It's been a hectic time here at Multe Music.
I just finished appearing in a great musical here in Northfield, "Jesse". Then I went straight into a whole series of performances and presentation taking me from western Minnesota (Dawson, Montevideo, Milan, Canby, Mineota) all the way up to Minot, North Dakota where I spent my ninth year as a performer at Norsk Høstfest and a presenter/teacher in the Høstfest in the Schools program. (Thank you to all the great 4th graders and their teachers!) And now I begin rehearsals on another show in Northfield.
So you're going to see a bunch of postings appearing that just didn't get completed and/or approved before I took off.
If there's one thing that these kind of trips do for me is to continue to remind me of the connections to my roots. In the case of western Minnesota, I was back in the area where my paternal grandparents settled when they came to the United States — the place where our family's root started in this country.
When I'm driving around Minot, I have made it a "tradition" to have the Hellbillies playing on my iPod and car stereo. With eleven albums out, it's easy to have a large Hellbillies playlist. In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I plan to do an entire show about Hellbillies this month. Each year, different songs catch my attention. This year, among others, was "Røta (Roots)".
This is a video of Hellbillies performing "Røta (Roots)". The video was taken by a fan at the Hellbillies concert at Ricks in Bergen Norway on March 31, 2006.
The lyrics in the Hallingdal dialect of Norwegian are:
Har du ein draum som du ikkji kan nå,
kan du vegen som føre derifrå
har ein sang som gjer sjele di varm
som når du kvile ved ein jentebarmDå har du røta du ikkji kan fløta
slutte lure deg sjøl
det går ein veg mellom fortid og framtid
ikkji heft deg med møl
det renn ei elv gjennom ro og larm
ein puls av liv, gjer sjele di varm
som å vakne ved jentebarmEg har ein sang som set tanken min fri,
skarpe fargu i finstemt harmoni,
skjenk eit glas, eg ska ikkji bi sein
skål for den sangen som kan lokke uss heimFor eg har røta eg ikkji kan fløta
slutte lure meg sjøl
det går ein veg mellom fortid og framtid
ikkji heft meg med møl
det renn ei elv gjennom ro og larm
ein puls av liv, gjer sjele mi varm
som å vakne ved jentebarmTa denna sangen – her kjem ditt refreng
for gamle veni kan kji kjøpast for pengFor eg har røta eg ikkji kan fløta
slutte lure meg sjøl
det går ein veg mellom fortid og framtid
ikkji heft meg med møl
det renn ei elv gjennom ro og larm
ein puls av liv, gjer sjele mi varm
som å vakne ved jentebarm
som å vakne ved jentebarm
And my (poor) attempt at a paraphrased translation (and I'm still working on it, so check back!):
Do you have a dream that you can't (??)
Can you see the way forward from there.
Do you have a song that warms your soul
as when you rest in a woman's arms?Then you have roots that you can't (flee?)
–
There goes a road between the past and future
—
There flows a river between peace and tumult
A pulse of life that makes your soul warm
As waking in the arms of a woman.I have a song that sets my thoughts free,
crafted colorfully in fine-tuned harmony.
Raise a glass, I shall not be late.
Cheers! for that song that can call us home.Take that song — here comes the refrain –
For old friends you can't buy with money.
Sant! True! Amen!
