In a low-key way, Uld has managed to become one of the year’s big talkies in Musikk-Norge. Uld is the band of 21-year-olds Une Lorentze Onarheim (vocals), Lucia Andreadatter Utnem (piano) and Dagny Braanen Lindgren (accordion) from Oslo. They let me into a classical collective at St. Hanshaugen. To-be-fixed list on the fridge, ancient wood-burning stove, drafty floors. On the wool skirting board, we step into the living room of the fresh, but massively acclaimed band Uld. Jon Ranes aka “Loverboy” from Undergrunn invited them home to make a song together. Mari Boine asked them to be the warm-up band in front of a packed opera house in Bjørvika, three times. – They have made their instruments talk to each other and their voices to become a harmonious state of their own, says Sondre Lerche, who himself would like to play with them. Sondre LercheArtist and Uld fanboy Photo: Javier Auris / news – There is a fervor there that has never been experienced before, he believes. The reception from experienced musicians has simply been overwhelming, the three agree. They appear (sympathetically enough) more starstruck than high on themselves. HOME WITH ULD: Accordion, piano and stomp organ – and a tiny bar with a fairly random selection. Photo: Kamilla Marie Johnsen / news Like when pianist Lucia checked the inbox on Instagram one day on the bus. And reacted by shouting: – Damn it, Dagny! Then she read aloud: Such wonderful music! Just to report if you need tips or help with something, hugs Susanne. Susanne = Susanne Sundfør. Coincidentally, their biggest musical role model. – It was crazy, then. We feel taken care of, says Lucia. What do they actually sound like? – They are carriers of tradition and at the same time they hold on to old things in a way that makes us listen, says one of the musicians who admires them: Frida Aannevik. Frida ÅnnevikArtist and Uld fangirlPhoto: Lise Åserud / NTB Scanpix Uld is not alone in looking backwards. Traditional music has good days. The Riksscenen (national stage for folk music and folk dance) experiences lively dance floors. The Norwegian Academy of Music has increased attendance at the folk music courses. ACCESSORIES PLAYER: Dagny’s instrument also contributes to Uld’s non-mainstream-pop-anno-2024-sound. Photo: Kamilla Marie Johnsen / news A theory: It is because of the dark and uncertain world out there that we want to return to the original and safe. – It could very well happen, says Dagny about that theory. – When there are global crises, whether it is the environment or war, then you need to feel that you are fellow human beings together. Perhaps our music speaks more to that need than other types of music, she says. DEBUT: In October, the trio released the EP “from another reality”, which received praise in, among others, DN, Morgenbladet and Klassekampen. Their first concert (in addition to a few short ones at Bylarm and other festivals) was sold out in a week, the extra concert in just a couple of days. PIANIST: Lucia first started playing actively when she wanted to enter the music field. With a jazz pianist father (Andreas Utnem) there was help at home. Photo: Kamilla Marie Johnsen / news When we meet, it is the day before the sold-out concert in Kulturkirken Jakob. In 24 hours, Uld will prove that they deserve the hype. So far, all three seem quite calm, they puzzle in the kitchen and living room. I get the feeling of an eternal Sunday afternoon in a good way. Here the teacups are huge, it’s time to feel, time to practice. They work out their harmonies together. Une sings, the other two drop in. They have to do things that way, feel the others’ pace and energy. HOME OFFICE: They have a practice room in a church, but often work in the living room as well. Photo: Kamilla Marie Johnsen / news Uld’s method is to be in what is happening then and there, inside the bubble, whether it is in rehearsal or in front of the audience. The organic way of creating music produced some surprises when they recorded their first EP earlier this year. In the studio, one instrument or vocal track is often added at a time. It didn’t work so well. – We felt that we lost a dimension of our music, a nerve. Playing together, that we see each other, is important for our music, says Lucia. But in the end it settled down and sounds like this: Maybe you hear the “own harmonic state”. And, perhaps, a characteristic schwung of folk music? Yes, why does the Oslo girl Une sing as if she came from far up in Setesdalen? – Damn good already when Une was little, there was a course in quiding at the nearest culture school, so she and some friends tested it. The folk song type kveding is, among other things, about curls, a type of ornamentation on the voice. Another characteristic feature is melismatic singing, which means more notes on each syllable. Something like this: – I had such an attraction to that style of singing and was incredibly fascinated by the melodic and lyrical nature of folk music, says Une. DAMA TIL?: More like Annika Momrak from news’s ”Dama til”, some claim, but Une is a folk singer from Tåsen, Oslo. Photo: Kamilla Marie Johnsen / news It felt everyday and natural, and Une sang all the time (“for better or worse for everyone around me”). But quince is not mainstream. The friends left. It was a bit strange and lonely, and in secondary school the folk song hung by a thin thread. Then Une Strunkeveko discovered a folk music camp for children and young people in Valdres. She calls it “magical”. Veko became the highlight of the