In a small town like Siracusa, Italy, socialising is mostly done in people’s homes and consists of: buy ingredients for a meal, make the meal and talk, eat the meal and talk, get the instruments and sit around the table and play and sing for hours. Erlend plays a ukulele, Marco plays nylon string guitar, Luigi plays cavaquinho, a Brazilian samba instrument, and Stefano plays “bass” on the same steel string guitars that Erlend uses with Kings of Convenience. The band became professionalised during a 2018 tour through Chile, Argentina, Colombia and Mexico. During that tour, many of the band’s original songs came to be, such as Altiplano, the arrangement of which took place in a dusty border crossing station between Chile and Perú. After many involuntary breaks (Covid, Kings of Convenience album release, Marco Castello album release), the full length LP La Comitiva will finally see the light of day in spring 2024. In 2016 Erlend became aware of the free spirited classical ensemble Stargaze during the collaborative festival “People” in Berlin and he started to involve some of the members in studio recording sessions and live concerts with La Comitiva. Mostly featured: Kobi Arditi (trombone), Maaike van der Linde (flute), Romain Bly (trumpet, french horn and percussions).
