Norway - Oslo Part III

 We continue our exploration of the music of Oslo.  The Hardanger fiddle or hardingfele is central to much of the traditional music of Norway and trio Valkyrien Allstars take it in to folk-rock territory.  They were formed in 2003 in Oslo and have varied in personnel, often backed by bass and drums.  Here's a song from their 2007 self-titled debut album called Å gjev du batt meg:

A couple of years ago Norwegian fiddler Hans Kjorstad invited Scottish folk musician Alasdair Roberts to Oslo to collaborate in a project with Norwegian band Völvur for a session combining their respective traditions.  The result was a performance at Celtic Connections and the 2021 album The Old Fabled River.  This is one of 2 songs on the album sung in Norwegian called Nu rinner solen opp:

Another Scottish collaboration sees Shetland native fiddler Sarah-Jane Summers, who has made Oslo her home, and Finnish/Norwegian guitarist Juhani Silvola get together to produce an energetic and invigorating Scottish/Nordic instrumental folk amalgam, peppered with improvisation and experimental elements.  Their self-titled 2021 album Sarah-Jane Summers & Juhani Silvola has received rave reviews, including a Top of the World in Songlines Magazine.  Here is one of the slower tunes from that album called Portobello Smile:

Norwegian Christian choir SKRUK was founded in 1973 by conductor Per Oddvar Hilde.  They have recorded some 25 albums since then and have collaborated with musicians from all over the world.  A particularly interesting collaboration took place in 2010 with Persian classical singer Mahsa Vahdat (born coincidentally also in 1973 in Teheran) interpreting Sufi poems by Rumi and Hafez.  The resulting album was called I Vinens Spel (In the mirror of wine) and lyrics are partially in Farsi, partially translated into Norwegian.  This is a song from the album, called Brevet Til Vinbæreren (Letter to the wine bearer).  I often write letters to wine bearers myself: "please send more wine, I'm thirsty"

Finally for multinational collective Monoswezi, whose Norwegian component Hallvard Godal is from Oslo.  The name Monoswezi is an amalgam of the first letters of the respective nationalities of the band members, Mozambique, Norway, Sweden and Zimbabwe and also a play on words, 'mono' for the Greek word for 'one' and 'swezi' for the South African dialect word for 'world'.  As it says on the tin they combine African sounds with Nordic jazz.  Apart from multi-instrumentalist Godal the band also consists of the vocals and Mbira of Zimbabwean Hope Masike, Calu Tsemane on vocals and percussion from Mozambique, Putte Johander on bass and Erik Nylander on percussion, both from Sweden.  Here is the opening track to their latest 2021 album Shanu called Kuwonererwa:

That's it from Oslo for today.  As usual you can follow my virtual ramblings on my Tripline map.