airports and The White Nothing, and have worked with different musicians such as John Thicai, Trentemøller, Quadron, Nobody Beats The Beats and Nanome

“Bebe certainly belongs to the tradition of lyrical pianists that goes from Erroll Garner and Bill Evans through Keith Jarrett. What Bebe adds to the lyrical tradition of the piano is a sense of folk-like simplicity, with mourning melodies blossoming like shy night-flowers” – All About Jazz (US)

Danish jazz pianist and composer Søren Bebe founded the Søren Bebe Trio in 2007. Their latest release (August 2013) features the great Marc Johnson on double bass and is recorded in New York at Sear Sound Studio by the legendary James Farber.

Søren Bebe Trio’s international concert experience includes performances at Hong Kong International Jazzfestival, Jarasum International Jazzfestival (Korea), Jazz au Chellah (Morocco), SXSW (USA), Brazil, Poland and Denmark. They have worked with international guest artists including Marc Johnson (US), Bill McHenry (US) and Joakim Milder (S).

Søren Bebe Trio has previously released three critically acclaimed albums, “Searching” (MusicMecca, 2008), “From Out Here” (Your Favourite Jazz/VME, 2010) and “A Song For You” /From Out Here Music/VME, 2012). All three of them received great reviews:

− ”one of the most fantastic jazz albums of recent years….Nothing less than a masterpiece!…” (Gaffa, DK)

− “Delicate and hypnotic….reminds me of Bill Evans in his classic LaFaro/Motian trio” (Jazz Journal, UK)

− “Thoughtful, sparse, dynamic and entirely approachable Danish piano trio” (Bandcamp, US)

− “..a Nordic inspired expression that goes straight to the heart.”, (JazzNyt, DK)

− Excellent recording of the month, score 94 of 100, (Stereo Magazine, Japan)

− CD of the Month (Serai Magazine, Japan)

As a pianist and composer, Søren Bebe draws on a wide range of inspirations from american and european jazz, as well as contemporary classical music to rock, pop and folk-music. It all blends in this band, creating the unique Søren Bebe Trio-sound.

Most important though is the energy and concentration and musical virtuosity that the music is played with. Søren Bebe explains:” For me music is about emotions and energy and about communication. In the band as well as to the audience. I like to meet my audience and draw them in to the music, and I’ve experienced on our concerts that the music really is for everybody, also people not used to listening to jazz. Although the music is complex and does contain a lot of improvisation, at the same time it’s very melodic and rhythmically exciting. ”

The Danish band Patchanka has been kicking life into venues and festivals across 10 countries in Europe. They rose after being incited by the glowing embers left by Manu Chao’s unforgettable tour with Radio Bemba Soundsystem. It was something  they had to do. Shortly after the birth of Patchanka, the band supported Manu Chao twice – and the career was launched.

The six members of Patchanka, which means ‘the party climax’, are a very mixed bunch with  oots stretching as far as Lebanon, India, Italy, Spain and of course: Denmark. The mix of the band members influences very much on the musical expression and a concert with Patchanka is like bagpacking trough continents.  Its punk, its pop, its reggae, its ska, its Balkan and its everything in between – but  with a distinct Nordic sound which is picked up in the streets of their hometown  Copenhagen.

In March 2013 Patchanka released their second album. ‘Normalize  This!’, which is an ambitious giant stride for the  band, that until now is primarily recognized and praised as a live attraction. The album immediately led to an international record   deal with Holland’s biggest independent rock label: Suburban Records and a nomination at the Underground Music Awards and “Best Alternative Act” aswell as a nomination for “Best World Live Act” at the big one: Danish Music Awards. In 2014 the band was nominated again and managed to win, for the first time, a DMA for “Best World Live Act 2014” (the same category as Tako Lako won last year).

In December 2014 Patchanka will release their first single + music video “Hitchhiker Girl”, which leads up to a EP release in the Spring of 2015 and festival gigs in Denmark, France, Holland – and hopefully Germany.

The word “off piste” associates to off-piste skiing and implies a chosen path, somewhere off the beaten track, in unmarked and unpatroled areas. This is also true for Offpiste Gurus’ music, which moves freely outside the boundaries of the well-known genre resorts.

Offpiste Gurus are a Danish indie-jazz-and-beyound band based in Copenhagen. The unorthodox instrumentation features plenty of Fredrik Lundin’s dark, gritty and passionate saxophones, Thomas Vang’s warm and steady Hoefner bass, Jeppe Gram’s super groovy and delicate drums, all of which is a perfect offset for Trinelise Væring’s ardent and charismatic voice and occasional banjo riffs.

