Terje Rypdal to perform at Akbank Jazz Festival

Guitarist Rypdal, one of Norway's most productive musicians, will be on stage this Friday at İstanbul's Hagia Eirene Museum together with pianist Ketil Bjørnstad. Rypdal, who is a classically trained pianist, taught himself how to play guitar and has become a successful multi-instrumentalist. He stresses that his background as a pianist has been useful, especially as a composer. While strengthening his guitar skills by playing Clapton and Hendrix, he ended up creating his own style by mixing jazz, rock, classical and ambient tunes. Even if they felt like separate worlds in the beginning, very soon he rebelled against the musical rules he learned while studying at the conservatory.

In an interview with Today's Zaman ahead of his concert, Rypdal talks about how his family life shaped his music, his musical collaborations and new musical projects.

 You began your study of music with the piano. Then you switched to the trumpet and eventually moved on to the guitar. What made you stick with the guitar?

It was nice to learn how to play trumpet, but I got to the point where I had to [decide whether to] make that a career and I didn't want that. At the same time, the electric guitar was used so much, and I found that it was the sound I wanted to go into. My background as a pianist has been useful, especially as a composer, so I'm glad I started out doing that.

You studied at the Music Conservatory of Oslo. How did your education at this school contribute to your music?

That was about when I decided that I would be a composer, but I needed more background and technical skills. I didn't go there as much as I should have because I got some work out in Bergen staging the Norwegian production of the musical “Hair”! That was a lot of fun. So my career started to go well then, and especially after I joined ECM records. I have studied by myself, and I've been very lucky to have met both Gyorgi Ligeti when he was alive -- I met him in Berlin when I was a student -- and Krzysztof Penderecki; I know him a little, I played his piece “Actions [for Free Jazz Orchestra]” and he has been a very big influence on me and I am very proud that he knows who I am.

Your music blends jazz-oriented material with classical compositions. How do you combine these different genres?

Well, I didn't in the beginning; it felt like two separate worlds. But what I very soon rebelled against was that in the conservatory you were not allowed to make nice chords, nice melodies. Coming from both rock and improvisational music in what I was searching for -- I mean the whole Beatles catalogue is nice tunes for instance -- I didn't fit in with the contemporary thinking of just making sounds. So my background in a way was very good -- it enabled me to not [just] listen to the fashions -- so it's always been a combination for me. What I had been doing was quite a lot writing for symphony orchestras, using myself and others as solo players, but also doing a lot of improvisation and that's a combination of the two worlds. In fact, I'll be doing work in November in Poland, a new piece about 40 minutes long with an orchestra and myself.

You have performed with many bands. What have you learned from your many collaborations with other musicians?

What I've learned is very essential: you cannot have a marriage with only one person. It's also the same [with music], you have to have good connections with the other musicians, and the few times when that doesn't happen then you just move on. You cannot work with somebody if there is friction. You have to like what he is doing and have respect for each other.

Are there any new projects that you are working on?

I recently got an idea that would probably be for a rock festival. [A choir] using 100 Harley-Davidson motorbikes. Yes, as a choir! [It will combine] all the sounds they make together with a rock band if I can get together 50 musicians. So that's one of the ideas which I can't stop; they are coming all the time. Right now I am preparing for my seventh symphony, which will be called Opus 100, so I have 20 more to do.

How is your spiritual life reflected in your music?

Well, where I'm living is where my father was born. It's so high; there are mountains all around me. So nature is very important to me. Nature inspires me.

What are your other inspirations?

Well I'm not really religious guy, but recently I've been into church bells, which I find very inspiring. And I'm thinking of incorporating them into my seventh symphony. I really don't know what to do about that because it probably has to be on tape unless we can do the concert in a church.

Can you say something about the pieces you are going to perform during your concert here in Turkey?