summer holidays throughout the teenage years and created the community Une needed. As for certain others before her. – Strunkeveko was much of the reason why I continued with folk music, says Tuva Syvertsen, vocalist in Valkyrien Allstars. Tuva SyvertsenArtist and Uld fanPhoto: Hans Petter Blom / news Her band has had great success with the mix of pop and folk music in recent years. – People like Une and me, from the Oslo area, we didn’t know that there were so many people doing these things here! At Strunkeveko there were a shocking number of people who had folk music and dance as a natural part of their lives! As an adult, Tuva was hired as a teacher at the summer camp and had Une as a student. – I thought: She is going to be good, she was damn good even then, says Tuva. She is delighted that the voice and Uld have been discovered by more people. She calls what Uld does with songwriting, “if it has to be pushed into a genre, then”. – It’s so stupid to use the word real, but it’s just such good craftsmanship. They are three people who play damn good music together. It’s reddish, like. A little in the old way again, says Tuva. She believes we are in a folk music wave. – People seek common cultural heritage, music and dance. There is something about the times we live in, people need a bit of grounding, she believes. Une is now taking a bachelor’s in folk singing at the Norwegian Academy of Music. Still in Oslo. – Have you ever faced criticism that you cannot be a “real” folk musician, you who come from the big city? – I have not experienced it. The environment is incredibly inclusive and open. There is a lot of folk music from Oslo too, just that you might have to look elsewhere to find it, says Une. SOMMERFUGLER: It’s a bit exciting with this sold-out concert this morning. Une and Dagny share strategies for getting to sleep tonight. Photo: Kamilla Marie Johnsen / news “Den nye folkemusikken” is currently used for more bands and artists than Uld. Ævestaden, Selma French Bolstad, Erlend Viken Trio, Naaljos Ljom… What does Uld think that they are part of a wave? Quite a bit. – We didn’t know we belonged to a trend until interviewers started asking about it, says Dagny. – We only sound like that here because we are us. “From another reality” After @uldoffisiell became a band with an Instagram profile and TikTok, life on the digital platforms has also brought some surprises. 120,000 plays of a clip where the three sit in the stairwell and sing polyphonically to a Gunvor Hofmo poem from 1948? Not a type of content the TikTok feed is usually overflowing with, this here. – I guess we are something… different, says Une. – People feel that they have discovered something new, even if it is not new, says Dagny. The whole band project arose while the three were together at Toneheim folk college, after they first met on the music line at Foss vgs. in Oslo. Une had suddenly signed them up to play at a festival, and the three needed a joint song. Une found the Gunvor Hofmo poem first, the others fell head over heels for the text. – Then we read a bit about what it is about and the story behind the poem, says Lucia. It is brutal. The poem was published in 1948. Gunvor Hofmo’s girlfriend, Ruth Maier, was sent to Auschwitz during the war on the cargo ship Danube, as one of 529 Jews. She never came back. It is scary to tamper with national heritage that many people have a relationship with, but it gives pleasure to bring old words to young listeners. They can still be moved by performing the song. – People have written to us on Instagram. “When I heard your music, I started thinking about something I experienced a long time ago, and it was so nice to get in touch with those feelings again,” says Lucia. Despite strong recommendations and wind in the sails: Uld has not yet set a deadline for recording an entire album. They are three about the decisions, which is not only easy, but they have to do it like this, decide things together. Hurry calmly. Already sold-out concerts await in 2025 in Denmark. Folk music’s place in the present/future, or the danger of becoming untrendy again, they don’t think about for a single second. When I leave the collective, everything in the living room is about practicing one more round before the concert. Rare item I asked Susanne Sundfør why she contacted Uld in particular. Susanne SundførRole model and outstretched handPhoto: Ksenia Novikova / news “I think it’s important that musicians who have been in the game for a while give support to the newcomers. Especially when they are as talented as Uld. They can write and they can play, rare goods in other words,” she wrote back. NEW DUET: Jon Ranes and Une Lorentze Onarheim performed a newly written song in Jakobs kirke. Photo: Ole Onstad Inside the church that evening when Uld gave his first concert, “rare thing” felt quite appropriate. The bubble didn’t burst, the harmonies raised goosebumps, tears were shed. In the packed church, the audience was completely silent, but the flood of instastories afterwards suggests that no one fell asleep. SLIDE MORE FROM THE CONCERT Photo: Ole Onstad – We want people to feel like they’re on a break when they listen to our music. We know that it can arouse a lot of emotion in people, we are grateful for that, said Dagny the day before. On my way out into the dark after the concert, I thought: Thank you. It rarely goes wrong with a hug of the kind that Uld gives. You may also want to read about:
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