Page 11 - BiTS_01_JANUARY_2022

The BiTS Interview: Thorbjørn Risarger

Thorbjørn Risarger and his band Black Tornado are celebrating twenty

years in the music business. Now one of the major blues figures in

Denmark, Thorbjørn is a dedicated bluesman who often works as an

acoustic duo with his fellow Black Tornado band member Emile Balsgaard.

Ian McKenzie spoke to him on the telephone at his home in Denmark.

BiTS: Tell me something about your upbringing. Were you always interested in music, even as a
child?

TR: Yes. I guess I was. My parents tell me that I used to
sing in front of people without an invitation, just stand
up and sing to people [chuckles]. My parents are music
teachers, so they have always been playing music.
My first instrument I began to play when I was
seven was the mandolin.

BiTS: I gather later on in life you went and studied
music at a college of some kind.

TR: Yes, that’s right - a conservatory. I don’t know if you
have that in the UK, conservatories?

BiTS: Yes, I understand the expression. What did you
actually study there? Did you specialise on an

instrument?

TR: Yes, and that was singing. I have always
considered singing to be my main thing and for
many years I was just a singer in a lot of
different bands, but at some point about 20
years ago, I decided that now I want to form

my own band in my own name with my own
songs and then I
thought I
will also
play the

guitar.

BiTS: That would be the Blue 7, I guess?

TR: Yes, exactly. My main inspirational source is B.B. King. I thought now I must try to make a
more serious career out of this music stuff, and I want to form a band like B.B. King’s.