A selection of chats with great musicians at jazzahead! 2026

Welcome to the latest episode of Harmonious World, where I interview musicians about how their music helps make the world more harmonious.

While spending four days at jazzahead! In Bremen last week, I chatted with several musicians and you can hear extracts from those chats here. I have also started including transcripts, if you would prefer to read what we have talked about.

1. This episode begins with a tiny clip of Sahad’s set, before our conversation begins. Sahad is from Senegal - a musician and an activist and it was so inspirational to chat with him.
2. I spoke to Polish composer and singer Hania Derej in the conference centre itself, so I apologise for the background noise.
3. Santa Sillere is a Latvian jazz vocalist and it was a pleasure to chat about her music, and especially her work with Latvian poets.
4. Canadian trumpeter Rachel Therrien has a new album out called Mi Hogar and we chatted about her music in the conference centre.
5. My chat with Martin Fabricius was another one where we caught up in the hustle and bustle of jazzahead! He’s a Danish vibraphone player and we had lots to talk about.
6. I first came across another Danish musician, Kristoffer Rosing-Schow, when listening to the music of The Counterfictionals. I hadn’t realised that Kristoffer is responsible for the art behind that sextet and he shared some of that with me alongside our chat.
7. My final guest took me back into the Radio Bremen recording studio to chat with Swedish vocalist Sara Alden, who has just released Force of Nature.

Thanks to the team at jazzahead! for giving me such great access to amazing musicians, and a huge thank you to Radio Bremen (and especially engineer and producer Michael) for allowing me to use their recording facilities for three of these interviews.

In the background of Sara Alden’s interview and my conclusion, you can hear Jasmine Myra’s soundcheck.

You can also read my reviews of the four days I spent listening to music on my website.

Thank you for listening to Harmonious World. Please rate, review and share: click on the link and subscribe to support the show.

Don't forget the Quincy Jones quote that sums up why I do this: "Imagine what a harmonious world it would be if every single person, both young and old, shared a little of what he is good at doing."

Transcript

Hilary 0:00

Welcome to a very special episode of Harmonious World featuring some of the musicians that I met while at Jazzahead in Bremen 2026. And I start with Sahad, who you can hear live now. So hello and welcome to Harmonious World. And I am delighted to be joined at Jazzerhead Bremen by Sahad. Hello.

SPEAKER_01 0:23

Hello, yes, I'm here, I'm fine, I'm good. Everything's good, yeah.

Hilary 0:26

Excellent. Right. Sahad, you're gonna be performing here and you're gonna be meeting people.

SPEAKER_01 0:32

True.

Hilary 0:32

Excellent. So can you tell me? So you've come from Senegal.

SPEAKER_01 0:35

Yes, from Senegal.

Hilary 0:36

Tell me a little bit about your background in terms of how uh where your music comes from.

SPEAKER_01 0:41

Well, since a long time because when I was when I had 11, I started to play music in my house with my siblings, you know, before but it it was not just for become a musician, it was just for vibe passion, just playing like this. And I and I and afterly uh when I was at the university, I I decided to make a career of music. Yes, uh uh and I already have uh four albums since there and I started to play in in Senegal in in the main city of Dakar. We with my friend, we were uh at the same university, and we just play music together, but it was not really serious. And someone uh saw us playing in my house and he proposed us to make a big show in the main city of the Takar, and then I accept to make the show, and finally people like it and love it, and we start to make some show in Tagar in the in the main city uh uh around San Gigal and and Surry by you know time by time our our music become uh international, you know.

Hilary 2:03

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Is this your first time in Bremen?

SPEAKER_01 2:07

Yes, no, no, no, no, no, no, it's not my first time in the Bremen, but it's it's my first time in the first time. Yeah, but it's not my first time in Bremen, yes.

Hilary 2:16

Ah, right, okay. And um so you've really got an international reputation now.

SPEAKER_05 2:22

Yeah.

Hilary 2:23

Um how do you think that came about? I mean, what is it about your music? Because I'm I I'm gonna I'd like to play some clips of it so that people can understand what it's like. Because it's it's got really high energy.

SPEAKER_01 2:35

Yeah, true.

Hilary 2:37

So so where do you why do you think it's got that international appeal?

