Ensemble Anaracho feat. Andreas Hourdakis & Fredrik Nordström

With guitarist Andreas Hourdakis at the centre, Ensemble Anaracho premieres new music written and arranged for big band by Fredrik Nordström. With a highly personal style shaped by both contemporary jazz aesthetics and his Cretan roots, Andreas Hourdakis (Magnus Öström Band, Tarabband, Lars Danielsson) gets full room to unfold. Here, he's not just a soloist – his voice is woven into the entire ensemble texture.

Saxophonist Fredrik Nordström (Yttling Jazz, Palle Danielsson) is also a highly prolific composer and arranger. Among his extensive output is the big band album "Big Band Stories." Nordström is also currently working as composer and arranger on the new albums by Josefine Cronholm/Norrbotten Big Band and Daniel Boyacioglu/Mathias Landaeus/Bohuslän Big Band.

Ensemble Anaracho is a hand-picked big band featuring some of the country's foremost jazz musicians. The word anaracho comes from Cretan dialect and roughly means 'fate' or 'predetermined lot in life.' The name points both to the poetic, emotional sound world the music reaches for and to the existential questions of identity, origin, and belonging. In this context, the big band format becomes a powerful tool for expressing the contrasts between the personal and the collective, the predetermined and the spontaneous – music that expands the landscape of big band jazz.