Worldmusic project for Bel Canto musician and more

Out since a few months is Vajas' album "Sacred Stone". Vajas is noone else than the new project between the traditional Saami yoik singer Ánde Somby, violinist Kristin Mellem and Nils Johansen. Johansen is better known as one half of the Norwegian duo Bel Canto, originally a trio fronted by Anneli Drecker with the two musicians, Geir Jenssen (later Biosphere) and Nils Johansen. So far apart from Norway it was rather silent around Vajas but that might change soon as the band's debut album will be distributed in the UK and Germany quite soon with more territories being expected. In a reaction to Side-Line, Johansen says this about working under the Vajas flag:

"Vajas is very much like working with Bel Canto. Except that Vajas is a bit more world oriented. Bel Canto has until now been distrubuted by EMI Norway, and some bigger and smaller labes abroad. Even when on a major label, Bel Canto has always belonged to the indie cathegory. In that respect I do not feel such a big difference in the two bands. We face the same challenges when it comes to how to get our music out. It is, in many ways, easier to be working enirely on our own, as with Vajas, than being an a big record label, hoping that the staff is taking the right decisions about our music carrieres."

Johansen also confirms that there are at the moment no plans for seeing the old Bel Canto material re-released in a remastered version. In more Bel Canto related news, Johansen says that both Anneli and he feel the urge to start recording another Bel Canto album. Johansen:

"We are just about to make plans for the rest of 2007, and hopefully we will be seeing a finished product this year or the next. We use to spend quite a lot of time on each album, but some times it goes fast. We'll see..."

Check www.belcanto.no or www.myspace.com/belcantonorway for frequent updates on Bel Canto. For Vajas, go to www.vajas.info or www.myspace.com/vajasmyspace .

Posted by B. Van Isacker