Norway - Agder & Rogaland Counties

Before leaving the Vestfold og Telemark County we stop in the coastal city of Sandefjord.  The above picture was taken there, when I had the pleasure of spending a few days on a private island there back in 1982, attempting to learn to windsurf and waterski.  Jazz guitarist Andreas Haddeland was born here in 1977.  In his latest project he combines with folk singer Liv Ulvik and percussionist Ulrik Ibsen Thorsrud to form a band called Østerlide.  On their 2020 self-titled debut album they re-invent traditional Norwegian folk songs enveloping them in an eerie, haunting soundscape.  Here's a track from the album called Varulven: 

We're heading back south, rounding the nose of the Scandinavian bear to arrive in Agder county.  Hardanger fiddle player Ånon Egeland and viola player Mikael Marin explore the darker side of the traditions of the region with their instruments tuned an octave down.  They call their style folk noir and the tunes are associated with songs of grief, godly reverence and lost love.  They are both considered legends of the Scandinavian folk scene in their own right and got together for a couple of albums, including their 2020 recording Farvel Farvel. Here's a tune from the album called Adam den første:

Singer/songwriter, record producer and novelist Jenny Hval was born in Tvedestrand in Agder county in 1980.  She has dabbled in various genres, including alternative rock, experimental folk and avant-garde, having started her music career in Gothic metal.  She cites Kate Bush as one of her main influences.  She is known for controversial lyrics tackling subjects like pornography and the patriarchy and felt a bit of a hypocrite when she got married recently, given that she has previously been critical of conventions around love and relationships.  She dealt with those conflicts in her own persona with her latest album Classic Objects and particularly with this song of the album called Year of Love:

Back to something more traditional, folk singer and silversmith Kirsten Bråten Berg was born in Arendal in Agder County in 1950.  Trained as a silversmith she got into singing traditional Norwegian folk songs in the 1970's.  She has given concerts and recorded numerous albums since.  In 1990 she met jazz bassist Arild Andersen (whom we met in an earlier post) and has joined his band since.  Her last solo album was in 2010 called Songen and this is a song from it called Astrid, mi Astrid:

Moving on to Stavanger, the main city of Rogaland County for something a bit different.  Here we meet a band called Naaljos Ljom, who play what they call "Traditional Norwegian Microtonal Dance Music".  Essentially it's another complete re-invention of Norwegian folk music, by giving it the electronic dance floor treatment.  I'm not entirely sure it's my cup of tea, but I'll leave it out there anyway for yourselves to judge.  This is from their 2021 self-titled debut album called Langeleikslått:

Singer/songwriter Aurora Aksnes, known simply as Aurora, was born in Stavanger in 1996, although grew up in Høle in Rogaland and a remote village in the Os Mountains near Bergen.  Being surrounded by nature in a relatively isolated location has very much influenced her outlook on life and musical style.  She has achieved some considerable international success with her Nordic folk influenced pop.  She also sites Kate Bush as her influences, as well as Bjørk, Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan.  Here's the opening track to her 2016 debut album All My Demons Greeting Me As A Friend called Runaway:

    `Finally we revisit Slovakian-Norwegian Gypsy orchestra Angrusori, whom we met before in Slovakia.  They are a collaboration between 2 cultural centres involving the Kitchen Orchestra from Stavanger and a group from Slovakia's Roma community.  They got together to record an album at a venue called Tou in Stavanger in 2021, which then appropriately was named Live at Tou.  This is a track from the album called Pre ada baro svetos:

This is it for today, next we'll head up the west coast of Norway towards Bergen.  In the meantime, as usual you can follow my virtual ramblings on my Tripline map.