KIRWANI ORCHESTRA
SAZED UL ALAM
sitar, tabla, guitars, keyboard and percussion
Born into a family of writers, artists and musicians in Bangladesh, Sazed Ul Alam, the youngest of fifteen brothers, dominated the harmonium at a very early stage. When the 1971 liberation war ended, in which the young teenager participated as a freedom fighter, Sazed formed the first successful rock and pop band "Souls" in the port city of Chittagong. With him on the lead guitar, Souls soon became the most notable band in Bangladesh for breaking new ground in Bangla pop music. But the search for a bigger horizon led Sazed to venture out of the country. In 1980, he traveled to Denmark to expand his guitar skills and become more familiar with the Western musical tradition. After trying his skills on the guitar and playing other instruments during his stay in Denmark and Sweden, at one point decided to look back on his own tradition and resumed the sitar. He studied classical Indian music under the tutelage of the masters Achariya Sri Pandit Bimlendu Mukherjee, Pt. Budhaditya Mukherjee, Ustad Jamal Uddin Bhartiya, Roshan Jamal, Ashit Banerjee, Raj Bhan Singh and Badri Maharaj.
Equipped with knowledge of Western and Eastern traditions, Sazed is now more in tune with collaboration and experimentation with different genres. With his sitar in fusion music sessions, Sazed has collaborated with artists such as the Spanish granguitarist Raimundo Amador, the American vibraphonist Dave Samuels, Nacho Cano, Giovanni Hidalgo, William Cepeda, Amores, Omar Sosa and many others. He traveled extensively and performed for famous figures such as the King of Sweden and boxing legend Muhammad Ali.
HENRIK ERIKSSON LINDER
drums, percussion
Henrik Eriksson Linder is a musician who works and teaches in Malmö, Sweden. Henrik has a wide repertoire of musical experience. With a background as a rock drummer in his teens, he was educated in classical percussion and switched to funk, jazz and Latin styles. He has played with great Swedes such as Janne Schaffer (ABBA) and Nils Landgren and worked as a session drummer in addition to teaching drums, theory and improvisation at the Rytmus High School of Music in Malmö, Sweden. He appears in several albums and recordings of Kirwani Orchestra. Henrik can be contacted at: drumhead70@gmail.com.
JOEL SELSFORS
keyboards
Joel Selsfors is a jazz pianist from Sweden. Currently working on many projects in different styles and genres. It has also appeared in many pop-to-metal records. Learning to play the piano at the age of six, he has covered melodies by Genesis, Gentle Giant, Frank Zappa and others. At the age of sixteen Joel began composing music, arranging wind instruments and horn. At age 17, he made his first tour with a progressive rock band from Uppsala and it spread. Says the acclaimed Swedish rock artist and vocalist of the band Witherscape, "[Joel] ended up with a solo much more than anything that had been done in that place." You can listen to Joel's song in "Dying for the Sun" at 05: 19-05: 37. "He composed and arranged all the songs and plays the keyboard for the Balkan band" Balkan BagPack "of which he is the leader and that has played acts of support for artists such as Markus Krunegård, Truck Fighters and plus. He has studied jazz piano for 8 years and is currently studying at the Malmö Music Academy. He is currently working on an album as a keyboard artist with the Kirwani Orchestra. He can be contacted at: joel.selsfors@gmail.com.
HANNES N. BENNICH
saxophone
Hannes N. Bennich is a saxophonist from Norrköping, Sweden. He started playing the saxophone at the age of nine. Since then, his passion for the alto saxophone and improvised music has grown stronger every day. Hannes studied jazz at the Malmö Academy of Music and before that studied jazz at Skurups Folkhögskola, where many of Sweden's best jazz musicians studied. Hannes' performance is a mix between traditional jazz and modern improvised music, which has given him the opportunity to join several different bands over the years. Hannes can be contacted at: hannes.nb@gmail.com.
MATTIAS WIBORN
Bass
Mattias Wiborn is a Swedish bass player. Currently, he is working and playing in many different contexts, mainly in the gospel / soul / funk genre, while studying at the Malmö Music Academy. He also writes and produces music in his home studio. Being a self-taught, Mattias began playing drums, guitar, piano and bass gradually throughout elementary school. From the age of 17, the electric bass is his main instrument.
The years after high school he began studying full-time gospel, beginning a gospel choir with which he toured and played for a year. During this time, Mattias was also able to play with different Swedish gospel icons such as Samuel Ljungblahd, Jonas Engström and Tre Barytoner, to name a few.