If you ever owned a night club what would it be called?
The Soul Den?
Movers Nite Club?
Disco Joes?
At the beginning of our quest to find all the best soul sounds in Scandinavian, I found the wonderfully named ‘Chicken Grease Soul Club‘ in Denmark. The artists’ names on their flyers are already listed on ScandinavianSoul.com as ones to look out for and I was eager to discover more about the person, or group, behind the club, so I spoke to Nana Rashid Jensen to find out more…
Andy – Hi Nana, you’re a soul singer right? Can you tell us a little about yourself and your influences?
Nana -Yes I am. I write and compose my own songs. Basically, I started writing songs and melodies long before I started singing and playing music. I think the greatest influence is that pull, I feel when I hear a chord progression – some kind of urge to express myself. There have been so many great artists in soul music and there are so many of them whom I love. Hmm… but I remember one time I asked my father why black music was so great and he answered that it’s because of the suppression and the pain that comes with it. That yearning to really tell a story is what fascinates me about soul music. There is no weeping, it’s all about big emotions, and they are all cried out!
You run the Chicken Grease Soul Club, when did it start?
-Yes and no, I don’t organize the Chicken Grease Soul Club by myself. I had been thinking about this project for a while when I contacted Nanna B to see if she was up for it. Luckily she was. Not long after that, I went to a concert with an excellent Danish soul/hip-hop band called Billow. And Billow was game as well.
We love the name, who came up with it?
-Well the name of the club came out of nowhere. Nanna B and I were brainstorming, the name came up, and it just seemed right. And it is a great excuse to serve greasy chicken for the musicians every time ☺
When is the club on and where?
-The venue is open six times a year. The next dates are the 19th of April and the 9th of June when we will be having our big 1-year birthday party. The location is the cosy Christianias Børneteater, Bådsmandsstræde 43, 1407 Kbh. K with Pia behind the bar.
We seem to be finding a number of talented voices coming out of Denmark, like Quadron, Nanna B and Marie Dahlstrøm. Was the start of the club a desire to grow Soul music in Denmark or a need to help promote it? In fact, are there many Soul clubs in Denmark?
– Unfortunately, there are no actual soul clubs in Denmark. I guess that is why we felt the need to start something ourselves. The whole idea of starting the club was to make an actual platform for upcoming soul and R&B in Denmark. There are so many lovely singer-songwriter venues in Copenhagen, and we found it necessary to have a real soul venue.
CGSC is an excellent platform to discover new artists, can you suggest some more we should look out for?
-Well there are some really good ones you should watch out for besides the ones you already mentioned – in my opinion; of course, Lukas Graham who is really peeking in Denmark right now, Barbara Moleko and Billow.
So if we plan to visit Denmark, and we don’t fancy greasy Chicken for dinner, what would you recommend instead?
-Haha that’s a funny question, but yes you should definitely try some smørrebrød its very Danish and truly nice food.
