tekst | Multe Music

A new take on an old carol

Justa a quick reminder that our broadcast time is now Fridays at 1 p.m. CT and Mondays at 7 p.m. CT on air or online at KYMNRadio.net — or anytime here on the Multe Music site.Norwegian National Broadcasting (NRK) has just released a video of the traditional Norwegian Christmas carol, "Det lyser i stille grender [...]

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A 10-minute chronology of ABBA

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 at [...]

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An Icelander's call for independence

The Icelandic avante-garde artist, Björk, is strongly supportive of numerous separatist and national liberation movements across the globe.
She dedicated her song, "Declare Independence" (video below), to Greenland and the Faroe Islands — both Danish protectorates — which caused a minor controversy in the Faroes. Apparently, the 45,000 Faroe islanders are sitting on in the middle [...]

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A thousand thoughts about Triakel…

When the Multe Music crew was in Norway, we received an invitation to go to a concert by the Swedish group, Triakel, at the wonderful cultural heritage farm in Sør-Fron, Rudi Gard. Alas, it wasn't to be…
Triakel is a group well worth experiencing live. The name has a couple of meanings. There are three members [...]

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Mamma Mia — What an interview!

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 [...]

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The Colbert Report – MOVITS!

It's not often that I can say I'm ahead of Stephen Colbert of The Colbert Report, but in the case of MOVITS! — I can. I had already planned to feature a tune on an upcoming Multe Music show/podcast. You can be sure there'll be one this Saturday!
MOVITS! is a swing/hip-hop/jazz band from Sweden. [...]

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MOVITS!: Fel del av gården

MOVITS! is an unusual combination — a swing/hip-hop/jazz band from Sweden. I found out about them while doing some research on Swedish music and ran across their MySpace page and their YouTube channel.
It's unusual — and fun — music. The lyrics are fast paced (as you would expect with hip-hop) and seem to capture a [...]

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The most requested Nordic tune in Minnesota…

… nursing homes (alderheimer)?
Johan på snippen. Really.
A few years ago, a friend of mine went to a concert given by three prominent accordionists from this region. They were playing both full-size and diatonic accordions and lots of music from all over Europe.
During the program, they mentioned that the Swedish tune "Johan på snippen (John in [...]

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Album Review: Krauka – Óðinn

The new Krauka album, Óðinn, recently came across my desk for review. According to the band's web site, it's the group's fourth release.
The copy I received was simply the CD in a sleeve with minimal information. I would have really liked to have had lyrics and liner notes included (whether in Icelandic, Danish or English) [...]

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The farmer seeks a wife…

This week the theme for Multe Music on Saturday will be "Farm Report" and we'll feature interesting — and fun — tunes about farming and farming life. There will be tunes based on manuscripts from the Middle Ages and modern songs.
Here's one great example of a recent release, "Bonde söker fru (Farmer seeking [...]

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Chilly Friday: Sialuit

Very often on Fridays I feature something humorous to get the weekend off to a good start. Today, the video is serious and the humor is in the band's name, Chilly Friday. They label themselves "Rock from the Great White Pearl", which is an interesting way to describe Greenland.
They're from Greenland — a country that [...]

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Helsinki Complaints Choir

On a winter's day walk, Finnish artists Tellervo Kalleinen and Oliver Kochta-Kalleinencame up with the concept of a "Complaints Choir".
In the Finnish vocabulary there is an expression "Valituskuoro". It means "Complaints Choir" and it is used to describe situations where a lot of people are complaining simultaneously. Kalleinen and Kochta-Kalleinen thought: "Wouldn't it be [...]

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Faroe Islands: Ormurin langi

Here is a wonderful example of what is known as songdans (song dance) or langdans (long dance) or ringdans (ring dance). This type of dancing/storytelling goes back to at least Viking times.
These dances and stories were preserved in the Faroe Islands, where this video is from. The video is a great demonstration of this form [...]

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Hellbillies: Mørkemann

I'm celebrating today, so I'm going to pick one of my favorite bands to feature on a special day — Norway's top country rock band, Hellbillies.
I may have become one of their first fans in the USA when a Norwegian friend introduced me to their music in the mid-1990s. And while I have all their [...]

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Mari Boine: Elle

Here's a beautifully haunting and thought-provoking video from Mari Boine. It's an original song from the movie "Kautokeino-opprøret (The Kautokeino Rebellion)", a tale about the Norwegian Så¡mi set in 1852.
The director of the film, Nils Gaup, was also the director of "Veiviseren (The Pathfinder)", nominated in 1987 for an Academy Award as Best Foreign [...]

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