Safri Duo
Encyclopedia
Safri Duo is a Danish
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

 percussion
Percussion instrument
A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...

 duo composed of Uffe Savery (born April 5, 1966) and Morten Friis (born August 21, 1968). Initially classically oriented, by 1999 they were discovered by a label executive working on classical music. After being signed, a track mixing both tribal
Tribe
A tribe, viewed historically or developmentally, consists of a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states.Many anthropologists use the term tribal society to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of kinship, especially corporate descent groups .Some theorists...

 sound and modern electronica
Electronica
Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...

 was set to be released in 2000. The result was the popular "Played-A-Live (The Bongo Song)", that became one of the most popular songs in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 that year.

Early years

Uffe Savery and Morten Friis met in 1977 while attending the Tivoli Garden Boys' Guard, and later, during their time at the Royal Danish Conservatory of Music, formed an experimental duo, called Safri Duo, whose name originated from the first letters of their respective surnames. Several albums were recorded and released through Chandos Records
Chandos Records
Chandos Records is an independent classical music recording company based in Colchester, Essex, in the United Kingdom, founded in 1979 by Brian Couzens.- Background :...

, on which the duo performed pieces by both famous classical (a.o. Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...

, Mendelssohn
Felix Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...

, Ravel
Maurice Ravel
Joseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...

, whose works were arranged by Savery and Friis for two marimba
Marimba
The marimba is a musical instrument in the percussion family. It consists of a set of wooden keys or bars with resonators. The bars are struck with mallets to produce musical tones. The keys are arranged as those of a piano, with the accidentals raised vertically and overlapping the natural keys ...

s, or for marimba and vibraphone
Vibraphone
The vibraphone, sometimes called the vibraharp or simply the vibes, is a musical instrument in the struck idiophone subfamily of the percussion family....

) and contemporary composers (a.o. Reich
Steve Reich
Stephen Michael "Steve" Reich is an American composer who together with La Monte Young, Terry Riley, and Philip Glass is a pioneering composer of minimal music...

, Nørgård
Per Nørgård
Per Nørgård is a Danish composer.-Biography:Nørgård studied with Vagn Holmboe at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen, and subsequently with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. To begin with, he was strongly influenced by the Nordic styles of Jean Sibelius, Carl Nielsen and Vagn Holmboe...

, Ter Veldhuis
Jacob ter Veldhuis
Jacob ter Veldhuis, also known as Jacob TV, is a Dutch avant-garde classical composer. Ter Veldhuis favors tonal, melodic compositions, avoiding the dissonance of some recent classical music. Many of his works build melodies around samples of the human voice, as in Steve Reich's composition...

). Their performances of, especially, Ter Veldhuis' Goldrush, Ravel's Alborada del gracioso and Anders Koppel
Anders Koppel
Anders Koppel was a co-founder in 1967 of the rock group Savage Rose. Since 1976, he has been a member of the trio Bazaar. He also plays in the trio Koppel-Andersen-Koppel which includes his son, saxophone player Benjamin Koppel...

's Toccata for vibraphone and marimba are often labelled as small milestones by fellow percussionists, as well as other musicians or people related to the world of classical music.

Mainstream success

Earlier in 2000, a track named "The Bongo Song" started appearing on club's playlists. Produced by Michael Parsberg
Michael Parsberg
Michael Parsberg is a Danish trance and house producer and DJ.Parsberg has been the co-producer behind successful Danish acts such as Safri Duo, DJ Encore and Barcode Brothers, and has remixed numerous of Danish and international artists like Shakira, Infernal and Aqua.-Singles:* 1993 "Anal Snax"...

, it soon got airtime on MTV Europe
MTV Europe
MTV Europe is a pan-European 24-hour entertainment cable and digital television network launched on August 1, 1987. Initially, the channel served all regions within Europe being one of the very few channels that targeted the entire European continent...

. The mix between tribal drums over trance proved to be a success, and it ended the year as one of the best selling singles in Europe in 2000 as well as featuring prominently in the opening ceremony of the 2000 Summer Olympics
2000 Summer Olympics
The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...

 in Sydney. This resulted in Safri Duo guesting along with Danish pop group Aqua
Aqua (band)
Aqua is a Danish dance-pop group, best known for their 1997 breakthrough single "Barbie Girl". The group formed in 1989 and achieved huge success across the globe in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The group managed to top the UK Singles Chart with their first three singles. The group released two...

 during the interval of the Eurovision Song Contest 2001
Eurovision Song Contest 2001
The Eurovision Song Contest 2001 was the 46th Eurovision Song Contest and was held on 12 May 2001 in the Parken Stadium in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was the first time in 36 years that Denmark hosted the Eurovision Song Contest, thanks to the Olsen Brothers' win the previous year in Stockholm...

 held in Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

. "The Bongo Song" was featured prominently during the 2002 Commonwealth Games
Commonwealth Games
The Commonwealth Games is an international, multi-sport event involving athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930 and takes place every four years....

 held in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

, England. The album, named Episode II
Episode II (album)
-New Edition:-The Remix Edition:-Charts:-Certifications:...

