Jimi Tenor Band BERLIN / day 1

This year, Finnish musician and composer Jimi Tenor celebrated his 60th birthday. He chose to do so on stage and came to Hamburg with his band in March, not only to mark the occasion but also to record new music. ‘Selenites, Selenites!’ – the first album by the Jimi Tenor Band – was recorded in spring 2025. This debut presents a group of musicians exploring new sonic connections. It is an Afro-jazz album with a direct, live-in-the-room sound.

Tenor has worked with Tony Allen, UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra, Kabukabu and Freestyle Man. After gaining attention in the 1990s with his fusion of lounge jazz and acid techno on Sähkö and Warp Records, he focused increasingly on African music in the years that followed. He combines styles from electronica and afrobeat to spiritual jazz, with his own musical signature.

During the pandemic years, Tenor looked for fellow musicians in his hometown of Helsinki to form a new band. As it was impossible to go to a rehearsal room or studio, the sessions took place in his kitchen as a cappella rehearsals. To this day, all band members sing at live concerts. In recent years, the band of Eeti Nieminen, Heikki Tuhkanen, Ekow Alabi Savage, Lauri Kallio and Jimi Tenor has played many club and festival gigs together, and now performs on 19 March 2026 at 19h00 at Arkaoda, Berlin.