Pianist Niels Lan Doky lived for 23 years in Paris before moving back to Denmark. Accompanied by the American jazz legend Alvin Queen on drums and the phenomenal Swedish bassist Mattias Svensson, he will deliver a musical portrait of the City Of Lights consisting of interpretations of iconic French songs, supplemented by his own compositions written in Paris and anecdotes from his many years as a resident there.
Paris is the most visited city in the world with its no less than 30 million tourists visiting the city each year. For the same reason French music had a great international exposure over the decades, not least from the jazz world where the perhaps most played standard tune, "Autumn Leaves" is actually a French song (with the original title "Les Feuilles Mortes"). And French artists through the ages, have managed to be loved around the world for their music to a degree unmatched by most others. ...
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Pianist Niels Lan Doky lived for 23 years in Paris before moving back to Denmark. Accompanied by the American jazz legend Alvin Queen on drums and the phenomenal Swedish bassist Mattias Svensson, he will deliver a musical portrait of the City Of Lights consisting of interpretations of iconic French songs, supplemented by his own compositions written in Paris and anecdotes from his many years as a resident there.
Paris is the most visited city in the world with its no less than 30 million tourists visiting the city each year. For the same reason French music had a great international exposure over the decades, not least from the jazz world where the perhaps most played standard tune, "Autumn Leaves" is actually a French song (with the original title "Les Feuilles Mortes"). And French artists through the ages, have managed to be loved around the world for their music to a degree unmatched by most others.
During the "Songs From Paris" project, we will get to hear jazz interpretations of classic French songs such as Serge Gainsbourg’s ironic "L'Aquoiboniste," Michel Legrand's romantic "You Must Believe In Spring", Edit Piaf celebration of love "Hymne a L'Amour" and not least interpretations of songs by some of today's greatest French music icons such as Daft Punk's "Loose Yourself To Dance" and Air's "La Femme D'Argent" (from the groundbreaking album Moon Safari) or "Alone In Kyoto" (from the movie soundtrack Lost In Translation).
Niels Lan Doky says: "It was a greatly rewarding life experience to live for 23 years in Paris. Historically, it is probably the leading cultural city in Europe and you can still feel the aftermath. When I moved from New York to Paris and sat on the plane, bound for the City of Lights, I sat in a middle seat between two other passengers, who turned out to be respectively an American on one side and a Frenchman on the other. At various times during the trip, I fell into conversation with them individually. And independently of each other they both asked me the question of what I do for a living. And when I replied, "I'm a musician" I received the typical American comment from the American : "can you make a living doing that?", while I got the equally typical French comment from the Frenchman: "Oh vous êtes un artiste, comme c'est merveilleux! "translated into English “Oh you’re an artist, that is just so wonderful! ". Shortly after, I read in an article in the International Herald Tribune that research indicates that French people on average per capita spend 20 times more on culture than Americans. No wonder that France is such a cultural country and that it’s capital Paris with the nickname City of Lights is so cultivated and sophisticated”.
“SONGS FROM PARIS” featuring NIELS LAN DOKY, ALVIN QUEEN & MATTIAS SVENSSON
Musik af Daft Punk, Air, Serge Gainsbourg, Charles Aznavour, Edith Piaf, Michel Legrand, Niels Lan Doky m.fl.
Pianisten Niels Lan Doky nåede at bo 23 år i Paris før at han flyttede hjem til Danmark. Ledsaget af den amerikanske jazz legende Alvin Queen på trommer og den fænomenale svenske bassist Mattias Svensson, tegner han her et musikalsk portræt af byernes by bestående af fortolkninger af ikoniske franske sange, ledsaget af egne kompositioner og anekdoter fra hans mange år i Paris.
Paris er den mest besøgte by i verden med sine ikke mindre end 30 millioner tilrejsende turister hvert år.
Af samme årsag har fransk musik haft en stor international bevågenhed i årtiernes løb, ikke mindst fra jazz verdenen hvor den måske mest spillede standard melodi, “Autumn Leaves”, faktisk er en fransk sang (med den originale titel “Les Feuilles Mortes”). Og franske kunstnere igennem tiderne har i en grad som få andre formået at blive elsket verden over for deres musik.
Under “Songs From Paris” forløbet kommer vi til at høre jazz fortolkninger af klassikere som f.eks. Serge Gainsbourgs ironiske “L’Aquoiboniste”, Michel Legrands romantiske “You Must Believe In Spring”, Edit Piafs hyldest til kærligheden “Hymne a L’Amour” og ikke mindst fortolkninger af sange af nutidens store franske ikoner, som f.eks. Daft Punk’s “Loose Yourself to Dance” og Air’s “La Femme D’Argent” (fra det banebrydende album Moon Safari) eller “Alone In Kyoto” (fra film soundtracket Lost In Translation).
Niels Lan Doky fortæller: “Det var en fantastisk berigende oplevelse og livserfaring at bo 23 år i Paris. Historisk set er nok den førende kulturelle by i Europa, og det kan man stadig mærke efterlevn af. Da jeg flyttede fra New York til Paris og sad på flyet med kurs mod byernes by sad jeg i et midtersæde mellem to andre passagerer, som viste sig at være hhv en amerikaner på den ene side og en franskmand på den anden. På forskellige tidspunkter under rejsen faldt jeg i snak med dem enkeltvis, og helt uafhængigt af hinanden stillede de mig begge spørgsmålet om hvilket arbejde jeg har. Og da jeg svarede “jeg er musiker” fik jeg fra amerikaneren den typiske amerikanske kommentar “can you make a living doing that?” mens jeg fra franskmanden fik den ligeså typiske franske kommentar “Oh vous êtes un artiste, comme c’est merveilleux!”, oversat til dansk “Åh de er kunstner, hvor er det dog vidunderligt!”. Kort efter læste jeg i en artikel i avisen International Herald Tribune, at man havde undersøgt og fundet ud af at franskmænd i gennemsnit per indbygger bruger 20 gange flere penge på kultur end amerikanere. Ikke så mærkeligt at Frankrig er så højkulturelt et land og at Paris har fået sig øgenavnet Byernes By”.
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