SPEAKER_01 2:42

Yeah, because I think that my music have a lot of influences from a lot of rudim, a lot of kind of music, like a lot of kind of music. And for me is so important because music makes people meet and make imaginary meet. Right. You know, and how do you can take all of this uh experiences and and all of these like influences and to make them to each other? I used to say that so my music is like a fusion, like a fusion of a lot of things, a fusion of culture, a fusion of of imaginary, and fusion of experience, you know? Like because people they like to make music uh in a box, but uh music has to be in a box. You know, music is freedom, music is freedom. And uh an artist has the liberty to uh express himself without borders, you know, without borders. And I'm trying to take a lot of about Frank fusion, uh about Childfield African rhythm, you know, and to try to mix them to be together, and it's bringing uh authentic way of making music and it's bringing me an authentic sound, you know. Yeah, uh some something really feeling to the universal how can I say it? To the universal, you know, the universal yeah, world, you know.

Hilary 4:13

Yeah. What musicians do you have in your band? Who do you like playing with?

SPEAKER_01 4:18

Like uh in in in in my band we are six missions, six mission, uh trumpet and saxophone, I'm playing guitar and I'm singing player, and there's and a keyboard. So but you know, I don't have like a specific one mission that I love to play, like because I think that we should all make things to gather, and every mission is bringing us uh an important things in uh in in my music, you know. Yeah, you know, it's like more, you know, we we need to play with this six mission for bringing things that we are making right now.

Hilary 5:00

Right.

SPEAKER_01 5:00

Yeah, you know what I mean.

Hilary 5:01

Yeah, so so you so I could put you in a room with five other musicians and you would find somehow. Oh, that's uh that is wonderful, that's really nice. Because you're playing here in Jazza Head. What's your set going to be like?

SPEAKER_01 5:16

So like it will be really, really interesting and with a lot of energy on stage. Like people have to be ready, ready to to move, really, really, ready to you know, ready to travel with us in all West Africa, in in in in the whole continent. Yeah, because our music is crossing a lot of imaginary and a lot of a lot of a lot of countries, and people will feel like uh we are making a summary, a summary of a lot a lot of type of music in Africa. Right. Yeah, you know, you know, you know, it it we will look like this, you know.

Hilary 6:01

Yeah, yeah, and bringing those African influences into jazz and and a bit of funk and a bit of soul.

SPEAKER_01 6:08

Yes, you know, these African influences in into jazz, remember really because we everybody know that jazz comes from the African continent. Yeah, with rhythm and melody. And what is interesting, like uh today we have our own way of making our own reappropriation of what people are saying Jazz music. What is jazz is dependent on our own identity, it depends of how do we want to define it. It's interesting because for me uh jazz is in constant evolution, yeah. And and we are bringing another identity of the evolution of jazz music.

Hilary 6:57

Yeah, that's that's deep. Yeah, that's really good. Um so you've got you've had four albums out already, is that right?

SPEAKER_05 7:06

Yeah.

Hilary 7:06

Okay, so I will point people, I'll put a link in the show notes so that you can so that people will be able to find it. Yeah, and have you got anything new? Are you working on anything new?

SPEAKER_01 7:17

Uh I just really is uh three months ago, four months ago got a new album. Call it African West. African Western. It's it's a little is like a radio, a frequency of African people with the and they want how they see the world in African. Because we use in Africa, people are used to say to us how to do, how to think, and how to talk with things. And now with African state with a decolonized we try to decolonise things happened before. And we try to bring our own perspective of music and our with our own. Like African West station is from 1960 to 2000, and we try to explain what happened between the 1960 and 2026, with music with politics, with cultural and historical uh influences. Like you just went album.

Hilary 8:39

That sounds that sounds brilliant. So so there's a a political and a cultural yeah influence. Yeah, yeah. And and and so so you're you're yeah you're saying you're being an uh an activist, really. True, yeah. Which is using your music for for the power of good.

SPEAKER_01 8:56

Exactly.

Hilary 8:57

How wonderful! That's brilliant. Well, I'm really looking forward to hearing you play and hearing you sing, because your voice is just amazing.

SPEAKER_01 9:06

Uh thank you.

Hilary 9:11

Your voice your family must be so proud of you.

SPEAKER_01 9:13

Yes, yes, maybe, yes, yeah, maybe. And it's so important for my family and for Senegado, for the whole country, because it's important like when a music musician from uh from West Africa, from South, are coming to coming here to also showing uh universality of how how people from other parts of the world are are thinking or are are playing with or are or how they want to express themselves and have a lot of things to say, yeah, a lot of things to share with the humanity through music and art, yeah.

Hilary 9:57

Yeah, you're the new ambassador for Senegal.

SPEAKER_01 9:59

Yes, I think that we are a lot of it's not just me, but you know, there's a lot of mission and and art from Senegal who are making the same work, yeah.

