Best when people talk together
interview
R
Rachel Einarsson3 min read|31. July 2025
Somewhere behind Nørrebro's colourful shop life, the unpredictable waves of stubbornly determined cyclists and a teeming street scene of nationalities from all over the world, back and forth along the yellow outer wall of Assistens Cemetery, a man sits in his office. Alone. But together with his computer and a complete wall shelf with an orderly store of proof of his musical productions.
Lars Hannibal seems very calm. But that stands in huge contrast to all the ideas, projects, contacts and fund applications that he spends many hours every day administering, developing and maintaining.
I visit him in his solitude, which nevertheless does not seem so lonely. As director of OUR Recordings, Lars Hannibal is in daily contact with people from many countries. It has been like that more or less since 2006, when it all started.
”It was really only supposed to be our own music publisher. But since then many more artists have come along”, says Lars Hannibal about OUR Recordings. Together with Michala Petri he threw himself into realising several dreams by being able to publish on their own label. The two musicians brought with them the experience of being under the administration of other publishers. The experience, as an artist, of having to adapt to a record label's wishes and guidelines.
”We felt uncertain about what we should do”, he says, referring to the fact that the publishers ultimately always decided what was to be recorded. ”We asked ourselves: What do we want to spend our time on? That is how it came about that we also wanted to record newly written works for recorder and orchestra”, says Lars Hannibal. In doing so he has also formulated the whole purpose of OUR Recordings. Michala Petri is the star, Lars Hannibal the water carrier, as he puts it himself. That is more or less still how the roles are divided.
But over time the creation of OUR Recordings also came to mean something of a career change for Lars Hannibal. But he finds that fun. Before we hear more about that, he first tells about a significant trip to China.
”Around the same time as we set up OUR Recordings, I had started working in China, both as a guitarist and in other functions relating to music. I called the project ”Dialogue – East meets West”, says Lars Hannibal. ”In 2003 Michala Petri and I were invited to dinner at the Chinese ambassador's in Denmark, he wanted us to play at the newly established Shanghai Festival of Arts. The year after, I took part in the festival and signed a contract that we were to play at the festival in 2004. There I met a lot of people from all over the world. It developed incredibly, and suddenly there was plenty of material to start a music production - and we didn't have to ask anyone for permission!”, Lars Hannibal almost exclaims with obvious enthusiasm.
Read the rest of the interview at www.klassiskbureau.com New link