A symphonic portrait of Django Reinhardt

Following up on Django's dream
Symphonic Django/ Django Symphonique is the first ever edition of the legendary Django Reinhardt´s music orchestrated for symphony orchestra. The idea originated from Jon Larsen and was developed in cooperation with the festival Christianssand String Swing. The arrangements are by Per Ekdahl and were first performed live by Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra featuring Florin Niculescu (RO) and Stochelo Rosenberg (NL) as soloists.

Musical Heritage
Django Reinhardt´s music is more popular than ever. What was originally a French subculture grew in the 1980´s not only into a european phenomenon, but developed into a global trend. There are now thousands of musicians exploring the magical universe of Django all over the world and ”Django” festivals in more than 40 countries.

Django Reinhardt and his equivalent contemporary Stéphane Grappelli perfected a european jazzform in the legendary Le Quintette du Hot Club de France that toured during the 1930´s. Django gave jazz a european voice, a european expression. His music was influenced by the gipsy society that he originated from, american jazz, and swingmusic, and the diverse music scene in Paris where he made a name for himself.


© Maja Daniels / Kulturvogna AS

Classical ambitions
But the autodidact self-taught guitar genius showed a growing interest for art music throughout his career. Despite his poor reading and writing skills – he was literally illiterate - he left behind a significant number of distinguished compositions which he dreamed of performing in a ”symphonic” setting. More than one of his fingerprint compositions was originally written with a symphonic sound in mind, for instance Manoir de Mes Reves and Diminishing Blackness (worktitled Go tell Mozart.) With one exeption, a performance of Django Reinhardt´s Bolero complementing Ravel´s famous composition bearing the same name, his symphonic ambitions were never realised...until 2005.

Watch Django Symphonique on national Norwegian news by clicking the Youtube icon below

Django Symphonique on national news, Norway (Youtube)

On behalf of the Festival Christianssand String Swing Circus, endorsing an idea of Jon Larsen, the talented swedish arranger Per Ekdahl orchestrated 10 of Django Reinhardt´s compositions for symphony orchestra. Given the ambitious task, a posthumous fulfillment of Django Reinhardt´s lifelong dream, the requirement was quality in every detail; his most memorable tunes were carefully studied, Django´s original harmonisation laid foundation for Per Ekdahl´s inspired orchestration. Symphonic Django was documented in a HD/DVD production with Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra featuring the remarkable Florin Niculescu and Stochelo Rosenberg, 18. – 19. august 2005.

First symphonic edition of Django Reinhardt´s compositions
In light of the growing recognition paid homage to Django Reinhardt in latter years, with love and admiration for the musical inheritance of this ”giant of jazz”, we proudly present Django Reinhardt´s compositions in symphonic ”widescreen” format. The unique Symphonic Django, music history´s first symphonic edition of Django Reinhardt´s compositions, the rare completion of his own dream, is available with leading soloists in the genre for symphony-, and chamber orchestras on request.

 - The quest has been to interpret Django Reinhardt´s music with contemporary ideas, translate his music to a symphonic language, yet still remain devoted to the original (…)
Per Ekdahl, arranger

- At last - Django's music the way it was intended – in full symphonic widescreen, and on top, the greatest gypsy jazz players today... this is a dream! (…)
Jon Larsen, Hot Club Records 

Co-Workers

Django Reinhardt

Jean Baptiste "DJANGO" Reinhardt,
(January 23, 1910 - 16. May, 1953) was born in Liberchies, Pont-à-Celles, in Belgium, but grew up in his native Sinti society in a camp near Point de Orly in Paris, France. He is known as the first great european jazzmusician, inventor of an original european jazzform influenced by folkmusic, worldmusic, artmusic and jazz. The diverse musical inherit of Django can be ascribed to his Sinti people´s tradition as a "family of musicians", their nomadic lifestyle, as well as to the rich music scene of Paris at the time. Django earned at an early stage a repurtation as a musician of extraoridinary talent, included in the contemporary music scene in Paris as banjoist and violinist already as a teenager. But his promising career could have come to a sudden end, as his caravan caught fire and burned to the ground in 1928. Django got away retaining his life, but with his left hand irrevocable crippled.

Django Reinhardt

Against all odds Django overcame his handicap and flourished into one of jazzhistory´s greatest and most advanced guitarists. He was one of the first european musicians adapting the music of Charlie Parker og Dizzy Gillespie, integrating their inventive ideas without loosing sight of his own musical vision. For a period he toured with Duke Ellington, but first got recognised by a broader audience joining forces with Stephane Grappelli in Quintette du Hot Club de France. Django Reinhardt´s personality, his extraordinary guitartechnique, an exuberant, yet melodic approach to both composing and improvisation, has left him a name in the book of jazzgiants. In 1951 he retired to Samois sur Seine, France, where he lived until he died the 16 of May, 1953.

Django´s tone sustains as vibrant and clear in today´s Sintisocieties strewed throughout Europe, as on the "Legend´s of Jazz" CD for sale at your local postoffice. Festival at his honour are held in over 40 contries, and committed "hot jazz" musicians appear at most suprising places, keeping Django´s music alive.

Kulturvogna AS // org.nr. 893 131 922
Marviksveien 140, 4632 Kristiansand // Phone +47 380 77 030, Cell +47 93 48 27 68
www.kulturvogna.com // post[a]kulturvogna.com