Donder & Apeland

For every new album, Donder searches for a new approach, for a new sound and for new ways to enrich their repertoire. This is no different for their fourth album. The idea for the album comes from their encounters with the Norwegian music scene, a scene that has produced a lot of unique and groundbreaking music in recent years. Norway has a deep-rooted folk music tradition, characterised by improvisational freedom, a unique sense of melody and complex rhythms. This folklore tradition goes hand in hand with the philosophy behind jazz, a combination that results in a considerable amount of creative and cross-genre music.

Despite a thriving scene, a similar heritage seems to be overlooked in the Belgian and Flemish jazz scene. With this project, Donder wants to fill the gaps in their musical identity and investigate the role this musical heritage can play in their music.

For this fourth album, Donder joins Sigbjørn Apeland, a Norwegian harmonium player and organist, and also professor of ethnomusicology at the University of Bergen. Despite his background in church music and West-Norwegian folk music, Apeland is internationally known as an improviser thanks to projects such as 1982 and the Nils Økland Band. He likes to interweave different musical worlds in a contemporary context. The unusual combination of a piano trio with harmonium translates into a surprising sound image with an almost sacred character.

Flagey