Thorbjorn Risager & the Black Tornado
Thorbjørn Risager & The Black Tornado are one of Denmark’s premier roots-rockers and they play The Pleasance Edinburgh on Saturday 12th October!
About Thorbjorn Risager & the Black Tornado
The young Thorbjørn Risager grew up in the small town of Jyllinge, about 30km from Denmark’s capital city, Copenhagen. The former fishing village sits on the eastern shores of Roskilde Fjord with a bustling harbour that has stunning views where the sunset meets the distant hamlet horizon. Staring out into the expanse of clouds and the undisturbed landscape opposite as the breeze ambles past, blowing on the fjord, which hides Viking stories of times past, watching the sun go down – it’s hard for anyone not to sit, think, reflect and dream of the world beyond.
He grew up in a household where both parents were music teachers. “It was very natural for me to pick up an instrument and play,” he says. “I started with the mandolin, then guitar, then saxophone until high school when I discovered that singing was even more fun.”
He was introduced to the sound of the Rock ‘n’ Roll greats – Elvis, Fats Domino and Little Richard – listening to his neighbours’ record collection before discovering the music of B.B. King and Ray Charles in his late teens. This changed everything.
He had long been singing the blues, often playing with friend Emil Balsgaard, when he enrolled to study music at the Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen. “The most important thing that came out of studying music was that I began to write music. For many years I had considered myself a singer who interpreted other people’s songs. I didn’t consider myself a writer of music. But I discovered it was not as difficult for me to write a piece of music as I thought.”
When this clicked, he left behind his fledgling career as a teacher and threw himself heart, soul and body into his music. As he saw his 30s approaching on the horizon like the sun breaking into a brand-new day, the former interpreter of other people’s music took control of his destiny and has not looked back since.
He formed Thorbjørn Risager Blue 7 in 2003 before swapping it to Thorbjørn Risager & The Black Tornado in 2014, and over the last twenty years, has sent them on their way to become Denmark’s premier roots-rockers.
The Rhythmic Music Conservatory was not only beneficial to opening the door for his writing, but he also met future bandmates Kasper Wagner and Hans Nybo there, whilst Peter W. Kehl was also a former student.
They’ve won two Danish Music Awards (with seven nominations), the “Best Band” in the European Blues Awards and the winner twice of the prestigious German Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik Jahrespreis – German Record Critics’ Awards.
The septet has blazed a trail across Scandinavia, Europe, Canada, the US and Asia for the past twenty years. They’ve been captivating crowds with their dynamic stage presence and a sound that fuses soul, Chicago blues, boogie and rock ‘n’ roll with a voice where Ray Charles, Van Morrison and Billy Gibbons meet in the middle. They’ve brought dancing shoes to Europe’s largest festival stages and low-light noir-ish blues to Jazz clubs around the globe.
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