Norway - Oslo Part II

Hurdy-gurdy player in the Vigeland Park, Oslo

 

Me and a friend dancing to the hurdy-gurdy in 1982

In the second part of our exploration of the music of Oslo, we will delve into some more traditional folk music of Norway.  We begin with folk band Bukkene Bruse, who were formed in 1988.  They include famous Hardanger fiddler Annbjørg Lien, whom we will get to meet in a later post.  The band plays both traditional tunes and songs as well as their own material based on the various regional folk traditions of Norway.  They have toured the world with their music and were chosen as official Olympic musicians for the 1994 Lillehammer Olympic Games.  Here is a tune from their 1998 album Steinstolen called Folketone fra Sunnmøre:

Chateau Neuf Spelemanslag are a folk supergroup consisting of some 18 odd members formed in 1998 at Oslo University.  They combine traditional Norwegian folk tunes with elements of jazz using traditional Norwegian folk instruments.  They don't appear to have a website and have not really been active since 2015.  This is a waltz from their 2001 album Curing Norwegian Stiffness called Vals etter Vidar Lande:

The Norwegian/Swedish trio Ævestaden are relatively new on the scene.  They play what Songlines Magazine has described as Dream Folk, playing traditional Nordic instruments such as lyres, fiddle, mouth harp, langeleiks and kantele, but interweaving it with some sparing electronic sounds and some beautiful vocals (in Swedish I believe, correct me if I'm wrong).  Here is a song from their 2021 debut album Ingen Mere Gråter called Stanna Inte:

Pianist Ingfrid Breie Nyhus was born in Oslo in 1978 as a daughter of traditional folk fiddler Sven Nyhus.  She is classically trained on the piano, but her folk influences are very much in evidence, especially with her exploration of the Norwegian slått traditions, which are instrumental folk dance tunes.  She adds contemporary influences and improvisations to develop her own unique style with contrasting dark and light moments, but unmistakably Nordic.  Here is a tune from her 2015 album Slåttepiano called Karislåtten:

The members of Norwegian folk string ensemble Majorstuen met in 2000 at the Oslo State Academy for Music.  Concentrating purely on fiddles with only the odd cello or viola thrown into the mix, they produce a fun and uplifting style to get your dance legs twitching.  Majorstuen is named after a particularly affluent part of Oslo, which in turn was named after a well known pub in the district, the stuen part roughly translating as lounge.  I like naming districts of a city after a pub, I think this practice should catch on more widely.  This is a tune from their 2020 album Jubel called Jubelpolka:

And talking about 'stuen', I'm not not sure where and when folk band Stampestuen were formed, but we'll just place them in Oslo too.  There style has somewhat of an Americana style, in the sense that their songs are mostly ballads about strong characters that have had to emigrate or have fallen on hard times, and banjo, mandolin, harmonica and Appalachian dulcimer feature alongside the hardanger fiddle and guitar.  They have recently released a new album called Bak Lås Og Slå, which takes talks about thieves, murderers and other outcasts from Norwegian society in the 19th century, including Ole Høiland, who robbed the Norwegian Central Bank in 1835:

We leave it at that for today, finishing off in Oslo and continuing our Norwegian journey.  In the meantime, as usual, you can follow my virtual ramblings on my tripline map.

Norway - Viken County & Oslo Part I

We arrive in Norway on our virtual musical journey, the country of spectacular fjords and a rugged coastline, salted cod and reindeer, colourful houses and stoic people, trolls and the midnight sun and also a long tradition of music.  Here's a couple of pics from my visit in the early 1980's:

We start in the newly created Viken county, which surrounds the capital Oslo. First stop is the small town of Mysen near the Swedish border, where jazz saxophonist Jan Gabarek was born in 1947 as a son of a Polish former prisoner of war.  He started off with dissonant avant garde jazz, but later incorporated Scandinavian folk tunes and other world influences into his music.  His style is noted for a sharp-edged tone, long, keening sustained notes and generous use of silence.  In 1994 he famously co-operated with the Hilliard Ensemble singing Gregorian chants.  This is the haunting title track from his 1998 album Rites:

Moving on to the municipality of Eidsvoll, where jazz musician and multi-instrumentalist Stian Carstensen was born in 1971.  He started off playing the accordion and added guitar and 5-string banjo to his repertoire.   He spent some time in Bulgaria, which influenced him greatly and has since added many other world influences to his style, including folk traditions from southern Europe.  This is a track from his latest 2021 album Musical Sanatorium called Hippocampus Serenade.  I love the video that goes with it.

Carrying on with the jazz theme we move on to the small town of Strømmen, which is part of Lillestrøm just east of Oslo.  This is where Norway's most famous jazz bassist Arild Andersen was born in 1945.  He started his career in Jan Gabarek's quartet, but has since forged a varied and successful career, both as a leader and collaborator with jazz greats from all over the world.  Here is the title track from his 1997 album Hyperborean:

Next we arrive in Oslo, the capital of Norway, where we'll be lingering for a while.  I also visited here back in 1982.  Here's a picture of the fountain in the Vigeland park, a park in Oslo littered with 200 sculptures by Norwegian artist Gustav Vigeland:

This is blues guitarist Knut Reiersud was born in 1961.  To simply describe him as a blues musician is not doing him justice as he has developed his own style not just copying a Delta styles, but incorporating Nordic influences and sounds from Africa and India into his music as well as jazz and as well as the guitar he also plays harmonica, mandolin, langeleik (a Norwegian droned zither), oud and Turkish saz.  Here's a track from his 2017 album Gitar called Hard Times Killing Floor:

The members of Swedish/Norwegian alternative rock band Kalandra actually met in England, but are now firmly based in Oslo.  They weave ethereal melodies into raw and eerie musical landscapes according to their own words.  Here is a track from their 2017 EP Beneath the Breaking Waves called Lullaby:

Although born in Oslo violinist Harpreet Bansal was trained from an early age in North Indian classical music by her father Harbhajan Singh Bansal.  She initially studied for a bachelor in western classical music before gaining a master degree in Indian music at the Norwegian State Accademie of Music.  She incorporates some European and Middle Eastern influences in her music as well as elements of jazz.  Here are a couple of extracts from her 2020 album Movements:

That's it from Oslo for today, next time we'll do some traditional folk from Oslo.  Until then you can follow my virtual ramblings on my Tripline map.