RAOUL BJÖRKENHEIM & ANDERS NILSSON GUITAR DUO
photos: Peter Gannushkin/downtownmusic.net
Finnish guitarist Raoul Björkenheim and Swedish guitarist Anders Nilsson met in New York City 20 years ago where both were living at the time.
They started playing together and a natural kinship was immediate. From that point their music has developed into a unique blend of ideas, a balanced synergetic guitar duo sound, with it’s own Nordic identity.
Both are very experienced improvisers as well as composers with a long list of recordings and works behind them, including one live album together “Kalabalik”, a trio with drummer Gerald Cleaver. As a duo Björkenheim and Nilsson have performed many times in NYC over the years.
Beyond the guitars some commonalities between the two include a life long quest for sound and expression, love for similar types of music – jazz, blues, Brazilian, psychedelic, contemporary classical and beyond.
Their performances aren’t confined to a single style or type of composition or jamming. Rather it embraces a variety of ideas and idioms, dense and firey to sparse and beautiful.