Offpiste Gurus’ music combines the singer-songwriters’ commitment to personalized storytelling with the tradition for improvisations in a blue-toned landscape, which Scandinavian jazz is so famous for.

On Offpiste Gurus’ 2nd album, to be released later in 2015, topnotch indie producer Nikolaj Nørlund has seen to it that the songs are set in tight, intricate arrangements, that cut to the very core of each song, while leaving plenty of space for Væring’s beautifully unvarnished voice and Lundin’s potent and multi faceted improvising.

Offpiste Gurus has made a point out of working with larger ensembles such as Big Bands and chamber orchestras.

Line up:

• Trinelise Væring – vocal and banjo
• Fredrik Lundin – saxophones, flutes, backing vocals and piano
• Thomas Vang – bass and bass rhodes
• Jeppe Gram – drums, percussion and backing vocals

Bios:

Singer, composer and lyricist Trinelise Vaering works in the borderland between rock, jazz and Indie-pop. She is a distinctive voice and a unique songwriter on the Scandinavian music scene. In the words of the newspaper Information’s rock critic Klaus Lynggaard she is, one of our most fascinating and daring female music artists. She has released 10 albums altogether, and through her musical journey she has gone from being a much acclaimed jazz diva to an el-guitar based singer and songwriter in her own right. Her latest album “Oh Purity” from 2014 is a collaboration with the much acclaimed international baroque ensemble Barokksolistene. Trinelise was nominated for a Gaffa Award in the category “best female artist of the year” for this album. The recording of the Oh Purity album was also the focus of a documentary produced for the nationalDanish television DR, and will air all over Scandinavia this spring.

Web: www.vaering.com

Saxophinist, composer and bandleader Fredrik Lundin is one of the major jazz profiles in Scandinavia of his generation.Two of his 11 albums as a leader was awarded best jazz album of the year, and he has received numerous prizes and awards. He is a side man on more than 40 Scandinavian Jazz albums.

He now leads two groups besides Offpiste Gurus, and has played in numerous Scandinavian modern jazz bands many off which have toured Germany. Among others the Marilyn Mazur Group, Jon Balke Magnetic North Orchestra and his own Fredrik Lundin Overdrive.

In connection with his his 50th birthday Fredrik was pronounced one of the most complete and gifted musician of his generation by jazzjournalist Christian Munch Hansen in major newspaper Politiken.

For more info on Fredrik please visit: www.reverbnation.com/fredriklundin

For Offpiste Gurus tour info, music and videos visit: www.reverbnation.com/offpistegurus

Lukkif is a new Scandinavian emerging act releasing her debut EP Mine Hender November 30th 2015. Nordern light is what comes to mind when the ice-sharp electronic harmonies unite with Lukkif’s warm and intense voice, such that both old and new dance together. Behind Lukkif is the Danish-Norwegian singer Jullie Hjetland, which for many years has sung in several different contexts with which she has won the the Danish Music Award’s Artist of the Year in 2009 and 2014. With her alias Lukkif she now explores her folk music roots in an electronic direction, building on the clash of contrasts to create a new musical experience.

The electronic musician Rumpistol has produced her upcoming album together with the jazz musician Hans Mydtskov. With her well-developed sense for both melodic and melancholic phrasing Lukkif brings playful life to a whole electronic world, where the interplay with her intense and compelling voice underpins the more narrative musicality that characterises folk music.

Lukkif sings in the languages she learned in her mother’s Svendborg Senior boat, with her father as he laid nets in Sogne Fjord, as well as in the little wooden dinghy in the Swedish archipelago where she also lived as a child.

With the wish to strengthen these Scandinavian friendships Lukkif sings like a breeze from the north when the sails are set and the sea tosses back from its alluring black depths. Using the three Scandinavian languages as her instrument, Lukkif discloses her inner struggles along with many wry observations.

Fusion Festival in Germany loved Lukkif and described the musicas “With Lukkif’s colorful compositions and Jullie’s natural energy with which she brings their music to express, she is a sought-after and highly versatile artist. With an enviable ability it has an impact on the audience. With its ambitious project Lukkif she now mixes cristal electronic sounds with virtually melancholic lyrical compositions.”

Spot Festival wrote that Lukkif channels a nordic primordial force through a unique electronic mood universe.

Red Bull Studios writes that Lukkif is one of the most interesting acts on the new Scandinavian folk scene. ”
The voice is her main instrument and the three Scandinavian languages in the blood.”