BIOGRAPHY AMBROZIJN
"And there the bowl of ambrosia was mixed, and Hermes took the ladle to pour out for the gods; and then they all held goblets, and made libation, and wished the bridegroom all good luck." Sappho from Lesbos
The band came into existence in 1996, where the origin of the name has his roots in the Greek mythology. Ambrosia (in English) is the holy wine giving the Greek Gods their eternal youth.
In the very beginning Ambrozijn played folk sessions in cosy pubs of Ghent. However, they started soon searching for their own roots which was looking for traditional songs and tunes and twisting them in all kinds of directions. On top of that, they immediately started with their own composed repertory.
In November 1998 they released their first album "Ambrozijn" produced by the French folk legend Gabriel Yacoub. Together with Laïs, they were immediately considered as the leading band in the new Belgian folk wave. As a result of that they performed at a lot of concerts in Belgium and abroad.
In 2000 they signed up with the Virgin label and they made their second album "Naradie" from which the title track was taken as a single. This song gave Ambrozijn a large national recognition.
After played a lot on the major festivals, they joined up again with Yacoub in 2002 to record their third album "Kabonka" (Wild Boar) with Sylvie Berger as guest musician. They album was recorded in less than three weeks in Yacoub's summer house in the Berry, France. Tom Theuns wrote most of the songs.
In 2002 they also work together with Paul Rans, a renowned tradional singer/lute player with whom they attack "De Hertog Van Brunswyk", a medieval tale of 65(!) couplets. The program passed the country with 35 shows and they recorded a CD which was released in September 2003 (Euphoda).
In 2003 they went more international: e.g. the Rudolstadt festival and a ten day tour in the villages of the Futah, the sahel region of Senegal, an experience which was captured by a French television team.
"Botsjeribo", produced by Fritz Sundermann an released by Kloefmusic in July 2004, is their latest album. Tom Theuns is in charge of the leadvocals. With this CD they certainly aim at a much larger public where the sounds are between well known singer-songerwriter music and European Folk.
http://www.ambrozijn.be