Hilary 10:08

Oh, fantastic. Well, thank you so much for joining me. I honestly it's been such a pleasure.

SPEAKER_01 10:13

Inviting me here, you know. It wasn't that pleasure. Good.

Hilary 10:16

It was such an honor to chat with Sahad and his music is incredible if you ever get the chance to hear him play. Uh, so next up is Hani Aderej, who's from Poland and Amsterdam, and uh she's just an amazing young woman playing the music that she really loves. She's actually going to be in the UK in May. I'm gonna try and see her. And here we are chatting in the Jazzahead Conference Centre.

SPEAKER_02 11:55

Fantastic.

Hilary 11:57

I was lucky to be able to interview some of my guests in the Radio Bremen bus outside broadcast recording studio, which was incredible. So big thank you to Radio Bremen and especially Michael, who was my producer and engineer, he was brilliant. So this next conversation is with Santa Schilery, who is from Latvia. I'm joined now by Santa Schilera from a jazz singer from Latvia. Hello, Santa. Hi, hey, hey, um, it's really good to have you. Thank you so much for joining me. So I want you to tell me about how you started singing and um what music you've released and everything that you can tell me in in just a few minutes. But let's start with how you started singing.

SPEAKER_07 12:43

Oh, the roots, the roots are the most important. And for me, it was just growing up in a musical family full of classical musicians. So uh I'm the case that switched genres. I was like singing since I was like five years old, and uh like any kind of genre, to be honest, in ensembles as a kid, later on, like choirs. I actually graduated as a choir conductor. So till that moment, I was like more like a classical musician. But you know, music in general is like uh, I think for me, I don't want it like separate genres. I think it's just music is music. So uh meanwhile I was doing that, I had an interest in something different, singing-wise. Uh so I don't know how the like cosmos works or or just the power of thought, but um a big band leader um asked me to join to sing. I was around 16 years old, and that changed actually everything about my future. I just heard that huge band behind me. I felt actually my voice as an instrument, as like just like a singer diva, but like really like I am one of the instruments with like an improvisation with a scatting as well. So, and starting from then, to be honest, jazz came more and more into my life since, of course, I I switched in education level. I went to jazz vocals, to a bachelor and master's degree in academy, and the rest is history. I mean, now my life is all about jazz, and I really love it.

Hilary 14:18

Yeah, fantastic. So, do you still get the opportunity to sing with big bands from time to time?

SPEAKER_07 14:23

Yes, actually, we are one great project coming up, like Tony Bennett tribute show, uh Tony Bennett's uh 100th birthday tribute. So uh with a big band, we will make uh some great uh concert series. But uh actually, to be honest, uh after I started to go more into the jazz, uh uh in a way, I found more interesting the small like bands, like trios, quartets, quintets. Uh there's something very different about it, very much about listening, about details and trusting each other. Big band is a whole machine, you know. Yeah. But when you're less people on stage, it's more intimate. And yeah, uh, I found it very, very like yeah, interesting.

Hilary 15:07

Brilliant. And do you write your own songs or and or do you like performing standards or do you do you do a mixture? What do you do?

SPEAKER_07 15:15

So as every musician, jazz musician, we all start with standards. It's like our ABC, do you know? But I think uh sooner or later every jazz musician meets with a composing. So I released my debut album with my original uh music in 2023. It's called Other Ways. So um, very first, my compositions, my first thoughts about the journey in music, about life, to be honest. That's what I write about human and the experience we all can like get and reflect to each other. So uh, but also I think one song in the album wasn't my original one, it was Reharmonized Joachim Sebastian Bach proady. Oh wow! Yeah, so I did like a collaboration between Bach, between me and with Latvian poet Aspazia, which is also very personal to me. Um, like she's like a female uh poet and like a big figure to look over. So um, and that's how one of the songs also is like this, not only originals in my debut album.

Hilary 16:18

That's fantastic. I shall definitely put links in the show notes so that people can can take a listen. So, what have you been doing here at Jazz Ahead?

SPEAKER_07 16:27

I just arrived, to be honest, and this is my tenth year. Wow. This is crazy, but uh to not sounding that serious and complicated. Uh the first seven years I was working in a stand with my uh Latvian delegation. I was the part of the stand um people who tell people about uh Latvia, tell people about the jazz we have here and uh venues and like culture in general. Yeah, and uh since I released my album, I started to feel like I would actually come here to represent myself. So uh this year, probably meeting new people. This is actually I what I love about the place, of course, uh much venues and places, but I think the most valuable thing in life is human and how we can connect. So this is uh what I see just again for me about to meet new people, to really network, connect, and like make the whole like music world unite, also uh in the like country-wise, you know, Europe and and even wider.

