Raoul Björkenheim

Born in LA in 1956, guitarist Raoul Björkenheim moved backwards and forwards between Finland as well as the U.S. for 25 years. After graduating from the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Mass., Björkenheim transferred to Helsinki, Finland and integrated his curiosity about ethnic and digital musics into his use various rings. Björkenheim created Krakatau as an offshoot of Edward Vesala’s Audio & Fury music group, with whom he was after that performing. Krakatau documented its 1st LP, Ritual, in 1988. Björkenheim’s acoustic guitar was coloured by opinions and distortion, in conjunction with dual horns affected by Ornette Coleman and Albert Ayler along with a tempo section anchored by two drummers. For another recording, Alive, Björkenheim pared the group to some trio, providing the recording even more of a rock and roll feel. The very first two LPs had been released just in Finland, but Krakatau’s following two albums, Volition and Matinale, had been documented for the German ECM label and distributed world-wide. Ritual premiered on Compact disc by Cuneiform in 1996 with quarter-hour of bonus materials.