- country:Sweden
- label:Rexius Records
- type:Band
- artist posted by:GRIOT GmbH
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Elie & the Engine's highest aim is to be a part of and help in the struggle to unite the people of the earth. Their music aims at fusing rock and singer-songwriting with music from the whole world, mixing the sounds of the hemispheres into a groovy concoction.
Through an intense presence and unique sing-along anthems, Elie & the Engine will take anyone who is willing on a journey across oceans and savannahs, far above cities and forests.
Elie Sandberg was born in Gothenburg in Sweden. Growing up with his single mother, his earliest memories of music was when she took him to her classes in Balkan ring dances, getting infatuated with the sounds of Bulgaria, Macedonia, and Romania. He was also taught Swedish folk music on violin and clarinet at an early age but recalling Bob Marley and Habib Koité as musical idols at the time. This set the stage for a very broad interest in many of the world music genres that Elie continues to draw inspiration from to this day.
Elie met Erik Petterson Sjöquist in school when they were both 12 years and soon they had their first band together - while it was only in 2015 that Elie & the Engine was formed. After just a few months they released their first album Bring The Light through local label Rexius Records. A year later Elie & the Engine released their second album Burglar's Flight. Consisting of eight very different songs, some of which were early recordings made by Elie in places he had traveled to.
In 2018 Elie and Erik started to collaborate with different musicians in the Gothenburg area, mostly active in the jazz and world music scene. A new sound emerged, the base still being the songwriting of Elie, but venturing into the world of jazz and west African music, funk, and soul.