Hilary 17:30

Yeah, we're all in there just talking about music, aren't we? Uh, while everybody else outside can be arguing about whatever else they like politically. That's fine.

SPEAKER_07 17:39

We're just talking about jazz, exactly, and meeting new people and new new like inspiration. I think every year uh I come uh back uh to my home with at least some of really great new colleagues and friends that I stay in touch with, and and I think that's the that's very very inspirational. So uh I'm grateful to be here also this year. Brilliant.

Hilary 18:01

You've got the Tony Bennett tribute um project what you're working on. Are you also working on a new album?

SPEAKER_07 18:09

Yes, actually on the way, you know, three years have been past. So uh a new thoughts in my head, and uh the first album was um 99% in English and one song in Latvian, the one I mentioned with the Bach and Aspazy. So now I'm stepping actually the next um decision to actually write an album in Latvian. Because to be honest, there are not a lot of uh jazz in Latvian, and our language is rare in a way, but it's very beautiful and and very I think unique sounding. So I, you know, I feel the will, you know, like it's also my destiny. If I'm uh a jazz singer, at least one album should be in the language that I really am born with. So I have a new collaboration with new poets in Latvia. So this time I won't be writing lyrics, but they are writing poems for me, and it will be quite a special reflection actually of a generation because the poets are in the same age as me. So uh it is very personal in a way.

Hilary 19:14

That sounds amazing. I will definitely review that when that comes out. That sounds really interesting.

SPEAKER_07 19:20

Yes, and to be honest, when I went to my first tour two years ago with uh Other Ways with my debut album, um, the most people were amazed by the Latvian song from the album. I was thinking, oh no, but you don't understand. No, people understand everything when it comes to music and to really communicating the language itself, it it uh it doesn't matter, and people love to hear different languages, right? So yeah, and that actually was also an inspiration for me to be more brave and actually to write in Latvian. So in 2027, right? It will come out. Now we are working like on arrangements and recordings, so it is a long way. But the first song uh before this album actually came out a few days ago with my own lyrics. It's called Like a Capsula, uh, like a like a cup of time, uh like it's about like reflecting and so I started to um dig into the Levian, um, like writing a Levian, but the collaboration with poets, the album will be out in uh 2027. But you know, on my social media I always share what's coming up. So if anybody's interested, uh please come come to my Instagram page, it's like home for everyone.

Hilary 20:38

Fantastic. And actually, what would be really nice would be to bring that project with you singing in Latvian to the UK because that would be a really good opportunity for people to hear a different language.

SPEAKER_07 20:50

Actually, during the tour, I had a concert in Edinburgh in Scotland. Right. And people have really uh liked the the Latvian song, I remember because it's something different. Yeah, so I think it's just like like the mind game in a way. We that we're not native speakers, we want to get closer with people with English, but the native English is they're very also interested in the different language and uh and the sound of it. Yeah.

Hilary 21:16

Excellent. Well, thank you so much for joining me. It's been a real pleasure talking to you, Santa.

SPEAKER_07 21:20

Thank you too. Have a nice day and strength these days. Yeah. In Jessica, you need it for short. Yeah, absolutely.

Hilary 21:27

For this next conversation, I was back in the conference centre, and this time I'm talking to Canadian trumpeter Rachel Thurian. Hello, Rachel. Tell me all about yourself.

SPEAKER_08 21:37

Okay, so my name is Rachel Thurian. I'm uh Trumpeter, Bubbliner from Montreal, I'm Canadian. Um And some duo. The last two records are duo with piano trumpet, and I have more records coming out soon as well. But I also produce for other musicians as well, so I love being in studio. That's fantastic. So what is your music like? What do you think? Where's your music come from? Um I grew up in jazz. My first improvisation context was playing music from uh different diaspora present in Montreal. So I grew up playing Kinawa music from Morocco. I grew up playing West African music from Ivor Ricos, from Burkina Faso, and amazing communities that we have in Montreal that always welcome me. Probably more than the white male jazz scene at that time. I got lucky to be welcomed by also all the Haitian music scene and Caribbean music scene. And that's how I connected with the Cuban music scene as well. And later on I went to study in Havana at Instituto Superior de Arte in Havana, Cuba, and that's when I started writing music. Right. And it's coming back from Cuba that I did my first record in 2010, and since then it's it's just been what you can find online.

Hilary 23:18

Fantastic, that's brilliant. Um so I'm gonna can I write a review of this? Can I of course say can you is that Miogar?

