* En anglais uniquement
Born in Los Angeles in 1956, guitarist
Raoul Björkenheim moved back and forth between Finland and the U.S. for 25 years. After graduating from the Berklee School of Music in Boston, Mass., he moved to Helsinki, Finland and integrated his interest in ethnic and electronic musics into his work with various bands.
Björkenheim formed
Krakatau as an offshoot of the
Edward Vesala Sound & Fury band, with whom he was then performing.
Krakatau recorded its first LP, Ritual, in 1988.
Björkenheim's guitar was colored by feedback and distortion, coupled with dual horns influenced by
Ornette Coleman and
Albert Ayler, and a rhythm section anchored by two drummers.
For the next album,
Alive,
Björkenheim pared the group to a trio, giving the recording more of a rock feel.
The first two LPs were released only in Finland, but
Krakatau's next two albums, Volition and
Matinale, were recorded for the German
ECM label and distributed worldwide.
Ritual was re-released on CD by
Cuneiform in 1996 with 15 minutes of bonus material and marked the beginning of a non-exclusive but decades-long relationship with the label. Two years later,
Björkenheim collaborated with guitarist
Nicky Skopelitis for
Revelator; produced by
Bill Laswell, it also featured
Bill Buchen on tabla, log drum, and water drum.
The second collaboration with the label was the dark, ironically titled
Apocalypso, scored for 30 guitars, eight basses, and four sets of drums, all played by
Björkenheim. Unfortunately, it was issued a week after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Despite its ominous entrance, it received widespread critical acclaim and was nominated for a 2002 Nordic Music Council (NOMUS) Prize in Scandinavia. Also in 2002, the guitarist recorded his first album with bassist
Ingebrigt Håker Flaten and drummer
Paal Nilssen-Love, known as and titled
Scorch Trio for Rune Grammofon and followed it in 2003 with a duo recording with Austrian composer/drummer
Lukas Ligeti entitled Shadowglow for TUM.
Bjorkenheim self-released the solo CD-R album 14 Days later the same year. 2004 saw the release of
Scorch Trio's second offering,
Luggumt. The guitarist spent the next three years as a soloist with the Helsinki Symphony Orchestra, the
Avanti Chamber Orchestra, the Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the
Tampere Philharmonic, and has composed for them all. He also spent time writing for, arranging, recording, and playing with several artists including
Uusi Fantasia and
Marzi Nyman.
2007 marked a return to
Björkenheim's prolific spate of activity. TUM released The Sky Is Ruby, the debut offering from a
UMO Jazz Orchestra project with
Juhani Aaltonen, and
Iro Haarla, and Live in Finland by
Scorch Trio as well as their third studio effort Brolt. The following year, a historic document by
Björkenheim in a trio setting with
William Parker and
Hamid Drake entitled DMG @ The Stone, Vol. 2 was issued to universal critical acclaim, as was the debut of another new group called Box with
Morgan Ågren,
Ståle Storløkken, and
Trevor Dunn.
After some touring and a well-deserved break,
Björkenheim returned with vengeance in 2010:
Scorch Trio issued a fourth studio album in
Melaza,
the UMO Jazz Orchestra released UMO Plays the Music of Raoul Björkenheim: Primal Mind, and electronic composer
Paul Schütze issued an archival performance of himself, the guitarist,
Clive Bell, and Simon Hopkins entitled Third Site Live 1999, and contributed a track to the compilation I Never Meta Guitar: Solo Guitars for the 21st Century for Clean Feed.
In 2011, Made in Norway, the final
Scorch Trio album (with special guest
Mars Williams), was issued by Rune Grammofon. The same year,
Björkenheim,
Bill Laswell, and
Morgan Ågren issued the globally acclaimed
Blixt through
Cuneiform. DMG (Downtown Music Gallery) presented Kalabalik, a trio date that featured the guitarist in the company of fellow axeman Anders Nilsson and drummer
Gerald Cleaver. Over the next three years,
Björkenheim traveled between Norway and Finland, toured, and collaborated with other musicians.
The guitarist debuted his
eCsTaSy quartet on
Cuneiform with bassist
Jori Huhtala (
Panu Savolainen Toivo), drummer
Markku Ounaskari (Iro Haarla Sextet,
TUMO), and saxophonist Pauli Lyytinen (
Astro Can Caravan) in 2015. The band toured relentlessly for a year.
Björkenheim took a short break, but in 2017 appeared on both volumes of
Sky Music: A Tribute to Terje Rypdal, worked with
Hideo Yamaki,
Laswell,
Mike Sopko, and Dominic James on Inaugural Sound Clash (For the 2 Americas), and the
Cuneiform-released Beyond, the debut album by the
Raoul Björkenheim Triad with drummer
Ilmari Heikinheimo (Edward Vesala Sound & Fury), and bassist
Ville Rauhala (Black Motor). ~ Jim Dorsch