– There is one thing or another in the wind during the day, it seems. Suddenly it branches out in so many different ways. Anders Sundsteigen Hana is a musician with a long career in experimental music. He has dabbled in electronic music, avant-garde, improv, techno, jazz, noise and the most remote subgenres of rock and metal. Now the inspiration comes from a completely different tradition. Archive recordings in the car stereo – I have listened exclusively to archive recordings of Norwegian folk music for five years. I have it in the car, have it at home. That’s the only thing I listen to. Anders Sundsteigen Hana has tried many genres, but now the inspiration comes from folk music. Photo: LARS ARNE LINDLAND / news In recent years, Hana has learned to play the langeleik, harding fiddle, harmonica and microtonal guitar. He believes that the driving force comes from the unique tonality of the oldest recordings of Norwegian folk music, before he was tempted to use it commercially. Microtonality Microtonality refers to musical intervals that are smaller than a semitone. In Western popular music, twelve equal intervals within an octave are common. If your ear is only used to hearing moderately tuned instruments, which use a western scale, microtonality may appear unfamiliar, or sour. Split tones – I was saved by the tonality aspect in the old recordings where you can hear that the fiddlers were very free musicians when they played, says Hana and adds: The fingerboard on Hana’s guitar is not like other guitars. Here, the band is arranged for microtonality. Photo: LARS ARNE LINDLAND / news – Nobody cared about the accordion scale, or the piano scale. They were the ones who claimed that it sounded like they were splitting notes in folk music, and that’s what triggered me. In addition to creating her own version of Norwegian folk music in constellations such as Naaljos Ljom and Malmin, Hana wanted to create an environment for this music in her hometown of Stavanger. The result was the concert series Gorrlaus, which will highlight music similar to that found in the archive. According to Hana, the concerts have been surprisingly well attended by all kinds of people, with an age range among the audience from 18 to 85. The ambitions are for the club to grow further, but he hopes for a little more dancing among those present. Alexander Aga Røynstrand and Per Anders Buen Garnås perform music in the attic of Tou Scene in Stavanger. Photo: Anders Sundsteigen Hana / Gorrlaus – In June we intend to do an experiment with a lightning course in Suldalsspringar for the public. There are already many people in Stavanger who know that folk dance. We will try to get the audience to dance Suldalsspringar in the Tou loft. I think it could work. Night club with folk music Similar things in other parts of the country too. Tuva Syvertsen is best known to many as the frontman of the band Valkyrien Allstars, and she wanted to combine Norwegian folk music with nightclub activities. – It springs from own needs. I thought it would have been cool to go to a club in Oslo at night, and hear and dance to folk music. Tuva Syvertsen. Photo: Hagen, Per Ole / news The result was Tuva’s Blood Club, a nightclub concept with concerts and DJs, which is held once a month at Riksscenen in Oslo. The more the concept was sharpened in the direction of narrower Norwegian folk music, the more people turned up at the club nights. – Blodklubben presents a phenomenon that you only experience at a race game and village festival. The kind that people within the environment love, but which is not easily accessible to others. Some people dance folk dances, others do what they want. