A music playing with the sounds, playing with and inside the different musics that created our musical experiences, taking the melody firmly to lead it into devious paths, where it will meet distorting mirrors, where it will be lost in the mists or in the bush. Lyricism certainly, humor and sarcasm why not.

What the press said

“Ookpik is the name the Inuit give to the Snowy Harfang, the great white owl of the Arctic tundra whose appearances are as rare as they are precious, like so much poetry stolen from the sky. This is the case with Christofer Bjurstrom’s quartet and his music, which shares with this nocturnal raptor elegance, refinement and discretion……. Clear and crystalline, the music sounds very singular. It combines joy and poetry, endearing melodies and narrative developments. Ookpik is a joy, a beautiful musical ride during which there are refreshing paintings, small scenes of life from here or elsewhere.” (Olivier Acosta, Citizen Jazz, July 2012) Olivier Acosta’s article in Citizen Jazz

“… With his Bjurstrom Quartet (..), this imaginary traveller tackles soaring regions where elegy and its intrinsic gravity, humor and its Buster Keaton springs make up a mesmerizing sound mosaic. So here’s a deep, high-flying disk.” (Guy Darol, Jazz Magazine, January 2012)

“… Above all, it is an authentic musical personality that reveals to us this Ookpik who succeeds admirably in marrying popular music with contemporary and improvised music.” (West France, January 2012)

Listen to excerpts