Pierre Dørge & New Jungle Orchestra feat. Shashank Subramanyam (IN)

Pierre Dørge & New Jungle Orchestra celebrated their 45th anniversary last year with a series of concerts around Denmark. It has been 45 years of adventure, curiosity and musical excess, with the music ranging from the orchestra's early compositions to completely new works inspired by contemporary music and the tones of world music.

New Jungle Orchestra has toured with Shashank Subramanyam before and looks forward to playing with this true flute master. Shashank is a talented and recognized soloist both in India and around the world. Shashank has already played with guitarists John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucia, tabla master Zakir Hussein and singer Ustad Sultan Khan at a young age.

Pierre Dørge talks about his encounter with Indian music:

“The Odd Fellow Palace was a true mecca for a curious young man interested in music in 1960s Copenhagen. In the traditional Great Concert Hall one could encounter music of a wide variety. There were concerts with Carl Nielsen's symphonies, a mixture concert with Per Nørgaard and Alrune Rod, Art Blakey, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus with Eric Dolphy. But one of the evenings that made an unforgettable impression was my first encounter with Indian classical music - the concert in 1964 with Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan. The next day I had to borrow money and ride my bicycle to the French bookstore to buy one of Shankar's records with the enigmatic raga music. In the following years, it was my greatest desire to come to India to encounter Indian music and culture.

It would take 46 years of touring in approximately 50 countries before I landed on the plane in South India. My friend, the Indian flute player Shashank Subramanyam, whom I met in 1997 at the Rhythmic Music Conservatory, had, together with the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, arranged a tour of concert halls in five of India's major cities - Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai, New Delhi and Chandigarh. And here the New Jungle Orchestra met a very cultured audience, who really appreciated our passionate, contrasting music. Before that, Shashank had toured with the New Jungle Orchestra in Denmark. One of these concerts took place in 2008 at the Skuespilshuset during the Copenhagen Jazz Festival. The concert was recorded and can be heard on the CD "At the Royal Playhouse" - with Shashank Subramanyam & Josefine Cronholm. In 2011 the New Jungle Orchestra released the CD "Sketches of India", where the Indian inspiration characterises the music.

Since its formation in 1980, New Jungle Orchestra has, in addition to Indian music, drawn inspiration from the jungle sound of Duke Ellington's early orchestra, Don Cherry's experiments with improvisation, contemporary music - and from the meetings with the many musicians they have played with from all over the world. Pierre's music is full of contradictions and moves in the span between powerful anarchy, delicately layered structures and a love of Danish children's melodies.

New Jungle Orchestra has played and collaborated with artists such as Yusef Lateef, Shashank Subramanyam, John Tchicai, Lelo Nika, Johnny Dyani, Jim Pepper, Peter Brötzmann, Marilyn Mazur, Ray Anderson, James Blood Ulmer and Hugh Masekela, Hamid Drake, Horace Parlan, Palle Mikkelborg, Povl Dissing, Sainkho Namtchylak, Harry Beckett, David Murray, Kirk Knuffke, Stephen Riley, Han Bennink, Herb Robertson – and Gitte Hænning.

From 1993 to 1996, the New Jungle Orchestra was appointed by the Ministry of Culture as the Danish State Ensemble and represented Denmark at official events together with the Royal House of Denmark. They have played for Emperor Akihito in Tokyo, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in New York and President Nelson Mandela in Pretoria, among others.

The tour list is almost an atlas in itself, they have travelled to more than 65 countries, including: India, Australia, Brazil, Japan, China, Vietnam, South Africa, Ghana, Spain, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Greece, the USA, Canada, Russia, Mexico, the West Indies – and of course Denmark.