Biography
Although Danish, Henrik Hytteballe chose haiku, the Japanese poetic form, as his artist name for his solo compositions because he was attracted to the beauty, simplicity, and natural qualities of haiku poetry. In 2004 he started Haiku, which he describes as ambient and rock music melting together.
There are many references to the natural world in Haiku’s music, reflecting a range of emotions from loss, pain, and despair, to faith, love, and happiness. However, the intention is to create music that imitates beauty in nature, which is so much more than what we usually think.
“Experiences of beauty are not merely sensory experiences of delicious forms, they can open the world in a way that allows us to perceive dimensions we might otherwise overlook. Beauty can help define our understanding of ourselves and put the world into perspective. It causes us to consider whether we are living the way we truly want. Whether the source of inspiration is from personal experience or from nature, I want to express how exciting the world is and life can be, and to share this with other people.”
He describes his music as being about finding inner resources after a big change in life, and was created in gratitude for his surviving a severe traffic accident.
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Gratitude – Album Reviews
ALBUM REVIEW – ‘Gratitude’
Henrik Hytteballe, the Danish synthesis and composer who has been releasing his ambient and healing New Age electronic music as The Haiku Project since the mid-2010s, is one of the genre’s more fascinating personalities, creating complementary works as a visual and musical artist inspired by nature, a wide range of human emotions and the people he’s met along his life’s journey. Just as his paintings range from abstract compositions to partially figurative universes, his music – which culminates now in Gratitude, his latest full-length collection on myndstream – allows us to immerse deeply and bring different experiences and feelings to the moment.
– Jonathan Widran, The JW Vibe
ALBUM REVIEW – ‘Gratitude’
’Gratitude’ by The Haiku Project is another masterpiece of music to hang in the ever growing gallery of musical art for the artist.
– Steven Sheppard, One World Music Reviews
ALBUM REVIEW – ‘Gratitude’
Henrik Hytteballe creates an album that, while classified in the “New Age” genre, gives us (our ears and our hearts) far more than that… it is ambient joyful rocking distinct and different from anything you’ve ever listened to before…
– Dick Metcalf, Contemporary Fusion Reviews
ALBUM REVIEW – ‘Gratitude’
’Gratitude’ is the 5th album from The Haiku Project, a.k.a., Henrik Hytteballe. Hailing from Denmark, Henrik is an incredibly talented musician, multi-instrumentalist, and composer, as well as a gifted painter, who not only paints on real canvas, but paints intricate soundscapes with his musical instruments as well. His music, like his paintings are rich, colorful, multi-layered, and multi-dimensional.
– Dyan Garris, New Age CD
ALBUM REVIEW – ‘Gratitude’
On ‘Gratitude,’ instrumentation includes keyboards, guitar, Duduk and cello. The ten tracks are varied and express a range of emotions and experiences, but overall, the album is upbeat and optimistic. Without the strong rhythms, I think Gratitude could easily fall into the ambient genre, but the rock influence and power of the bass and percussion keep the music vibrant and unique. In short, I really like Gratitude and will have to check out some of The Haiku Project’s previous releases, too!
– Kathy Parsons, Mainly Piano
