Two male choir students Federico Trindade and Vemund Kjelstad at The Royal Academy of Music Aalborg, create fall 2015 the vocal group EKTE. A project-based group with the intention of cooperating with musicians and ensembles from all over the world. With music written by themselves, they want to share authentic stories about real life.
The Uruguayan and the Norwegian
It all begins spring 2015, when we discover the extraordinary chemistry we have together. We sing arrangements of Latin-American melodies, and everything fits. The harmonies create vibrations we can feel all the way out in our fingertips. The strong feelings in one of Piazzola´s tangoes, can with Federicos irascible, up-tempo melody and my aggressive, heavy bass, fill the whole room. We agree we need to share this, and the search for female singers begins.
The first project
Fall 2015 we gather three female singers from the conservatory for joining EKTE´s first project. The repertoire consists of self-written arrangements and compositions in the genre World Music. Since Federico and I met first time when we started our education at The Royal Academy of Music in Aalborg, both had a fascination of folk traditions around the world. Project 1 results in arrangements of a Brazilian samba, a folk-dance from Norway and a Syrian lullaby. Furthermore, we make three compositions that takes you on a journey including vibes of Africa, Middle East and Indigenous people. The projects danish singers(Anna Dyrvig, Marie Hahne og Anne Lindahl) are wildly enthusiastic about the music and enter the studio ready for creating something unique. After an intens week in the studio, it results in six tracks everybody enjoy a lot.
The ideas behind
The idea behind EKTE is to create authentic musically moments together with other musicians and ensembles. We want to write original music made for the ensemble we are cooperating with. It can be all kinds of constellations: a choir, a vocal group, a band etc. A liveshow together with a vocal group could for instance consist of the vocal groups own repertoar and our arrangements/compositions, written for the occasion. In addition, for those who would like it, we want to have passages were the music is being improvised in the moment. This, we think, will add a new dimension, and create these authentic moments we seek when making music. According to us, music should be trustworthy and authentic. It should express feelings and emotions about the real life. It can be compared with telling a story. A good story is often being told with great passion and conviction, which can make the listeners feel they are a part of it themselves. Likewise, we want to express and share our musical stories with passion and emotions from inside our hearts.
EKTE 2016
The new year will bring many exicting EKTE Projects. We are in touch with the awarded and famous beat boxers Indra and RoxorLoops. Together with a former Swingle, Tobias Hug, and the danish choir-proffesor and founder of VoxNorth, Jim Daus Hjernoe, we also got plans. Not to mention upcoming liveshows this Spring. In March, EKTE will participate in a concert administrated by Peder Karlsson consisting among others by the Music Academy choir of Aalborg, RAMA voices. In April, Project 1 will be performed live during the RAMA-festival, a yearly festival students of the conservatory present their own music.
We are so much looking forward, and can barely wait!
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vocalekte/