Friday March 29th, 2024
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Danish Band In Lonely Majesty Set to Rock CJC After Topping Egypt's iTunes Chart

Always looking to be the first to book new international bands exciting Egyptian ears, Cairo Jazz Club recruits Denmark's In Lonely Majesty, who managed to top Egypt's iTunes chart with their highly addictive globe spanning pop hit Sing in the Dark.

Staff Writer

The music industry is one of the most oversaturated and difficult fields to find success in. For many bands, it takes years of work and plenty of albums before getting noticed or reaching any form of commercial success. However, that isn't the case with Danish band In Lonely Majesty, whose single was picked up for a global Pepsi campaign, before they even released their first album. Ahead of their first trip to Egypt and their highly anticipated Cairo Jazz Club show on the May 18th, we decided to reach out to the band's guitarist Jeppe Vejs to uncover their secret recipe to making music that transcends borders.

With a sound rooted in folk, nestled within indie-rock, and amplified to an anthem rock level, Denmark's In Lonely Majesty have crafted a sound that's attracting listeners from all across the planet. Explaining both the origins of their sound and the name of the band, multi-instrumentalist Vejs tells us that ”the band's name is inspired by one of our earliest songs Silas and the King, which is a tale taking place in the middle ages. At the time, we thought it would fit the band well to keep to those terms. Since then we’ve identified our musical development with the name, in terms of trying to create a unique take on the folk genre with more modern or contemporary elements.”

Inspired by the likes of Mumford and Sons, Of Monsters and Men, and Pink Floyd, In Lonely Majesty band members started their musical journey around 2011. ”Lasse and I have been making music on and off since high school. In 2010/2011, Lasse had made a few new songs which had this folk sound to them that was pretty far from some of our earlier work. I thought it was really good, and a real joy to play, even though I had been playing mainly indie-rock for some years at the time,” describes Vejs.

Despite being together for over five years the band hasn't managed to release their first album yet but somehow managed to climb to the top of Egypt's iTunes chart with their single Sing in the Dark. ”I believe it was in January. It was extremely surreal! You know, we’re in Denmark, wintertime, everything is dark and grey and rainy, and suddenly our manager sends a screenshot of the Egyptian iTunes chart – we’re #1. It was so far from our everyday at that time – so it was a very pleasant surprise,” explains Vejs.

One explanation for this bizarre chart-topping phenomenon can be attributed to the band's biggest milestone to date; ”Pepsi decided to feature our song in an international commercial. At the time we were this demo-band who hadn’t released anything yet, and suddenly you’re picked to be in a worldwide commercial. That was huge and unbelievable. It was like taking a hundred steps forward in an instance, and suddenly we had to be much more serious about the music, which was a great passion, but still very much for ourselves at that time,” identifies Vejs of the band's instant rise. This incredibly fortunate opportunity is something most bands work towards their entire career, but In Lonely Majesty managed to accomplish this feat with their incredibly catchy tune Sing in the Dark, before even putting together a proper full-length album.

The delay in the album is likely due to the fact that all the band members currently work other jobs, and although the commercial helped garner them followers from far and wide, it still failed to provide the members with enough financial support to focus exclusively on their music. According to Vejs, ”when we are not making music, we have to take care of our 'day jobs', Lasse is a chef, Jeppe is studying at Aarhus University, Andreas is an IT accountant and Anders is a teacher”.

Although the band has never performed in Egypt, they are super excited as the talented guitarist tells us that, ”I’ve visited Sharm el-Sheikh, and had a great time diving there, but have yet to experience more of Egypt, so I’m really looking forward to our visit. We didn’t think it was possible for us to come to Egypt to perform, so we’re thrilled to be able to play our music live at CJC. We’ve got a load of great new and old songs, so hopefully, it’ll be a blast!”

This rare and exciting musical showcase is set to go down on May 18th, and filling out the Cairo Jazz Club line-up is beloved local acts Malak El Husseiny Band and Beatles cover band, Glass Onion. With their fingers on the musical pulse both inside and out of Egypt, Cairo Jazz Club wasted no time to offer their musically hungry patrons, who made this band an iTunes chart topper, a sneak peak of their highly anticipated debut album in a rare performance outside of their native home of Denmark. It's not every day that Egyptians get an opportunity to catch a performance by an international band on the right track to reach super-stardom, making this a musical night no music lover in Oum el Donia should miss.

For more event details and info visit Cairo Jazz Club Facebook Page.

Photo from In Lonely Majesty Facebook.