MUSICIANS

Steven Anderson (today a.k.a.) Steven Kautzky Andersson

Swedish guitarist extraordinary, known internationally as a solo guitarist, who in his early twenties was discovered by the acclaimed Guitar World Magazine’s legendary talent scout and record producer Mike Varney. Steven was recognized for his distinct and virtuosic instrumental music, a mix of progressive rock with influences of classical music, folk music and oriental music. He debuted as a recording artist at the age of 22, with the sensational and Swedish Grammy-nominated album “Steven Anderson ́s Gipsy Power”; heavy, instrumental guitar music, inspired by the beauty of eastern European gipsy music. He was hailed as a new guitar hero from Sweden and his skills as a composer were internationally praised, as well as nationally. Steven signed contracts with worldwide companies such as Warner, Universal and EMI and achieved substantial success, especially in Japan where he established a loyal fanbase.

But Steven was never the typical archetype for a traditional guitar hero, he was not interested in that. Steven just loved to play the guitar and to explore the music with different music boundaries. He was only focusing on taking his music forward with different expressions and inspiration that he found from the sounds in the forest and through different journeys around eastern Europe.

With influences such as Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Ritchie Blackmore, Philip Sayce and John Norum, but with an urge for developing his own characteristics, he has traveled around the music world and found a deep inspiration in Oriental music. Steven studied the Arabic string instrument Tar under the Persian master Ali Shakuori and studied the gipsy music scene in Vienna, Austria and worked in Istanbul with cross-border collaboration between music and art.

Unfortunately, in accident damage was done to Steven’s arm, with a following inflammation and after numerous lithotripsies, cortisone injections and different acupuncture techniques, the guitar was put on the shelf and more or less left untouched. But ten years later Steven decided to give it a try and started playing again, developing a rougher way of expressing himself through the guitar. On their first tour of China his new band Electric Religions performed in front of an audience of more than 30.000 people at the Zhuhai International Beach Music Festival and also played at the rock club Yu Gong Yi Shan Music Bar in Beijing. During their tour, a documentary was produced by a Chinese film team, and the documentary The Golden Awakening Tour in China was awarded the gold prize at The Macau International Movie Festival, where the band performed their Bruce Lee-tribute, Lee Chao Long. The award show in Macau was broadcasted in China and Asia, to an estimated audience of 1,8 billion viewers (!).

Together with his longtime friend and music colleague Mikael Nordmark, Steven is now closing the circles and reuniting the band Gipsy Power. On the new album “Electric Threads”, the line-up consists of Steven Kautzky Andersson, Mikael Nordmark on bass, drummer Björn Nyberg and singer Ulrika Beijer.