"...and poppies from kandahar" is Jan Bang’s first album under his own name and this production features several Norwegian musicians: trumpeter Nils Petter Molvær, trumpeter and singer Arve Henriksen, and singer Sidsel Endresen. Other collaborators are trumpeter Jon Hassel and Samadhisound founder David Sylvian.
As a producer, Bang stitches everything together including live recordings and studio constructions, old samples and new solos. His musical career began in the late 1980s, when he cut his first albums in a synth-and-vocals duo with Erik Honoré. By the 1990s he was a producer of Norwegian pop acts, when pianist Bugge Wesseltoft invited him on stage with an improvising ensemble.
Bang is the co-founder of Norwegian Punkt, a range of projects initiated by Norwegian musicians and producers, such as the Punkt music festival in Kristiansand, where Bang lives and works. Punkt participated at 'Scene Norway' in Kings Place in 2008, a mini festival within the London Jazz Festival.
In connection with the release of "...and poppies from kandahar", Jan Bang will be on BBC Radio 3 with Fiona Talkington.