SPEAKER_08 23:27

Yeah, it's uh the name of those two records. I have uh Miyogar and Miyogardo. Miogarto, right? Miyogar, it means my home in Spanish, but my home, it's really my community for that project because I've been dreaming of doing those Latin jazz projects since 2009, since 2008, and I have so many people that I grew with and shared the music and learned the music from in my community since the past 25 years that I had to include as many musicians as possible. So on those two records, there's more than 25 musicians from Cuba, from um from uh Venezuela, from Puerto Rico, from a lot of different places, and they're all we recorded the the two albums in three cities, so in Montreal, in Toronto, and in New York City. So it's kind of like involving everyone that I've been working with. Exactly. Fantastic. Brilliant. So what are you working on about it? Are you touring? I'm currently playing a little bit all over the place. I'm going to Tunisia soon to do a new residency with um Stambil music with jazz with musicians from Tunis. I'm going there in June, and then I'm playing in Paris and Germany, in Hungary, and we're planning stuff for Netherlands and Belgium for November, October. So if if you follow me on social media, uh Rachel Therion, or if if you look for Rachel Trumpet, and then that French name, you'll find me on Instagram. So yeah, I've been I I'm working on a lot of touring. What I do mostly is touring and producing. So when I'm not on tour, I'm in studio, and when I'm not in studio, I'm on tour. So I kind of like live in between the suitcase and in Havana and Montreal and yeah. That's a fantastic life in music, isn't it? Yes, it's great. I mix travel, I love I love three things music, people, and travel. So I mix the three of them fantastic.

Hilary 25:27

Well, thank you so much. Thank you so much. It was brilliant. Still in the conference centre, this next chat was with Danish Vibes player and film composer Martin Fabricius. I'm here with Martin Fabricius, is that right?

SPEAKER_03 25:43

Yeah, Fabricius, yeah.

Hilary 25:44

Okay, and you're a Vibes player. Love that. So tell me why you're here at Jazz Ahead.

SPEAKER_03 25:51

Well, I've been coming here like uh many times actually since 2016. And um I'm here because I always meet people, and uh I got a few record deals down here and and uh press and tours and concerts. I never I never leave empty end of it.

Hilary 26:10

That's fantastic, and I I think you have to come with an open mind, don't you?

SPEAKER_03 26:14

Yes.

Hilary 26:14

About you know what you're uh what you're looking for, but also it's about music is uh is all about kind of taking those opportunities when they're when they're presented to you. So tell me a little bit about your background.

SPEAKER_03 26:26

I'm a viperphone player and I I started film scoring at Berkeley College Music in the 90s. Um I had the viberphone as my principal instrument. Um I started with at Stingham and uh also with Gary Fur, um with choose two students a year. I actually at St. We choose them, and and one day he came and said, uh, Gary will see you now. And uh so I went to the fifth floor where he was um he was teaching curriculum at the time, and uh and he was he taught me four semester and isn't it? I mean that's it's lovely.

Hilary 27:03

Yeah, we're talking about opportunities. That's a great opportunity.

SPEAKER_03 27:07

Just well I thought mostly it's it's like just that he he wanted to pass stuff on to the next generation, and he did absolutely just three, and it's you know, uh I get goosebumps when I talk about this just too because I'm a teacher myself also, and I think it's I think it's beautiful that we've passed things on to the next generation.

Hilary 27:30

Definitely, yeah, definitely. So you've got a new album coming out in October with Steve Swallow, which I'm very excited about, and I will be reviewing nearer the time.

SPEAKER_03 27:38

Oh, okay, thank you.

Hilary 27:39

So yeah, so um tell me how that happened.

SPEAKER_03 27:42

Well, I was uh playing a concert in um tough hands in in the States, um, and the budget was was okay, so so uh I was like, so can I can I choose freely? And I could, so so I I chose to uh to uh to contact his follow and he uh he got back to me and said you he would love to do it, but but he had like uh a half appointment, like a confirmed appointment with uh with um Papitheny. And would it be okay if you know if I could wait a month and he understood of course if I could, and I was like, yes, I will wait. You bet I'll wait. And um yeah, so so that's how that came along, and when the when the day arrived we we met for brief rehearsal uh or sound check actually. Uh ate some dinner and two sets. And luckily the the you know the the sound engineer uh recorded it. I didn't know, but he pressed record and um That's brilliant.

Hilary 28:45

I love it when when sound engineers take a little bit of uh you know responsibility. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So fantastic. Okay, well I'll look forward to reviewing that. And uh when are you coming to the UK?

SPEAKER_03 28:57

Yeah, when am I coming to the UK?

