A Finnish waltz for bass and diatonic accordion

September 17, 2009

This week, one of the artists featured on the Multe Music show will be the Finnish duo, Lepistö&Lehti. The duo got their start in the Finnish folk ensemble, Värttinä. (Of course, as I like to joke — what Finnish folk artist didn't?!). Even their web site says: The duo came from different parts of Finland, [...]

Read the full article →

2009 Norwegian Folk Music Award nominees announced

September 9, 2009

The nominees for Folkealarmprisen (Norwegian Folk Music Awards) have just been announced. Multe Music has featured tracks from a number of these recordings over the past few months on the show. In fact, we were also able to get interviews with some of these artists that we will feature on future shows. And, yes, we [...]

Read the full article →

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 [...]

Read the full article →

The most requested Nordic tune in Minnesota…

July 8, 2009

… 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 [...]

Read the full article →

An appreciative Shout Out to these artists and recording companies…

July 5, 2009

The Multe Music crew would like to thank the following artists / recording companies / distributors for copies of CDs that we've recently received over the last few weeks. Etnisk Musikklubb (Norway) Funi (Iceland) GIGA (Sweden) Kvarts (Norway) Ingebjør Sørbøen (Norway) Nordafjells (Norway) Osterøy Spellmannslag (Norway) Svøbsk (Denmark) Tom Willy Rustad (Norway) Trent Bruner (Canada [...]

Read the full article →

Cornerstone laid for Geilo "Culture Church"

June 26, 2009

This evening, the Geilo community will lay the grunnsteinnedleggelse (foundation stone) for the new "Kulturekyrkje (Cultural Church)", also known as "Kulturkirken". The church will be located in a lower area of the valley where Geilo is located, near the river and central to all of Geilo. It is being built in an ecological and environmentally [...]

Read the full article →

Where were the rest of the accordions?

June 24, 2009

We've now spent most of the day listing to the solo durspel/trekkspill junior and senior competion/qualifying rounds here at Norway's national folk music/dance competition. The category is for  solo players of diatonic accordions (mostly one and two rows) and chromatic accordions. Each competitor must play two tunes, each of a different type. Most choose to [...]

Read the full article →

Midsummer in Ål

June 24, 2009

It was a midsummer to remember in Ål as the 2009 NM i Folkemusikk (Norwegian National Championships in Folk Music) began with the first competition and a public dance at the local Folkepark. Well-known Norwegian recording artist Odd Nordstoga opened the evening with a very clever and well-done speech about the historic nature of this [...]

Read the full article →

It's Sankthans / Juhannes / Midsummer!

June 23, 2009

The cultures that seem to appreciate light the most are the ones that go without it for large parts of the year. That is why the summer season is so important for the inhabitants of the Nordic nations. Today, June 23 is Sankthans in Norway — also known as Midsummer / Midsommer / Midtsummer / [...]

Read the full article →

Album Review: Rannveig Djønne – Spelferd Heim

June 9, 2009

In 2007, I attended Landskappleiken, one of Norway's two major national folk music competitions, for the fifth time. One of the events was the durspel (diatonic accordion) competition. The second to the last competitor that year was a young woman from the west coast of Norway and her playing brought tears to my eyes. This [...]

Read the full article →

A polka party in the chicken yard

May 29, 2009

This video is absolutely delightful. A YouTube user who calls himself "Jan Anders" plays a tune he calls "Kyckling polka (Chicken Polka)" on an Elis Brandt G/C two-row diatonic accordion. And he plays it in the middle of a chicken yard where some fowl friends can be seen moving in and out of camera range. [...]

Read the full article →

Stop me if you've heard this one before…

May 6, 2009

Two Norwegians walk into a pub… No. Really. Two nights ago two Norwegians walked into a pub. My favorite pub. As they were ordering beer, they thought they heard traditional Norwegian music. So they went outside on the back deck to investigate. And they were correct. Our local Nordic Jam group was playing a reinlendar [...]

Read the full article →

Class A Hallingspringar

April 30, 2009

Each region of Norway has its own style of rosemaling, its own bunad — and its own music and dance. These help to support the "dialect" of the region and make each region distinct from one another. Here we have a great video of the dance called Hallingspringar — the springar (spring dance) from Hallingdal. [...]

Read the full article →

Twang Gang: The Final Countdown

March 23, 2009

Regular Multe Music listeners and readers know that we are eagerly awaiting a visit soon from the Norwegian band, Kvarts. Kvarts' guitarist, Erlend Styve, is also active in another Norwegian band — Twang Gang (not to be confused with the American band, Twang Gang). He's the lead vocalist and guitarist. Twang Gang's web site describes [...]

Read the full article →

Nordafjells: Kristen Nakje, springleik

January 29, 2009

A traditional folk group from Norway has produced an interesting video.  The band is called Nordafjells and is from the central part of Norway. They record on the Ta:lik label. They are playing a tune from Gudbrandsdal, Norway called "Kristen Nakje". The video itself is an interesting concept. Almost a VH1 meets traditional folk quality [...]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries