A train in the night…

December 14, 2009

In one of the very first postings on Multe Music, I wrote about a tune written by Norwegian fiddler Sturla Eide, "Tog i natta (A Train In The Night)", that was inspired by a visit to our fair town of Northfield, Minnesota. Recently Eide put a video (in HD, no less) of one of his [...]

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Breathing life into a reel halling

October 29, 2009

The Norwegian vocal group, PUST (which means "breath" in Norwegian), has released a new video to go along with the release of their second album, "Kry". They explain their group concept, saying PUST finds inspiration somewhere between folksong, jazz and ethnic vocal music. Tradition and innovation are a part of the groups musical expression. Here [...]

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Leif Rygg – lausdans kar!?

October 6, 2009

Now here's some fun for those of you familiar with the folk music scene in Norway — Leif Rygg competing in… lausdans / halling ?!?! The video was taken at the recent Vestlandskappleiken 2009, held in Jostedalen. This is a multi-province folk music and dance competition on Norway's west coast. They have just announced that [...]

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Pizza-kast

September 4, 2009

And in our final entry for this week's "halling-fest"… Apparently some Norwegians prefer their pizza without peppers. The Norwegian pizza brand, Grandiosa, has made a commercial in the style of a American Idol-like competion about their new pizza "without peppers (paprika)". What they call "paprika" is what we in the USA would call "sweet red [...]

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A polska halling

September 3, 2009

Many people think that halling is a dance found only in Norway. That's not true. Sweden, too, has a halling tradition. Halling is usually played and danced in a beat of 2/4 or 4/4. Here we have an interesting blending of halling being danced to a polska tune, which is in an asymmetrical beat of [...]

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A wonderfully laus-y way to dance

August 31, 2009

We're going to celebrate the dance known as "halling" this week by featuring both the dance and music for the dance. In 2007 the winner of the Norwegian national competition in Class B laus/halling competition was Ulf-Arne Johannessen from Ål, Hallingdal. This was the second time Johannessen had won in Class B (open class) competition [...]

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Norway wins Eurovision — with a folk twist!

May 18, 2009

They did it! It's truly a "Fairytale"! Even TIME Magazine is reporting the news. Alexander Rybak and the guys from FRIKAR, representing Norway, won the famed Eurovision contest — with no contest! — and on the eve of Norway's biggest national holiday, the 17th of May (Constitution Day / Syttende Mai). In fact, the entry was [...]

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Eurovision goes (un)traditional Norwegian

May 6, 2009

Eurovision 2009 will begin soon — and despite reading and re-reading the Wikipedia entry on it, I still can't even begin to tell you how this song contest works! Nevertheless, it is one of the longest running TV program in the world and millions of people watch it and vote for their favorite song. There [...]

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Frikar: Work in progress

May 5, 2009

Norway's tradition-rich dance company, FRIKAR, continues to push the envelope by combining old and new forms of traditional Norwegian dance. This is video of a work in progress that will debut at a world music festival next summer. The full performance will have its premiere in Gudbrandsdal on 5 August 2009. Danced by Ane Gjøvåg [...]

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Halling dance in Age of Conan video game

April 2, 2009

In October, I wrote about how the Norwegian dance, halling (also known as laus) had been filmed in motion-capture for inclusion in the Age of Conan game. Hallgrim Hansegård, a Class A (Master) laus dancer in Norway, was the dancer filmed for the sequence. I've now located a video that shows the dance in its [...]

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1939: Valdresspringar and laus (halling)

March 6, 2009

Ta:lik recording company has some truly neat videos that they've been putting on their YouTube channel. Here is a silent video (that's right, there's no sound!) that's meant to feature the hardingfele fiddler Ola O. Reishagen from Vestre Slidre in Valdres. He was known as Oscar Hamry after he emigrated to the USA. After coming [...]

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Norwegian halling dance heads to Eurovision 2009!

February 24, 2009

Alexander Rybak, a rising pop star / musician, has won the Norwegian Melodi Grand Prix — the song competition that chooses Norway's representative to the annual Eurovision contest — with his original composition, Fairytale. I had already reported on Rybak/Frikar's semi-final win in a previous post. The finals were held at the Oslo Spektrum on [...]

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Laus — on the way to Eurovision 2009?

February 16, 2009

Countries all over Europe are currenty involved in their national competitions that will choose the performers that will represent them at the Eurovision 2009 contest. Last week,Norway's competition — Melodi Gran Prix — held its semi-finals. A new pop star, Alexander Rybak, won with his tune "Fairytale". He performed the tune backed by members of [...]

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Halling / Laus to join the gaming world

October 30, 2008

Norway's famous "show-off" traditional dance for men — the halling — is going to move into the gaming world. Class A Halling dancer and leader of the Frikar dance group, Hallgrim Hansegård, has been filming motion capture for the upcoming release of a Cimmerian dance for Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures. The video — a [...]

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