From 16th century tune to a polska

December 15, 2009

The group of Swedish folk artists who brought us the lovely album, Jul i Folkton (Christmas in Folk Sounds), are at it again. They have created a new live show, which is currently touring Sweden and will result in a live album to be released soon. This video is of a performance of one piece from [...]

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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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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, [...]

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Norwegian Dance: Valdresspringar

September 8, 2009

Even though I like to dance just about any dance, I admit to having a few favorites. One of them is Valdresspringar (the traditional "spring dance" native to the Valdres valley in Norway). I have no family from Valdres, so there is no historical or heritage connection for me. I simply like the dance! In [...]

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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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Norwegian Dance: Sørlandsspringar

August 18, 2009

I recently came across an amateur video of a Norwegian bygdedans labeled "Sørlandsspringar" or "Springar from Sørlandet". This would be a traditional pair dance from the southern area of Norway, which is known as Sørlandet (The South Land). In this video, the dancers are Torbjørn Bergwitz Lauen from Høvåg and Anne Guro Sture from Tasta in Rogaland. [...]

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What are the top 5 traditional Nordic tunes?

August 11, 2009

Every Monday night here in Northfield, Minnesota, we have a group — Nordic Jam — that gathers to play traditional music from the Nordic countries. We've been meeting for almost seven years and it's been a joy to share both the traditions and music with each other. Recently, we were discussing repertoire and some new(er) [...]

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Håkon Høgemo & Trent Bruner: Utan udla, hamborgar

August 5, 2009

Here's a treat – a video of a hamborgar! No, not a hamburger…a hambOrgAr! A hamborgar is a type of Norwegian polka. The video is of Håkon Høgemø and Trent Bruner playing a tune called "Utan udla" (sometimes spelled "Utan utla"), a tune from the Hordaland region of Norway. Høgemø plays the fiddle traditions of [...]

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A new Spindel on a tune…

July 13, 2009

Spindel is a band fronted by two wonderful female Hardanger fiddle players from Nordfjord: Liv Merete Kroken and Sigrid Moldestad. Here they are with a tune called — in Swedish — "Du och jag Alfred (You and I, Alfred)". This non-professional video was recorded at Halkaer Festival in Denmark in June 2009 . Listen at [...]

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String Sisters: Wackidoo

July 9, 2009

Last April, I featured a video by a group of very fine women fiddlers from both sides of the ocean — the String Sisters. Here they are again with another tune by Norwegian fiddler Annbjørg Lien — and it gets a little jazzing up as it goes along. The tune is called Wackidoo and can be [...]

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Thoughts on the new structure of Lagspel finals

June 26, 2009

Last night, the finals were held for Lagspel at NM i Folkemusikk. In previous years at Landskappleik, the Lagspel was done like all the other categories with the groups playing two slåtter (fiddle tunes) and then the final results were posted after they were available. This year, in part because of the blending of Landsfestival [...]

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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 [...]

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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. [...]

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String Sisters: Luseblus

April 20, 2009

Sometimes the Celtic and Nordic worlds unite to demonstrate the relationship between the music of these two regions. They are not the same — but they share some traits and tunes did cross between them. Here we have some very fine women fiddlers from both sides of the ocean — the String Sisters. The tune [...]

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