Safri Duo

In 1977, Uffe Savery and Morten Friis, both Danish by birth, first encountered each other during their service in the Tivoli Garden Boys' Guard, and they went on to study at the Royal Danish Conservatory of Music. Out of that shared background they launched the experimental venture known as Safri Duo. An executive from a classical division at a label spotted their potential, prompting the duo to join forces with a trance producer and ink a deal with Universal Denmark in 1999 for a dance and club project that fused traditional ethnic sounds with instruments from the previous generation. The resulting single "Played-A-Live (The Bongo Song)" brought Safri Duo a Danish Music Award for Best Danish Club Hit after its worldwide release in January 2001.