Hilary 28:59

You need to speak to some of our guys, our festival guys.

SPEAKER_03 29:02

I would love to, yeah. I've played like all over the place in in Europe, we've been to Asia and Africa and the States, but never the UK.

Hilary 29:11

Right, well, well, I will make sure that you get something. You know, you've gotta come over and uh and play for us.

SPEAKER_03 29:18

I would love that. Fantastic. Yes. Lovely.

Hilary 29:20

Well, thank you for talking to me, Martin.

SPEAKER_03 29:22

Thank you for having me. Thank you.

Hilary 29:24

Staying in Denmark, my next chat was with Christopher Rosingshaw, who is the sax player and artist behind the counterfictionals. Talk to me, Christopher, about the counterfictionals and also your use of the pheromin in jazz because I find that fascinating.

SPEAKER_00 29:42

Yes. I can tell you that that uh I do a lot of music for theatre and dance. And normally when I when I start a process with a chorographer or a theatre instructor, we talk about which palette of sounds we should use. And I think maybe 15 years ago, I did the soundtrack for a dance performance called Vanity of Bottom Panic, and we talked about which sounds and she won the thermin. Uh uh. And I think she wanted it because of the kitshi, maybe the story the instrument has, and uh and also how emotional it is.

SPEAKER_05 30:19

Right.

SPEAKER_00 30:20

So I bought a theramin uh uh uh to to get the sound, and I thought maybe I'll just check it out and face some simple stuff on it, but it turned out it was way too difficult to play for me.

Hilary 30:31

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 30:32

So so I ended up using samples and a little bit of effects on the thermomet for this show, but then when the the the COVID epidemic came and we got a lot more time, I thought maybe this is the time for me to to take this instrument more seriously. Yeah I started rehearsing, uh practicing, and soon found out that Lydia Kaviner, who lives in Oxford, uh and who is the grand niece of the inventor, she gives online lessons every Sunday. So I I joined her class and started uh started every Sunday together with a lot of very different people from all over the world to attend these classes, and it has been a joy ride because these people are interesting and fun. Um and I consider myself a musician who tries to find my place instead of running on the middle field, I try to find like a special place where I can contribute. And being mostly a composer, I thought that my role could be to find a way to use this instrument in jazz, which has not been done very much.

SPEAKER_05 31:44

Right.

SPEAKER_00 31:45

We have uh Pamela Strickney, who does mainly uh experimental stuff, but apart from her, I think there's actually maybe to my knowledge, no one.

SPEAKER_05 31:56

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:57

So I started uh uh using it in my band, the counterfictionals, and I've been spending a lot of time thinking about what this instrument can do. Uh uh, and I made a promise to myself when I made this breakout that I will test out every time I wanted to use the theramine, I would test out whether it was bet on theramin, or maybe some bit on a flute or a melodica. And so I've been I've been rehearsing or what do you call it researching, researching the sound.

Hilary 32:28

Right, and so you've been using the theramine where you feel it's appropriate, but then if it's not, if you think it's not the right sound, you're just putting it to one side.

SPEAKER_00 32:37

Yeah.

Hilary 32:38

That's amazing, that's brilliant. I've never heard of it as the thermin in any other jazz situation, so that's brilliant.

SPEAKER_00 32:46

And right now I'm writing a concert for August Jazz Orchestra, which is a big we have maybe two or three professional jazz orchestras in Denmark, and this is one of them. And they have commissioned a work for Big Bend and Theremin that will be performed next year.

Hilary 33:01

Oh wow, where is that gonna be performed?

SPEAKER_00 33:04

Around Denmark.

Hilary 33:05

Oh really? The tour at around? Oh fantastic. Oh, that's brilliant.

SPEAKER_00 33:09

And for this, we're bringing in uh Grégoire Blanc. Maybe my favourite theremin player. Okay. Because even though I play the theremin and I can use it, we we needed maybe the next level of for this.

Hilary 33:23

Yeah. Fantastic. Oh, that's brilliant. Thank you so much for talking to me about that. Yeah. When Christopher told me about writing that piece, including a theremin, it just sounded so fascinating. So, my final guest, we went back into the Radio Bremen with us. This is Sarah Olden, who is a Swedish jazz vocalist. So welcome to Harmonious World. I'm delighted to be joined by Sarah Olden, who has a new album out, The Force of Nature. And I think you are a Force of Nature, Sarah. Thank you so much, Hillary. Thank you for having me. That's right. So you're from Sweden, which is the partner country of Jazz Ahead this year. And um, so tell me a little bit about your background. How did you start singing?

