Steinar Aadnekvam

Biography

Aadnekvam got his first guitar at the age of 4, and found comfort in playing while growing up in different towns and cities in Norway, Denmark, Italy, Luxembourg and Sweden. By the age of 9 he was composing music and listening to artists like Elvis Presley, Prince and Michael Jackson. As teenager his interest turned to Jazz when discovering artists like Charlie Parker, John McLaughlin, Miles Davis, Rhasaan Roland Kirk, Abdullah Ibrahim and later composers like Egberto Gismonti, Hermeto Pascoal and Indian classical music among others.

After musical studies at Södra Latins gymnasium, followed by studies at the Royal College of Music, Stockholm, Sweden, with notable teachers at this time including Mikke Rönnkvist, Thomas Wixtröm, Andreas Oberg, Alvaro Is Rojas and Sten Hostfalt. Aadnekvam turned his curiosity outwards as he decided to travel to Mumbai, India for studies with classical Indian master flutist Hariprasad Chaurasia at his intern school Vrindaban Gurukul. Soon after fate would also have him make his first travel to north-eastern Brasil, an acquaintance that made an even deeper impact on him and for almost a decade he now finds his second home in the state of Pernambuco where two of his albums have been recorded collaborating with some of the regions finest musicians.

In 2009 Aadnekvam was nominated for the 'Young Nordic Guitarist Award' by the Uppsala International Guitar Festival, and in 2010 finalist at the 'Norsk JazzIntro' at Moldejazz he started his own record label 'MMYH Records' (Music Makes You Happy) with his debut album Simple Things (2010). In the following years he played feature concerts at clubs and major jazz festivals in Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Latvia, Poland and Romania and later turned to working on his two Brazilian album collaborations Abacaxeiro and 'Ecology' and extensive concert touring, masterclasses, TV and Radio appearances related to these in the Nordics and in Brasil.

In 2015 Aadnekvam signed for the Norwegian label Losen Records for his fourth studio album Freedoms Tree (2015), featuring an international all-star ensemble including several outstanding musical guests. The album turned out to be a great success and the full 7 piece ensemble will present a concert at the 2016 Stavanger International Jazz Festival, MaiJazz. The collaboration with Losen Records continued with the release of the album Freedoms Trio (2016), witch also names his new collaboration and working band featuring bassistand vocalist Rubem Farias from São Paulo, Brasil and drummer and singer Deodato Siquir from Maputo, Mozambique.

Discography

• 2010: Simple Things (MMYH Records)
• 2011: Abacaxeiro (MMYH Records)
• 2014: Ecology (MMYH Records)
• 2015: Freedoms Tree (Losen Records)
• 2016: Freedoms Trio (Losen Records)