Celebrating a Scandinavian composer's birthday

December 16, 2009

Today is the birthday of one of Scandinavia's most celebrated and well-known composers. His works have been heard in almost every country in the world. Do you know who it is? I don't want to spoil the surprise, so enjoy this two-and-a-half minute clip of a selection of the composer's works played on piano and [...]

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A 10-minute chronology of ABBA

November 20, 2009

Sometimes folks produce some really impressive work on YouTube. One user spent eight months putting together a chronology of sound clips from more than 100 songs released by ABBA during their career. If you think you "know" ABBA, you may want to think again — and give this video a listen. I was really surprised [...]

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Four Swedes say C'est la vie…

October 23, 2009

The British comedy team of Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders (aka French & Saunders) provide us with another stunning parody for a laugh on a Friday. This time they perform a very ABBA-esque song titled "C'est La Vie" and poke fun at the four Swedes. The song itself — not to mention the camera angles [...]

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A doctoral dissertation on ABBA

October 13, 2009

No, I'm not going to write it. Someone already has. It's called "Compositional procedures in the songs of ABBA". Philip Hauenstein was a Cambridge doctoral student when he wrote the dissertation. He says, Basically, I was interested to know what made a good tune. In this video clip from a 1993 TV show called "A [...]

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There's no doubt…this is fearless guitar playing

October 12, 2009

This past weekend, I featured the Norwegian band, Hellbillies, on Multe Music. You can listen to it here. The tune I used to open the show was "Tvil på travbanen (Doubt on the Racetrack)", a tour de force instrumental guitar piece by Lars Håvard Haugen, lead guitarist of the group. Haugen is one of Norway's [...]

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Kebnekajse live

September 15, 2009

Last month, I featured a video of the Swedish progressive rock / jazz fusion band, Kebnekajse playing a traditional folk tune. The group has posted a video to their MySpace page of a performance they did at Ögir in Köping in February 2009. It's much more in toward jazz fusion. I really like the energy. [...]

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Icelandic overtones

September 10, 2009

Here's a video that is stunning for its sound alone! Søren Koldsen-Zederkof, who is a member of the Danish-Icelandic Viking band, Krauka, and the Danish alternative band, Nuja, was filmed doing improvised overtone singing. The setting is an the old fish factory in Djúpavík, Iceland. What great resonance and overtones! // Related Posts:Album Review: Krauka [...]

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An electric Leksands skanklåt

August 26, 2009

Over the last few years, I've made a real effort to get to know more about the folk rock and progressive rock scene in the Nordic countries, particularly in the 1970s. There was some great music coming out at that time. Kebnekajse was one of the best known Swedish bands of that period. Some classify [...]

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The real story of Dancing Queen

August 24, 2009

OK, I'll admit it. I wasn't a big ABBA fan back then. But now I'm older and wiser and understand that ABBA was group of incredible talents that could perform diverse styles with ease. And there is no doubt that the songwriting team of Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus wrote some masterfull tunes. One of [...]

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Getting all Norse-ken on us

August 19, 2009

I've written about the Finnish-Norwegian group, Frigg, before. The Järvelä and Larsen sibling combination produces some great "powerfolk", as they call it. Their website sums it up nicely: Hot Fiddles From Cool Scandinavia Here's a recent video of Frigg playing at the 2009 Shetland Folk Festival — a festival that will celebrate its 30th anniversary [...]

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Norse gods on the rocks…

August 17, 2009

Earlier this year, I reviewed the new album, Óðinn, by the Danish/Icelandic group Krauka. Krauka's video of the title track, "Óðinn", is now out and, just as I liked this track on the album, I think the video is pretty neat, too. Filmed in Iceland, the group is seen playing their music in the  steaming [...]

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Mamma Mia — What an interview!

August 14, 2009

I recently came across excellent videos with Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus made just prior to the opening of the Swedish production of Mamma Mia! at Cirkus in Stockholm. The interviews are done in Swedish with English language subtitles. The interview  with Andersson and Ulvaeaus is interspersed with interviews of others involved in the Swedish [...]

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Setesdal Roots Band: Sommer i Setesdal

August 10, 2009

It's summer and one of my friends just got back from exploring his roots in Setesdal, so it seems appropriate to feature a video from the Setesdal Roots Band. The  group is from Setesdal province in Norway. They play mostly their own compositions that are rooted in traditions such as pop, bluegrass, country, rock, blues [...]

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Bermuda is in Iceland

August 8, 2009

I recently found a band from Iceland — and I'm really enjoying their sound. The band is Bermuda and they describe themselves on their MySpace page as "pop, R&B, funk". I've also seen the term " power pop" used. Bermuda is: Erna Hrönn Ólafsdóttir / Iris Holm – vocals Gunnar Reynir Þorsteinsson – drums Ingvar [...]

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Hellbillies: På Ål Stasjon

August 7, 2009

I can never say enough great things about the Norwegian band, Hellbillies. They are, in many ways, the Norwegian equivalent of The Eagles or the Allman Brothers Band — the latter of which was and remains a great inspiration for them. They are called "country rock" but their music goes far beyond that and they [...]

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