Sweden - Stockholm Part II

 

For the second part of our virtual visit to Stockholm we'll be exploring some of the more international influences on the local music scene.  Let's begin with multi-national world fusion collective Fågel Roc, which was founded in 2006 by Swedish guitarist Petter Blundell.  The members hail from all over the globe and their music is influenced by Arab pop, Swedish folk and Balkan music although more often than not veer into fairly safe pop territory and is mostly sung in Swedish.  Here is the title track from their 2018 album Sista Sommaren:

Six-piece fusion band Katzen Kapell play a highly original blend of tango, cabaret, Balkan sounds and experimental elements.  They list their influences as Astor Piazolla, Frank Zappa and Arabic music amongst others.  Here's a track from their 2007 album Si Tu Veux called Taxin:

Stockholm native KG Westman was and is a guitarist for a '70's style rock band until his father moved to Kerala in India.  Following him he fell in love with Indian classical music and specifically the sitar.  He went on to study under Pandit Rabindra Narayan Goswami and is now one of the leading European proponents of the instrument.  In his latest project he teamed up with a group of musicians from India and Egypt to create a mash-up of the traditions of India, Egypt and Sweden.  The result is the 2022 album KG Westman & Zaعfaran, which received much critical acclaim. He describes it as imagining a Swede, an Egyptian and an Indian going on a road trip through the desert together, this would be the music coming out of their tape deck.  Here is a preview of the album:

and here's a song from the album called Into the Desert:

Finally we head north out of the city to the suburb of Sollentuna, where piper Olle Gällmo hails from.  You probably didn't know that Swedish back pipes were a thing, nor do most Swedes, but apparently some 150 years ago they were considered a national instrument alongside the nyckelharpa.  Olle has made it his life goal to revive this ancient tradition.  Here is a tune from his 2008 album Med Pipan i Säcken called Hamburska efter Pehr Ericsson:

That's it for today, next we are heading north again.  In the meantime you can follow my virtual travels 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.

England - London Part I

London is such a big place that it is practically a country in itself also boasting a huge ethnic diversity and therefore a lot of different musical influences.  I'm just going to pick a few bits over two blog posts, highlighting some folk, but also a few other international musical styles.  We are starting in the southwestern suburb of New Malden, where John Martyn was born, whose music blurred the boundaries between folk, jazz, rock and blues.  Sadly he died prematurely aged 60 in 2009 after a life marred by substance abuse and addiction.  He left behind an impressive discography.  Here's a live performance from early in his career, Couldn't Love You More.  A version of that song features on his 2008 album Glorious Fool:

Driving up the A3 dual carriageway, which believe me is some kind of hellish nightmare, having commuted up and down there myself for many years, we arrive in Putney, southwest London, where folk singer Naomi Bedford hails from.  In recent years she has been collaborating with mandolin player and guitarist Paul Simmonds, who used to play with folk rock institution The Men They Couldn't Hang.  Their latest album from 2019 Singing It All Home: Appalachian Ballads of English and Scottish Origin, does just what it says on the tin.  This is the opening track from that album called I Must and Will Be Married:

Singer/songwriter and fiddle player Lisa Knapp was born in Balham in South London and grew up in nearby Tooting.  Her 3 albums to date all have received much praise around the folk scene.  Her 2017 album Till April Is Dead - A Garland of May, is a celebration of the month of May and the ancient rituals surrounding spring celebrations.  This is the title song from the album:

Now London is a hotchpotch of multiple cultures, but South Asians are prevalent in many parts with parts of Hounslow, Tooting or Brick Lane having a distinct Indian feel, with restaurants and ethnic shops wafting smells of curries and blaring out sounds that transport you to Mumbai, Delhi or Chennai.  Unnati Dasgupta was born and raised in London being the daughter of late Indian classical vocalist Nitai Dasgupta, with whom she toured in her teens.  Now she is forging a musical career of her own with the recent release of her debut album Indigo Soul, where she blends Jazz influences with classical Indian sounds.  This is a song from the album called Teri Yaad Aati Hain:

Folk Rock band Steeleye Span started off in London way back in 1969 and have been going strong ever since (with a few changes in personnel of course...).  With a back catalogue spanning 50 years, it's difficult to pick just one or two songs from their repertoire.  Here's one from their 2009 album Cogs, Wheels and Lovers called Thornaby Woods:

String duo Francesca Ter-Berg and Flora Curzon (cello and violin), known simply as Fran & Flora, combine Eastern European music with original compositions and experimental electronics, making for a fascinating and haunting blend.  Their debut album from 2019 is entitled Unfurl.  This is a song sung in Yiddish and is called Mayn Rue Platz, which translates as my resting place:

London based band Vula Viel was founded in 2011 by Bex Burch, a percussionist from Yorkshire, who spent 3 years with the Dagaaba People of the Upper West Region of Ghana learning the gyil, a type of wooden xylophone.  They blend jazz with electronic and minimal music.  Their latest album released this year is called What's Not Enough About That and this is the title track:

[Later edit April 2022]: I now saw them live at the Black Box in Belfast.  Here's an extract from that gig:

Stayin on an African theme a brand new international collective just released an album this month called Keleketla.  This is how they describe themselves:

Keleketla! is an expansive collaborative project, reaching outward from Johannesburg to London, Lagos, L.A. and West Papua, “Keleketla!” started as a musical meeting ground between Ninja Tune cofounders Coldcut and a cadre of South African musicians (introduced by the charity In Place Of War), including the raw, South African-accented jazz styles of Sibusile Xaba, and rapper Yugen Blakrok (Black Panther OST). From those initial sessions, the record grew to encompass a wider web of musical luminaries, including Afrobeat architects, the late pioneer Tony Allen and Dele Sosimi, legendary L.A. spoken word pioneers The Watts Prophets, and West Papuan activist Benny Wenda.

Here's the opening track to their album called Future Toyi Toyi:

As I am off travelling for real next week, I better finish here, continuing with more music from London next week.  As usual you can follow my virtual journey on my tripline map.