GUDRUN HOLCK

Gudrun Holck

NEWS:

TOURING IRAQ 2010 FOR THE SECOND TIME!!
From september 27th till October 8, 2010 Gudrun Holck and her Band will represent Denmark at The New Iraq´s first international Zeriab Music Festival in Baghdad and Babylon Cultural Festival being held in Babylon.

Gudrun Holck participated in the first official Cultural Delegation to Iraq from any western country in december 2009 and performed 16 concerts in 9 days with Danish, Iraqi and Kurdish Artists, invited by the Iraqi Cultural Minister. The tour was widely broadcasted at Iraqi, Kurdish, Arabic and Danish Medias. (but on respective languages).
The 2009 tour has led to a number of invitations for touring, collaborating projects and interviews in 2010 and 2011 in Iraq, Kurdistan, Syria and other Middle Eastern Countries as well.

From May 26 till June 9, 2010 Gudrun Holck participated in Türkçe Olimpiyatlari (The international Olympiad in Turkish songs & language) held in Ankara & Istanbul. Her 3 singing students won silver medal in the finals.

In april - may 2010 Gudrun Holck Band toured Mexico, performing at Ollinkan Festival for the second time, now with her new album "STÆRK". The Band has created a complete new live set up show including more groovy world electronic beats to pump up the music for dancing and festival gigs. Gudrun will still perform her unique a cappella nordic vocals parts breaking the beats.

Gudrun Holck

Singer, performer, composer, producer

"Everything starts with song.
I have always been fascinated
and inspired by the many possibilities
within the human voice."

Gudrun Holck in a live concert
interview in Bolero, Danish
Radio P2, June 21st 2003

The music of Gudrun Holck is based on the many possibilities within the voice, giving it a very personal expression.
It cannot be defined as a particular genre or style, but is inspired by contemporary as well as ancient vocal traditions.
Music originating from ancient roots bringing something new to the world.

GUDRUN HOLCK BAND IN CONCERT
- short presentation:

Wild world scandinavian vocals, electronica beats, alternative rock and groovy afro beat rhythms in an amazing performance.... this is what Gudrun Holck Band deliver at their performances. Danish singer performer and songwriter Gudrun Holck, studied Afrobeat for a year with late Fela Kuti in Lagos.
This year, 2009, Holck released her 2nd solo album `STÆRK´ (`STRONG´) with her world electronica beat blend. Title track is co-written with Italian Alberto Cottica from THE Italian folk electronica band Fiamma Fumana.

Discography:

At her first album MUSE (2004) she created a blend that was later named Global Vocal.

At her latest album STÆRK (STRONG) with release, January 2009 she also includes electronica, beats, smples and alternative rock creating a blend of World Electronica Rock.

The life story of Gudrun Holck
Gudrun Holck was born and raised in Copenhagen and as a child she was occupied with the power of our voice. As a young girl she was busy on the dance floor as well as with music, and she joined choirs, and bands of all persuasions. Fascinated by the great sound and the mystic of a big band, at eighteen Gudrun lost her heart to African music. At the same time Gudrun was also active in many grass root organisations, and among other things she helped arrange the 'Images of Africa' festivals in Denmark.

It was something that would strongly influence her future choices, and in the early 1990'ies she packed her bags and left for West Africa to fulfil her dream of travel and music. To travel is to live, was her motto, and she travelled without a return ticket to Vest Africa. She wanted to be close to the musical roots of African music, and the people behind it all. It gave her four years in Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Benin, and Mali where along the way she met many people who played an important part on the African music scene, the most influential of all were Fela Kuti with whom she studied Afrobeat for a year, staying at his residence Kalakuta Republic in Lagos, the cultural capital of Nigeria.

On her return to Denmark in the late 1990´s and with her bags full of African mystery, Gudrun felt the need to look closer at her Nordic roots, and develop her own unique sound.
She travelled to Sweden to participate in `Falun Folk Music Festival´ in 1997 & 1998 where she met Eva Rune, the Swedish Folk Singer. Eva & Gudrun started to exchange vocal techniques and vocal expression, arranged traditional Nordic music and composed songs themselves. Together, they founded a group, named `Nordiske Stemmer med Udsigt til Verden´ (“Northern Voices with a View to the World”) and in the year 2000 the group was one of the main artists in the Swedish - Danish Vocal Festival called `Stemmer i 1000 År`(`Voices in a thousand Years´). As part of the repertoire, Eva & Gudrun also included the famous Swedish classical / folk composer, Karin Rehnqvist´s fantastic piece, called `Pukså