Basco

Basco is driven by a desire to tell stories through song, melody, rhythm and texture - with musical openness, inventiveness and playfulness at the core.

For over a decade, the band has been at the heart of the Nordic folk revival, continuously developing and reinventing itself. The music is complex and varied: hard-hitting and melancholic, yet with a transparency and depth that draws the listener in. As part of a movement doing with Nordic music what Miles Davis and his contemporaries did with jazz in the 1950s and Piazzolla with Argentine music in the 1970s, Basco draws raw materials for new projects from the traditions they grew up with - whether a new album, a collaboration with DR Bigbandet, or retellings of Nordic and Anglo-Celtic stories with Danish/Norwegian singer Jullie Hjetland.

Basco consists of Anders Ringgaard (DK) on accordion and trombone, Andreas Tophøj (DK) on violin and viola, Hal Parfitt Murray (DK/SCO) on vocals, violin and mandolin, and Villads Hoffmann (DK) on cittern.

"What they delight in creating can be as much hellraising noise as it is delicate and detailed, and as playful as it is powerful." - Songlines
"From the swift to the sublimely serene, they capture moods beautifully." - fRoots
"Each piece tells a story, with a common thread that continues until the final explosion." - Le Canard