Retrograd (2004)





Afenginn - Nordic melancholy and cheerful madness!
Afenginn's musical universe spans as widely as the antlers of a full-grown elk. The mongrel band was formed in 2002 by a flock of young musicians with a love of Slavic Eastern Europe, odd Balkan meters, the speed of klezmer, insane polkas, rock'n'roll feel and classical composition. It is “Bastard Etno” music that travels from the smallest pianissimo to wild and roaring parts.
Afenginn has built up a reputation of virtuosity and excellent live shows the past years. Performing with different artists such as Frank London from the Klezmatics and a complete symphony orchestra, Afenginn is ambitious to seek new serious adventures. Finnish mandolinist Kim Nyberg composes almost all of their music. The group is inquisitive, playful and imaginative and takes an anarchic approach to traditional musical structures. Their compositions range from lyrical, picturesque and programme music-like pieces – of which the "Elk Suite" is a fine example – to jagged up-tempo numbers in odd time signatures, always with the special rhythmic and melodic finesse which characterises Afenginn. Their own term for the band’s musical style is "Bastard Ethno".
Afenginn's extremely informal and devil-may-care attitude to the music, with joi de vivre and high-octane energy taking pride of place, went down well with audiences. The release of ‘Retrograd’ won them the CD of the Year prize at the 2005 Danish World Awards, and the band was also nominated for ‘Akrobakkus’ in the following year. With ‘Reptilica Polaris’, a concept album featuring male choir, brass ensemble and lyrics, Afenginn was rewarded ‘Contemporary Artist of the Year 2009’ at the Danish Folk Awards. New album is released January 2010.
Afenginn has received rave reviews in both the Danish and foreign press, and in 2006 they were chosen to be one of eight ensembles to represent Danish music abroad in the project ‘Danish Roots’. In 2007 Afenginn participated in the DaNy Arts working with NY trumpet player Frank London (The Klezmatics). Recently Afenginn was chosen to be a part of The Young Elite’ project 2009-2011 initiated by the Danish Arts Council.
Afenginn has performed at festivals, clubs, Radio and Television shows in Scandinavia, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, Estonia, USA (SXSW) and Asia playing more than 300 concerts in the past years.

This unorthodox Danish small orchestra performs music that is high-energy, humorous and virtuoso bastard-ethno music: original folk music-based compositions containing odd meters, wildness, energy and catchy melodies, but also moments of meditation and melancholy. There are hints of klezmer and other eastern European sounds, but the final mix is all their own.

During the past couple of years, Afenginn has obtained quite large attention due to their high-energetic, humoristic and virtuous bastard-ethno music, which can be traced back to the dark suburbs of Retrograd - or a place nearby. In the backyards of Retrograd, the roots and traditions of ethnic folk music meet with sporadic classical and unorthodox inputs from near and far. Everything is shaken and turned on its head. Afenginn is now back from Retrograd in one piece and in their original and personal universe, a small part of the true history of Retrograd might possibly be found...
It is foremost as a captivating live band, that Afenginn has been recognized. The concerts are characterized by great energy and sheer madness? These elements have been fully captured on the album "Retrograd". This is achieved by doing "live" recording in the studio together with great guest musicians. Except for the five gentlemen on - respectively - violin, clarinet, mandolin, bass and drums, also accordion, brass quartet, string quartet, "garbage-o-phone" and xylophone can be heard. The music on "Retrograd" spans from up-tempo power-humppa, over classical soundings to sophisticated sounds of trash.

The debut album from Afenginn signals the advent of something very strange coming our way.
Afenginn has been described as an etno band. Indeed they are. But what etno ? On this album, you find influences from most cultures in Europe. The Balkan folk music scene included. But the main culture is the Scandinavian folk music culture. The music can be compared as a mix of Flairck, jazz and some oddball Scandinavian folk music.
I think their true story about this elk who swam to Denmark from Sweden, applied for political asylum and then robbed the apple farmers for a year full of harvest before this very happy and well fed political asylum seeking elk was hit by a train and died. I just mention this story to illustrate the happy cheerful madness in Afenginn's music. All kinds of woodwind instruments are liberally scattered around this music and mostly also used as solo-instruments. The bass is hanging in there too. Various cymbals and sound making hardware from the kitchen is used as drums. In short, this album is cheerful madness.
The quality is good throughout though. There is nothing here I do not like. This album is not their best album by any means. But it is still something worth checking out. I happens to like it.

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TrackList:

01. Tivoli Invaliid 3:20
02. Kaszubstep 4:45
03. Sumpdronten á la Schwennske Orienten 4:53
04. Tattar intro 3:07
05. Tattar humppa 5:38
06. Tsar Nob-Yld 6:27
07. Näcken 9:12
08. Ultravenøs Svovlkage 0:32
09. Niels på Færøerne 3:53
10. Mörkä Türcké 2:34
11. Clapdance 4:27
12. Elgen kommer 2:58
13. Elg polska 1:39
14. Dødstoget 2:10
15. Andante definibus 3:42

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