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.