ANDERS HAGBERG
– Flautist, saxophonist,
composer and pedagogue

North

NORTH has been described as “music with spiritual depths”, “exudes warmth and humanity”, “Suggestive Jazz – each note carries an image, a feeling, an impulse toward something higher.”  

NORTH is a reference both to the musicians’ countries of origin and to the musical approach taken, in which communication, silence and melody are central. Flautist and saxophonist Anders Hagberg is a musical voyager, and in NORTH, he has assembled some of Scandinavia’s finest musicians in jazz and world music. 
A Nordic dream team with musicians associated with artists such as Mari Boine, Jon Hassell, Jon Balke, Billy Cobham, Marilyn Mazur, Avishai Cohen, Shakti to name a few.

Anders Hagberg – flutes, soprano sax, ambient sounds
Joona Toivanen – piano, zither
Johannes Lundberg – double bass, voice
Helge Norbakken – percussion

Watch full concert Haga Church March 2021:
NORTH on VIMEO

(See also QUARTET for the first edition of the band which existed between 2010-2014)

 

 

JAZZ & BLUES REPORT (US):
“Anders Hagberg has produced a recording of considerable substance and beauty…
Superb flute playing… Hagberg’s focus is on fostering a mood…The interplay between the flute and Toivanen’s piano is stellar”
Full review

Lira Magazine (2020 Top List):
“This year’s most suggestive jazz. The music of masterful wind player Anders Hagberg is palpably borne up by precisely this quality of suggestiveness—as if each note carries an image, a feeling, an impulse toward something higher.”
Review in Swedish

OJ Jazz (Recommended Pick):
“Music with spiritual depths…Skillful, passionate performances, beautiful and sublime, with a hint of mystery.”

TEXTURA (Canada): “Hagberg shows himself to be a soloist who considers every note carefully and shapes his poised statements with intense consideration of rhythm and space. Music that exudes feeling, warmth and humanity, and presents small-group interplay at an exceptionally high level” (Canada)
Full article Textura

Opulens magazine for culture and the arts (5/5):
“Musicians of the highest caliber…world-class.
A musical voyager in the borderlands between jazz, folk and chamber music. Hagberg preserves places, memories of people and musical encounters by letting them all live on in his music.”

Anders Hagberg Quartet - North_CD_2020 NEW (kopia)

TRUST (Solo/Duo)

“Anders Hagberg creates a unique world of sound, filled with beautiful, lyrical melodies and suggestive rhythms…It moves from quiet wonder to expressive, explosive exuberance.” (Opulens, 5/5)

WANDERLUST – SUITE FOR CONTRABASS FLUTE

On the album, TRUST, Anders takes his creative approach to the flute to a new level with cinematic sounds, solitary melodies, and evocative grooves. It is timeless music which honor the roots and at the same time looking into the future.
Improvisation and boundary-crossing collaborations are distinguishing features of his work and for TRUST the music was originally created in interaction with visual artforms such as dance, painting, video, and sculptures. Since the release he has played festival performances in the US, Iran, South Korea, Portugal, and Sweden as well as openings and collaborations with dancers.

The album was made in close collaboration with sound designer Åke Linton and they continued their work on 2022 album MA in interaction with visual arts and the physical spaces. MA is also including Double Bassist Johannes Lundberg

This program is offered as a solo/duo performance with options on guest artists:

Anders Hagberg: Alto-, Bass- & Contrabass Flute, sopranosax, mouth harp, electronics

Johannes Lundberg: Double Bass, Voice, Zither
Options: guest artists percussion/dancers/visual arts

LIVE IN HAGA CHURCH

 LIVE at FOLK. September 21, 2019

NEW ALBUM – TRUST


”An enchanting musician who unites the improvised freedom of jazz with an archaic quality.” UNT

“A fantastic interpretation of waves, winds and the singing of whales.” GT

REVIEWS “MA”:
“An atmosphere of its own, a very evocative soundscape… unrelentingly fascinating.” Kulturdelen.

”Anders Hagberg masters this construction of a musical landscape to perfection…he has total presence in the situation, in the moments.” Opulens

”Anders Hagberg is easily one of the country’s most exciting musicians right now.” UNT

 

REVIEWS “TRUST”:
“Intense and enormously virtuosic…majestic, magnificent weight…breathtakingly beautiful, a quiet reflection on the cosmos…magical…” (Kulturbloggen, 5/5)

“Anders Hagberg suffuses his performance with a captivating intimacy and strong sense of presence…infinitely creative” (Lira)

“…a simply superb flautist who coaxes from his instruments every scintilla of their register, often with highly suggestive results.” (Kulturdelen 4/5)

“Organic! Exciting! A stream you just want to float in … suggestive jazz.” (OJ)

“Hagberg has a unique voice on his instruments, blending Eastern inspiration with the Scandinavian sounds in a wonderful way” (Tor Hammerø)

“Anders Hagberg, has repeatedly demonstrated his creative breadth as a musician. If any doubters remain, let them listen to his new album, Trust.” Upsala Nya Tidning (5/5)

“Hagberg is a wizard at handling all the different flutes”. Salt Peanuts

More info:

Anders made all the music for the album using his many flutes, a soprano sax, and some percussion. The unique contrabass flute plays a key role. Anders used it to create all the rhythmic grooves and ambient sounds in the music.

