Traditional arctic music with a contemporary, urban edge

FRØHOLM/TILLUNG is one of the most exciting folk music duos in Norway today.

With this album the Folk Music Archives of Agder presents tunes played by three of the best Hardanger fiddlers of the region.

A wide-ranging sampler promoting a fine variety of the most recent releases from the Norwegian traditional and world music scene.

Adjágas’ music is gentle, peaceful, dreamlike, spiritual and utterly engrossing. It is, at the same time, strangely alien.

“Come home” is a personal production made on a naked and down to earth manner; fiddles, nyckelharpor, vocals and harmonium.

In 2008 ”Seven winds” toured Norway, Sri Lanka, Korea, China, India, Nepal, and Tanzania. Now they are releasing their first CD as a trio on Heilo label.

It is often said that music is a live activity that should be seen performed and not only listened to. The truth of this assertion is very much proven when attending a concert by the Valkyrien Allstars. Music has no boarder or age – only the simplicity of an open mind. And as they express it themselves: “The music isn’t meant to be nice and pretty, but should give you a kick deep inside of you.”

Maros presents songs that are connected with nature, people and animals. It is a journey through a musical landscape where past and present meet with their different moods.

RAMMESLAG, the first album Daniel Sandén-Warg and Sigurd Brokke did together, received excellent reviews and was described as ”folk music’s rock-’n-roll” and ”the best possible”.The CD won a Folkalarm Award as best solo album of 2007.

Johan Sara Jr. is one of the world’s best performers in one of Europe’s oldest song traditions, Sami music from the Arctic, the joik. His unique combination of joik and contemporary elements provides a hypnotic and meditative sound, which has been praised both at home and abroad, and his latest album, Orvoš, has confirmed his position as a vital, fresh and genre free innovator.

A new release from Olav Luksengård Mjelva, his debut album and one for fiddle fans. Bringing together some distinct styles of playing, read the full article as he explains his background and aims for the album

For many fiddlers, the combination of two fiddles is the epitome of musical interaction. It is like a conversation. One fiddle asks, the other answers, they taunt each other, fight with each other, console one another and laugh loudly together. The intersection of harmonies, like an infatuation, like a dance no one wants to end.

Synnøve S. Bjørset ranks among the foremost performers of traditional Hardanger fiddle music today. With uncommon strength and spirit, she now presents a tasteful, melodious collection of little-known tunes and reinterpretations of familiar standards. The traditional tunes are rooted in the fjord and mountain regions of Sunnfjord, Sogn and Valdres, areas where dance tunes and airs go hand in hand.

Gro Marie Svidal meets us with excellent, sparkling Hardanger fiddling in her 2009 debut album. This is a production that provides more than folk music documentation and fact. We are exposed to convincing fiddling skills and sure stylistic expression combined with a wealth of detail and relaxed playfulness.

The first ECM album to appear under Nils Økland’s name, “Monograph” follows the Norwegian violinist’s discs for the label with Christian Wallumrød - “Sofienberg Variations” (2001) and “A Year From Easter” (2003). Inside Wallumrød’s ensembles, Økland has impressed as a master of texture, subtly moving between Hardanger fiddle, violin and viola d’amore.

Draumkvedet was transcribed by Jørgen Moe and M. B. Landstad in the mid-19th century. Since then it has held a special place in Norwegian and Nordic folk poetry and the kvedar (traditional vocal) tradition, and inspires us again and again to ask the really profound questions about life and death.

Round dances and the associated music spread throughout the rural communities towards the end of the 18th century. The waltz was the first to arrive, and quickly became very popular.

Fest is the first CD from the folk trio Fotefar (Footprints) and clarinet player Håvard Lund.