Mathias Eick - Tre vise menn (The three wise men)

The three wise men were musicians

Christmas CD throws a new light on the scriptures

Mathias Eick, the multi-instrumentalist with an exciting jazz signature, has come together with Ertan Tekin and Pasha Hanjani in Istanbul, the city where East meets West and the past meets the present. Together they have jammed their way towards a very original and unique Christmas CD based on such well-known Christmas melodies as "En rose er utsprungen" (A Spotless Rose is Growing), "Folkefrelsar til oss kom" (Saviour of the Nations, Come) and “Mitt hjerte alltid vanker" (My Heart is Always with Jesus). Beautiful Oriental sounds and harmonies fuse with Western melodies to give you exquisite listening pleasure.

Matthew in the New Testament writes about the wise men from the East who followed the star and offered the King who had been born in Bethlehem gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Over time, the story has turned into many legends and tall tales. The wise men have become three in number, they have been given names and in many traditions have become kings. We imagine them walking with their camels and a small group of servants, and while historians claim they may have originated in Iran, where astrology was popular at the time, the myth prefers to suggest that they came from different places, one even from Africa.

This Christmas, Mathias Eick, Ertan Tekin and Pasha Hanjani have added a new chapter to the legends of the three wise men; they have neither blue blood nor are they servants. They are musicians, and they come from the North, the East and the West. Their presents are not gold, frankincense or myrrh. They want to pay tribute to the child with the most precious yet most fragile of all treasures: Music. And since Bethlehem is a walled and closed city – especially to Iranians – they make their journey to Istanbul instead, because in the city where East meets West, where South meets North, and where past meets present, the child still sits on Mary's lap.

Three wise musicians with roots in several religions have helped renew the interpretation of the songs of Christmas in our time. The arrangements are by Mathias Eick. The recordings were made in Bugges Room in Oslo and the Bulgarian church in Istanbul. Sound recording engineers Daniel Wold and Martin Abrahamsen have faithfully captured the true authentic sound of the performance site. Produced by Erik Hillestad, "Tre vise menn" (The three wise men) is right in the crossroads of KKV’s productions in recent years, where we feature a series of albums with instrumental interpretations of Christmas songs and then there is our keen focus on cultural and religious encounters between East and West.