The music for TRUST was originally created in interaction with visual artforms such as dance, pictures, video, and sculpture. It has been performed at exhibitions of art by Louise Bourgeois and Bill Viola, for the dance production RED at the Nordic Watercolor Museum.

Hagberg & Landgren

ANDERS HAGBERG and JOHANNES LANDGREN
flutes/soprano sax & church organ/piano

“Celestial inspiring music.” all about jazz

“These two musicians … create an organic, almost physical sensuality.”/Lira

“You just feel very grateful…unbroken passion.” /Hallandsposten

“Hagberg and Landgren offer some stunning moments.” /Greenman Review

Hagberg & Landgren explore and develop improvisations taking their point of departure in Gregorian chant, chorales, contemporary music and their own original compositions. An encounter between two improvisation traditions. Anders and Johannes also play together with choirs.

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Reviews Där du går/Where you Go:

”Musik så lugn att det mest förhärdade hjärta måtte mjukna, det fortast rusande stillna…så skör att man hör de allra skiraste tonerna falla med sina spröda vingar och upplösas i evigheten…Då kan man bli lite salig” (LIRA MAGASIN)

”Det är den stora rörelsen, det vida gränsöverskridandet, den melodiska finstämdheten, som gör detta njutbart…En imponerande spännvidd.” (Mono Magasin)

”Det är andaktsfullt, kontemplativt men också sublimt spooky. Transcendens är ett centralt begrepp som…får relevans i det gränsöverskridande mötet mellan Hagberg och Landgren” (OJ, Orkesterjournalen)

”Magiskt är bara förnamnet!…” (Kulturbloggen)

”Man vet aldrig riktigt vad som ska komma härnäst. Men man kan vara tryggt förvissad om att de här två musikerna ser till att det som kommer också kommer att låta bra. ”
(Kulturdelen)

 

Connecting Worlds / Melodic Melange

connecting-worlds_logo-ligg_cmyk_2016

”Magical Melange” 

Connecting Worlds is a platform for musical collaborations between genres and cultures created by Anders Hagberg.
Since 2014 a great number of performance, concert series and collaborations have been made with artists from India, Japan, South Korea, Iran, Syria, Palestine, Sweden as well as string ensembles from e.g. Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra (GSO).

The partnership between Anders Hagberg and Palestinian oud player Ahmad al Khatib started in 2011 with an artistic development project at the University of Gothenburg on Modal Improvisation – “A Melodic Melange between Nordic Jazz and Arabic Maqam”

There collaboration has resulted in the album Melodic Melange and tours in Scandinavia, Estonia, India and South Korea. During their tours in India with artists from Bombay and Bangalore, they have made the album Ley Lines.


Live 2021:

Soundcloud
Review in Swedish

 

Reviews:

Magical Melange” (Times of India)

“An expressive world of sound where virtuosos meet on equal terms” (UNT)

“Amazing sounds, brilliant musicians” (Lira)

“Hagberg can really make his flutes express this yearning and desperate lament from the depths of human loneliness”. (N.A.)

“Blissful music, Hagberg’s musical search has succeeded again!” (DD)

Top Records 2014: Lira

Anders Hagberg – flutes, soprano sax (Sweden)
Ahmad al Khatib – oud (Palestine)

with a selection of partners such as:
Johannes Lundberg – double bass, voice. (Sweden)
Youssef Hbeisch – percussion (Palestine)
Lisbeth Diers – percussion (Denmark)

Suranjana Ghosh – tabla (India)
Fazal Qureshi – tabla (India)
Giridhar Udupa – ghatam (India)
Karin Nakagawa – koto, vocals (Japan)
Sabir Khan – sarangi (India)
Gyo Ho – geomungo (S.Korea)

 

 

 

 

Quartet

ANDERS HAGBERG QUARTET – STORIES OF NOW
See also NORTH

“…exquisite world jazz, both rhythmically rich and mellifluous…” Lira

Soundcloud

“… Hagberg plays, constantly inventive and with a highly vocal quality to his musicianship.”    GP

” The groups´ improvisational quality was finely balanced with a sense of direction and destination; one was carried along a world journey.”               Washington D.P.

“…The world…grow both larger and smaller when we listen to Stories of now.”  OJ

A unique synthesis, where the freedom of jazz blends with melodies and rhythms of the world. Melodic lyricism, dynamic improvisations and enchanting soundscapes!

