| Jakob Dinesen is not only one of Denmark’s leading musicians, he is also one of the most active. Dino, as his friends call him, is widely acknowledged as a great musician in just about any idiom. His many collaborations include African and Cuban bands, duo with vocalist and guitarist Paul Banks, pop singer Thomas Helmig’s band, vocalists Kira Skov and Hanne Boel, jazz fusion bands Once Around The Park and Beautiful Day, bassist Hugo Rasmussen’s swing group, his own trio and quartet… and as if that’s not enough, if the sun is shining and he happens to be in town, you may find him playing on the street with friends. We could go on – the world is his stage. Unfortunately Denmark’s reputation as a friendly country welcoming strangers at our borders has been somewhat strained lately. However, Jakob Dinesen’s new release goes against that sad trend. Dino’s Afro-Cuban dream, EN AMORADO EN
COPENHAGUE, tells a different and much happier story.
It is the plain and simple story of a multiethnic society. It is an exiting cultural summit integrating various musical directions into a single bubbling whole. EN AMORADO EN COPENHAGUE is more than just an excellent Danish jazz album. Copenhagen is home to a unique multiethnic culture, and the happy message in Jakob’s album is quite simply the story of how cultural integration comes naturally in an atmosphere devoid of prejudice and closed minds. It is the story of the beautiful results born from mingling cultures.
EN AMORADO EN COPENHAGUE is an affectionate tribute to Copenhagen, the city we love for its ability to absorb people from all over the world. When Danish Thomas Helmig and Cuban Raisa Reyes Castro sing a charismatic and sweet Danish/Spanish duet in a surprising and origi-nal arrangement of Bent Fabricius Bjerre’s classic Danish chanson “Forelsket i København” (In Love With Copenhagen), every Dane hums along, and we are happy and proud.
Back in the 1990’s, musicians with a taste for Cuban music and all-night jamming would hang out at the practice cellar “Hullet” (The Hole). Here Jakob Dinesen and his jazz friends met visiting and resident Cuban musi¬cians, who introduced them to Afro-Cuban folklore. Later, Jakob visited Cuba many times. In Denmark, he began playing with the Gambian kora-player, Dawda Jobarteh, and together they visited and performed in Gambia, Senegal and Mali.
It was Jakob’s dream to combine the energy and curiosity he experienced in “Hullet” and Cuba and West Africa with his life as a musician in Denmark. The efforts of all the musicians from Cuba, Gambia and Denmark, and the contributions from Raisa Reyes Castro and Thomas Helmig have helped make his dream come true.
EN AMORADO EN COPENHAGUE finds Dino flying supernaturally in a delectable and musically satisfying project involving a handful of outstanding Cuban percussionists, a horn section, Dawda Jobarteh from Gambia and the vocals of Raisa Reyes Castro and Thomas Helmig. Dinesen combines these elements brilliantly, placing his own national identity in the center of an orgy of Afro-Cuban rhythms in songs with origins in Denmark and Cuba. |
ARTISTS
Jakob Dinesen (ts), Ignacio Guerra Acosta, Rune Harder Olesen, Eliel Lazo (perc),
Michael Finding (d, perc), Yasser Pino (b), Dawda Jobarteh (kora), Kasper Tranberg (tp),
Mads Hyhne (trombone), Raisa Reyes Castro (voc, clave), Thomas Helmig (voc) |