SPEAKER_06 34:06

Oh, good question. So this is one of my um for the listeners who's not uh looking at us, of course, at the moment, I'm wearing a dress that's really like a a fire, uh looks like a fire, and there's a lot of fire in me. And one of the things that is really sparks a lot of passion and also rage in me is the thought of where where I started uh music. So I was eight, and there was uh like just the the communal cultural school came out with the staff to our our school that was far out on the countryside, like far out. Very small village. I'm related to everyone in the village, and uh and that's the way it is. And and uh and and in that school they came out and and offered us these instruments and said who wants to play, and they don't do it anymore. Uh they because it's too far out, and that's where I I have the rage. But uh I don't think I would play music if if that didn't happen, and that I was served uh by my community and by the the politics that that was at that time, uh that was really caring for the fact that everyone should be able to create art and make art and music in society, uh regardless where you're from or where you grow up or who you are, what what you look like, so and so on so forth. So with that said, I started to play piano when I was eight. Uh I was I w I entered the the gymnastic hall uh where they had set up with all the instruments that we were gonna try in school in school, and and I looked over to the the trumpets and the saxophones and I really wanted to go there and I really wanted to play them. But I hadn't seen anyone who looked like me who held those instruments or played them. So I didn't go up there. I I went to the instrument that I knew that I had seen before, and it was part of the piano. And so I started to play the piano. And then from that I I kept on playing and I I started also singing at the classes at the piano, and and then I started taking singing classes. And at the singing classes I also got like recruited to a youth big band when I was twelve. And then I started doing the big band for like nine years or something. So I I'm like a core big band vocalist actually.

Hilary 36:23

That's interesting. That's really interesting. And I I love what you were saying there about you hadn't seen anybody who looked like you playing a saxophone or whatever. And I think that's a big issue, and I think that's why we need so many kind of role models of all the different types of people and uh you know, different ages and and and colours and everything. Yeah, complete diversity. And and I think we we need that so that so that young children who who maybe have that opportunity can pick up a flute or a saxophone or a trumpet or a phone or something. Yeah, feel belonging and feeling like it's there to to at least try. Yeah. Yeah. Isn't this wonderful by the way? In the background we can hear somebody sound checking. It's just that's one of the nice things about this, you know, about jazz ahead is is that the sort of music around and lovely. Yeah, it's all about the music. Yeah. Now I you had some big news, didn't you? Because you won a Swedish Grammy. Yes, I did. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 37:19

So which category did you win? Jazz of the Year. Yeah, Jazz Album of the Year. So it's humongous. Yeah, and it's it's my debut album also, so it's uh it's quite a fancy band, to be honest. I'm I'm still I'm not gonna digest this until my dying days, and that's fine. But uh yeah, it's it's uh it's really an honor, actually. Yeah, I I've uh I've had uh I've had many um bands before this, and I started my own my own um like a career with my own name in 2020, and I started it by making an EP like a small city, um which was a lot about creating a space for myself as a woman in jazz also. Uh the EP is called A Room of One's Own. Uh so it's uh an a martial Virginia Wolf and and just the thought of of having to carve out a place for yourself on your own terms and conditions because like I said with the big band, I had um I had amazing experiences in in the big band scene, but it was also extremely male-dominated space, and also elderly men, like really old uh men, and I was twelve, uh, and it was really like I was learning so much about social culture back then, and they were not really skilled, to be honest, when I came to the social social code and also the fact that uh there was a lot of expectations for me as a twelve or thirteen or fourteen-year-old to like have the experience of an old jazz vocalist, which was also really a really strange space for me to be in. And there was this expectation of me of singing a certain way, so and then after that I went into military service, which was also a very male-dominated space. So with that said, I I had all these uh thoughts and digestions when it came to like who am I in this, and when I then moved into jazz again and and wanted to be in jazz again, I really had this urge to like unlearn what I had learned in jazz and then start over. And that was the the EP, a room of one's own. And after that I moved into the Grammy Award-winning uh album that was called There Is No Future, uh, which became like a a second part in a trilogy that I'm now uh have released as a full trilogy, and um and There is No Future that that Grammy album is it was produced uh post-pandemic and and the Ukraine war and Trump was really the topic, and then also a lot about uh climate change and where who has the responsibility and where are we going? Yeah, so that was the album that uh resonated with many people and and got the award.