With the starting point in Jazz, the quartet creates a wide spectrum of sounds with unusual instrumentations and influences from Nordic and Oriental music. The musicians have played with artists such as Steve Swallow, Carla Bley, Bob Mintzer, Billy Cobham, John Tchicai, Marilyn Mazur e.g.

Anders Hagberg – flutes, bass flutes, soprano sax
Johannes Lundberg – double bass, vocals
Joona Toivanen – piano, prepared piano
Göran Kroon – drums, percussion

DANCE, FILM, ART

Anders has been commissioned to compose music for a number of films, dance performances and exhibitions of visual arts.

“Gränsland” part 2 sample (2023):

DANCE, SELECTED WORKS

Embla Dance & Theatre

In connection with Embla dance Anders has been composing music for several performances for children that have been touring extensively all over the Nordic region as well as the acknowledged site specific performance Traces of Rock Carvings.
 As an artist in residence with choreographer Anna Wennerbeck at the Nordic Water Colour Museum he created RED inspired by gouaches of Louise Bourgeois.

* 2023 “Gläntan”
* 2022 “Träden” (The Trees”)
* 2020 “Motsatser” (“Contradictions”)
“B
öjligheter Möjligheter”

 

Anders collaboration with the legendary Indian dancer and choreographer ASTAD DEBOO. Watch a performance from Stockholm in May 2016.

 

ART, SELECTED WORK

Anders´work with visual arts include openings concerts for exhibitions with video artist Bill Viola, painter/sculpturer Louise Bourgeois and a number of other artists.
The album TRUST (2018) is based on the music from Red.

Together with Carolina Johnson he has made “Gränsland” part 1 & 2 (Twilight Zone).
The commission from Carolina resulted in the opening track, Borderland on the album MA.

 

FILM, SELECTED WORK

His work with documentary films with Agaton Film include Stone carvers (“Stenristarna) about Nordic pre-history and War against Disease about the work of photographer Lennart Nilsson.
The music for Stenristarna is released on the album (2005). Title track:

 

 

TEACHING

TEACHING
Anders is a Professor in Musical Performance, specialized in Improvisation at the Academy of Music and Drama, Gothenburgh University.
His work includes teaching (individual and ensemble classes in improvisation, lectures and seminars) supervising student thesis, mentorship.

His work with artistic development and research at the Academy resulted in conducted several projects and recordings.
Link to published works

Here is an article about teaching improvisation at the University. Instrumentalundervisning i improvisation – en balansgång mellan tre perspektiv

He has been doing Workshops and Master Classes all over Scandinavia as well as in America and Asia.

As a pedagogue he is offering seminars, courses and masterclasses in Jazz, Improvisation and World Music.

Since 2007 he has been teaching at the Summer course Blekinge Jazz & World.

WINDUO (previous project)

WINDUO
”Human communication, crossing musical borders…astoundingly expressive”. / JazzLife, Tokyo

 

Anders Hagberg and japanese bass player Yasuhito Mori started playing duo together in 1985. Since then they have gone through many phases, developing the rare touch that only somes from a long musical friendship.

Both musicians work in other groups but keep returning to this duo, where the traditional roles of solo and comp are replaced by an open script for two voices in free flight. On the repertoire you will find Japanese lullabies and Swedish folkmelodies, but also bluesy rhytmic grooves and viruoso unison parts in a close dynamic interplay.

Winduo has made 5 CDs and toured both Europe and Japan. They have also performed with others, including Japanese pianist Wong Wing Tsan, a number of Swedish and Indian percussionists, modern dance ensembles and with the Ginestera string quartet.

 

cd4_1cd3_1cd6_1

 

 

 

EARTHSONGS(previous project)

EARTHSONGS
”Boundary crossing music at its very  best…modest beauty, magical sounds…breaths love, veneration and respect for the roots.”

Earthsongs was formed by Anders Hagberg from a will of expressing his nordic roots, using the melodies from joiks and herding calls as a starting point for improvisations. Together with experiences of Indian and Japanese music, Earthsongs has explored soundworlds where jazz, world and ambient meet.

The CDs EARTHSONGS and THE HERD were both nominated for swedish grammy award and the group has featured some of the finest nordic traditional vocalists including Sami Inga Juuso and Faroese Eivor Palsdottir. Earthsongs has been featured at the openings of several festivals and exhibitions where Stockholm Millenium Celebration and “Eldnatt” at Urkult Festival is worth noting. In 2004 they recorded music for STENRISTARNA, a TV-documentary. The CD and DVD was released in 2005.

 

“Earthsongs amused me deeply and wholehearted. Beautiful lines, interesting harmonies and rhytmical variety were  forming the base of their success.” Dziennik Polski.

 

 

In 2010 a unique collaboration was made with balafon player Moussa Hema from Burkina Faso The project was called Eartsongs Afrique.

AH – woodwinds
Stefan Blomquist – keyboards
Ola Bothzén/Micke Nilsson – percussion.
Moussa Hema – balafon, ngoni, vocals