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biography / portrait

Brandur Jacobsen (Drums, percussion, b. 1974) Brandur Jacobsen was born in Tórshavn, the capital of the Faroe Islands. He started playing drums at the age of 12, and was at 17 was already considered one of the regulars in the Faroes music community. In 1994, Brandur Jacobsen moved to Denmark to pursue studies in music. He established himself in the Copenhagen area where he lived for six years, playing with a variety of pop and rock groups in clubs throughout Denmark. Jacobsen moved back to the Faroes in 2000 to form, together with three other young talented Faroes musicians (Eivør Pálsdóttir, Búi E. Dam and Mikael Blak) the dynamic quartet Ivory. The quartet’s intense work resulted in the release of the successful CD ”Eivør Pálsdóttir” in November 2000, establishing the quartet as a major force on the Faroes music scene. During the summer of 2000 Ivory worked with American saxophonist John Purcell, resulting in the groups tour in 2001 to the USA. Other tours included France, Denmark and Austria. In 2002, Jacobsen began playing with Kristian Blak´s ethnic jazz/world music group Yggdrasil, and has since recorded and toured abroad with this ensemble. 2002 also marked the release of Brandur Jacobsen’s first project as a band leader: Minor|Bran|Dur, 7 Heaven, featuring American singer Deborah Herbert. His latest project is A Wizard’s Journey, released in 2004 (see below), recorded together with Ólavur Olsen, Búi Dam and Mikael Blak. Brandur Jacobsen plays with guitarist/composer Heðin Ziska Davidsen´s group Tjant, with whom he recorded the cd by the same name (2003). He also plays with singer/composer Kári Sverrisson. Other musicians that Brandur Jacobsen has performed with include Tore Brunborg, Anders Hagberg, Anders Jormin, Eero Koivistoinen, Villu Veski, Teitur Lassen, John Tchicai, Malick Jagne, Kasper Hansen and Valentin Cora. He has toured both in the Faroes and abroad, playing throughout Scandinavia, in Germany, Austria, Holland, France, Switzerland, Greece, Estonia, Lithuania, Argentina and the US. Brandur Jacobsen lives in Tórshavn, Faroe Islands where he works as a freelance musician and composer. He performs regularly with his own band and with Yggdrasil and participates in a variety of projects at home and abroad involving music ranging from world music, innovative jazz and rock to blues and pop. (source: www.brandur-jacobsen.com)