Georg Kajanus

Georg Kajanus (Georg Johan Tchegodaieff Kajanus) is a Norwegian composer and singer/songwriter. He is best known as the singer-songwriter for the British pop group, Sailor. He is the son of Prince Paul Tchegodaieff of Russia and J. Kajanus, the award-winning Finnish/Norwegian sculptress (Bronze Medal for Sculpture at the Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne (1937)). He is the great-grandson of Robert Kajanus: composer, conductor, confidant of Sibelius and founder of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. Georg Kajanus is the brother of the late actress and film-maker Eva Norvind and the uncle to Mexican theater and television actress, Nailea Norvind.

Early Years

Born Prince Georg Johan Tchegodaieff in Trondheim, Norway, Kajanus moved with his mother and sister to Paris at the age of thirteen. It was there that he studied music and the classical guitar, as well as attending the Cité Universitaire’s flying school. The family then relocated to Canada where Kajanus worked as a stained glass window designer in Montreal.

After a year long journey through the Middle East and Europe, Kajanus moved to London, where he formed the folk/rock group, Eclection, in 1968. The other members included Kerrilee Male, Trevor Lucas, Michael Rosen and Gerry Conway. Eclection was one of the few British signings to the American label, Elektra Records and they released one album entitled ‘Eclection’, which was a personal favorite of Elektra's founder, Jac Holzman. Eclection toured the UK extensively and appeared with such acts as Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan at the Isle Of Wight Festival.

ailor

Five years later, Kajanus used the colorful night life of Paris to invent Sailor. Kajanus was the lead singer and songwriter for the band, which was best known for the hits, 'A Glass Of Champagne' (Number 2 in the UK Singles Chart and 'Girls, Girls, Girls' (Number 7, UK Singles Chart and Number 2, Top100 Singles Germany). Signed to Epic Records-CBS Records, Sailor was awarded numerous gold and silver records for its success in Europe and Australia. 'A Glass of Champagne' was recently reworked by mega techno German band Scooter as the title track of their 2007 album, Jumping All Over the World.

DATA

Kajanus then left Sailor in 1978 to experiment with electronic music with his new creation, DATA. The classically orientated title track of DATA’s first album, ‘Opera Electronica’, was used as the theme music to the short film, ‘Towers Of Babel’ (1981), which was directed by Jonathan Lewis and starred Anna Quayle and Ken Campbell. ‘Towers Of Babel’ was nominated for a BAFTA award in 1982 and won the Silver Hugo Award for Best Short Film at the Chicago International Film Festival of the same year. Kajanus followed ‘Opera Electronica’ with two more albums, ‘2-Time’ (1983) and ‘Elegant Machinery’ (1985).

ailor and Noir

After a painting sojourn in Mexico, Kajanus was persuaded to reform Sailor in 1990 and it went on to achieve further success in Europe with such hits as 'La Cumbia' and 'The Secretary'. In the late nineties, Kajanus left the group again to form the poetic-techno duo Noir with Tim Dry (previously of Tik and Tok). Noir’s single ‘Walking’ was used extensively in the 1997 Channel 4 television series, ‘Feast’, an avant-garde culinary program directed by TV food maestro David Pritchard. 'Feast' was also hosted by Noir.

Film

Kajanus also composed the music (with Henry Marsh) for the British TV series, 'The Kid' (1986) starring Steve Fairnie and the soundtracks for two documentaries directed by German filmmaker Monika Treut: 'Didn't Do It For Love' (1997) and 'Gendernauts' (1999).

ailor, The Musical Journey

July 2006 saw the world premiere of ‘Sailor, The Musical Journey’ at the Carnegie Hall, Dunfermline, Scotland. Written by Bill Blenman, the new musical was comprised entirely of Kajanus compositions and tapped into Kajanus’ early ‘70’s creation of sailors on shore leave and red light districts. The musical also featured two new, previously unheard compositions by Kajanus.

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Kajanus is now exploring his great-grandfather’s classical roots as well as his pop music sensibilities to create his latest opus, which is an unusual look at the extraordinary world of Homo Sapiens.

References

[http://www.mccarraher.co.uk/mccarraherkajanus.html 'Kajanus' Biography by James McCarraher]

[http://www.mccarraher.co.uk/mccarrahersailorstory2nd.html 'A Glass of Champagne: The Sailor Story' by James McCarraher]

[http://www.getreadytorock.com/rock_stars/georg_kajanus.htm Interview with Georg Kajanus at Get Ready To Rock]

[http://www.kidneyresearchuk.org/content/view/279/337/ Description of 'Sailor, The Musical Journey' at Kidney Research UK]

[http://www.rockahead.net/reviews/reviewpage.php?rev=682 Interview with Georg Kajanus at Rockahead]

[http://www.richieunterberger.com/rareelektra.html Interview with Jac Holzman by Richie Unterberger for the liner notes for ELEKTRA Non-LP Rarities and the liner notes for the 2002 re-release of the Eclection album.]

External links

*
* [http://www.kajanus.com Georg Kajanus Web Site]
* [http://www.youtube.com/kajanusmusic Kajanus videos at youtube.com]
* [http://www.sailor-marinero.com Sailor Club]
* [http://www.myspace.com/georgkajanus Georg Kajanus at Myspace]
* [http://www.sailor-marinero.com/musical.htm 'Sailor The Musical Journey']