Hilary 39:56

Yeah, well that's really amazing. And and I think uh it it's kind of okay now. And in fact, if anything, it's it's uh it's almost expected that you have a take a position on something. It doesn't matter what you but you know, your opinions as a musician, but nobody nobody now is saying get back in your box and just be a musician. Yeah, express yourself. Yeah, yeah. Oh well, fantastic. And you absolutely are a force of nature. Thank you. Um one of the things that my listeners won't know is that you have spent the last three days walking around the whole of this, you know, it's quite a it's a fairly big site, and I've seen you every day, you know, sort of every hour I've seen you walking around with your CDs and talking to people. And I think that's an amazing thing because I think um you you're not afraid to promote yourself. You you're you're proud of what you do, and I think that's absolutely right. And that's often that's often a male characteristic that we think of. And and you know, women tend to be a little bit more kind of stand in the background, and you're not doing that, you are an absolute fortress of nature.

SPEAKER_06 41:04

So thank you so much. Um I'm I'm really happy that you see that. It's uh uh it's a lot of work and it's uh it takes a lot of build-up. Like I I prepare to go here to this place every year, and and uh I try to make it my own, and I I want to just like the album that you're talking about, also the Force of Nature album, which is the third part of the trilogy, uh and like the final part of it, uh is really about connecting and uh about uh like I said, there's no there is no future. That album is really dark and really uh questioning and and saying what world are we supposed to have? What world is there if if we don't create it? Because I see so much like it and I I I guess it's the times and I guess it's like we're we're like this in as pieces that it goes in a circle and it goes up and it goes down and as waves. I I understand that, but it's uh very depressing in one way to be in a time where I see that we are regressing in so many ways, we're going backwards in in how we are as uh like people, but like and yeah, it's going forward in technology and all that. That that's all that jazz. Like that's also nice, but I'm just thinking about a lot of it the things that I'm also like having a lot of rage and fire about is non-profit organizations because Sweden is built on them. Uh the the politics that we are today very proud over and very known for, like the equity work, the parental leave for dads, yeah, all of those things that and also the music industry, like those three things are things that people in Sweden are super proud of in from an international point of view, and that we're really taking a lot of pride in and accountability and like brag about. And when we look at the statistics, it's going uh pear-shaped, like it's going really bad. And uh if you look at like if you look at the history, it was the Cold War, it was uh it was a lot of uh uh tension in the world, and then we came into the 70s, and what people had to do was engage and and gather in in uh non-profit organizations and and like yeah, they had to organize and without any benefits or any money involved. Uh and with that said, that connected people and and made people connect through passion and through emotions, and that also then because people united and organized, it affected the politics. And then in the 70s, uh we had a huge change in the politics when it came to parental lead, and and like the foundation for all the amazing statistics that we have about equality work comes from the decisions made from the time that was the decisions were made after all this work from individuals in uh nonprofit organizations. And also 1974, there was a big cultural reform reform in Sweden, which just pumped in money into the cultural schools that we are. Now, not doing anything with. We are just draining and draining. We're not so uh like putting any seeds in the soil that we are constantly harvesting from right now. Sweden is a huge music uh industry, like that we we benefit so much money-wise from the music industry because of all the hard work and all the money that went into the cultural schools in this time, and now there are no money back going into it. So you hear I get political straight away. I I can't help it, but I see I see that we need to work together, and that's why I need to create it. I needed to make this album about force of nature, about the force that we have within us as as human species, that we are connected in the roots, like we have no choice but to join each other in in in also like both power but also the weakness and finding strength in that we're all weak and need each other. And it's like as it is now. I see so many things politics in Sweden that are like there are so many decisions made out of fear and not based on the fact that we need each other, because we see that like there's so many decisions decisions taking away money from people who might fall ill or might need support or anything like that. And I I just uh want to create um a piece, an art piece that manifests the the opposite and like sort of creates a future that I see that I know that we have within us, and that is this album, Force of Nature.

Hilary 45:30

That's fantastic, thank you. Well, what that's a perfect way to finish this. So thank you so much for joining me, Sarah. It's been a real pleasure, and it's been lovely to see you around the uh the exhibition as well. The same to you, thank you. So obviously, I'm back home in the UK now after a very busy few days at uh Bremen with Jazz ahead, and in the background you can hear the Jasmine Myra sound check, which Michael kindly kept recording for me. I hope you enjoyed those snippets of musicians from around the world and what they're doing. You can see there's a lot of jazz going on that's really extraordinary. If you follow the links in the show notes, you'll see exactly what some of these guys are up to, and hopefully that'll give you some new music to listen to. There will be reviews on my website of some of those CDs and others that I picked up over the week in Bremen. So, wishing you a very, very good week, and let's hope we can all make this world a little more harmonious.