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Artist
Nordisk Sang
12+ albums
folk
about
This diamond of a recording gives the listener a rare and intimate look at the genuine folk music of Scandinavia, away from the festivals, the hype, and the fusions. Here are the willow bark flutes, the pristine voices, and the fiddles (both hardingfele and standard) of Norway, usually in solo settings, or simple call and responses between an instrument and a voice. Central to the proceedings is singer Kirsten Bråten Berg, a singer of such pure tone and ethereal spaces that the ear swoons upon hearing it. Lesser-known but no less impressive is the voice of Pernille Anker. Hardingfele players Hallvard T. Bjørgum, Torliev Bolstad, and Gunnar Stubseid show the diverse capabilities of this drone fiddle. There are two pieces for transverse flute (one as a duo with a pipe organ that is quite unusual), one for solo dulcimer, and one for willow bark flute to round out the sounds of Norway. There are only two slightly larger ensemble pieces, one a trio for voice, saxophone, and hardingfele, another for voice, hardingfele, bouzouki (the illustrious Ale Möller), and recorder. All the tunes are original save for a beautiful solo fiddle piece by Hans Brimi. This is a worthy collection selected by the Norwegian Heilo label, and it offers a rare look inside the folk tradition. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