, hit the market on 4 June 2001, nine tracks long, all featured the same percussion-electronica combination, except "Adagio" that kept the former classic line of the duo. A reissue added a second remix-only CD and the single "Sweet Freedom" recorded with Michael McDonald
Michael McDonald (singer)
Michael McDonald is a five-time Grammy Award winning American singer and songwriter. McDonald is known for a soulful baritone singing style and a multi-octave range. He began his career singing back-up vocals with Steely Dan...

 was released on 30 September 2002. Two more tracks from Episode II were released as singles, "Samb-Adagio" and "Baya Baya". The Bongo Song became the anthem of the world famous Coco Bongo super club in Cancun, where it is the party opening song every night.

3.0

In 2003 the new album 3.0 was released. It featured Clark Anderson as vocalist on several of the tracks, including "All the People in the World", "Agogo Mosse" and "Laarbasses". The single "Rise" became a huge success and later they released a new version called "Rise (Leave Me Alone)" which featured Clark Anderson on vocals. In 2004 they released a remix album of 3.0 called 3.5 - International Version. It included the new version of "Rise" and several other tracks with Clark Anderson as vocalist and remixes of the already known tracks.They also played in the concert of Jean Michel Jarre (AERO Concert) on his famous track Rendez vous 4.

Origins

Safri Duo's latest album Origins was released on 17 November 2008.

Studio albums

  • Turn Up Volume (1990)
  • Works for Percussion (1995)
  • Lutoslawski, Bartók, Helweg (1995)
  • Percussion Transcriptions (1995)
  • Goldrush (1996)
  • Bach to the Future (1998)
  • Episode II
    Episode II (album)
    -New Edition:-The Remix Edition:-Charts:-Certifications:...

    (2001)
  • 3.0 (2003)
  • Origins (2008)

Singles

  • "Played-A-Live (The Bongo Song)" (2000)
  • "Samb-Adagio" (2001)
  • "Baya Baya" (2001)
  • "Sweet Freedom" (featuring Michael McDonald
    Michael McDonald (singer)
    Michael McDonald is a five-time Grammy Award winning American singer and songwriter. McDonald is known for a soulful baritone singing style and a multi-octave range. He began his career singing back-up vocals with Steely Dan...

    )
    (2002)
  • "Fallin' High" (2003)
  • "All the People in the World" (featuring Clark Anderson) (2003)
  • "Rise (Leave Me Alone)" (featuring Clark Anderson) (2004)
  • "Knock on Wood
    Knock on Wood (song)
    "Knock on Wood" is a hit 1966 song written by Eddie Floyd and Steve Cropper and originally performed by Eddie Floyd. The Eddie Floyd version peaked at number twenty-eight on the Hot 100, and spent one week at number one on the soul singles....

    " (featuring Clark Anderson) (2004)
  • "Twilight" (2008)
  • "Helele
    Helele
    "Helele" is a song by South African singer Velile Mchunu and Danish percussion duo Safri Duo. It was released on 7 May 2010 as the lead single from Safri Duo's forthcoming Greatest Hits album. The song is the official trailer song for the 2010 FIFA World Cup broadcasted on German television channel...

    " (with Velile) (2010)
  • "Mad World
    Mad World
    "Mad World" is a song by the British band Tears for Fears. Written by Roland Orzabal and sung by bassist Curt Smith, it was the band's third single release and first chart hit, reaching #3 on the UK Singles Chart in November 1982. Both "Mad World" and its B-side, "Ideas As Opiates", would turn up...

    " (with Michael Parsberg
    Michael Parsberg
    Michael Parsberg is a Danish trance and house producer and DJ.Parsberg has been the co-producer behind successful Danish acts such as Safri Duo, DJ Encore and Barcode Brothers, and has remixed numerous of Danish and international artists like Shakira, Infernal and Aqua.-Singles:* 1993 "Anal Snax"...

     featuring Isam B
    Isam Bachiri
    Isam Bachiri is a Danish vocalist, rapper and songwriter for the multi-award winning hip hop group Outlandish. His family hails from Nador in the north-eastern part of Morocco.-Early life:...

    )
    (2010)
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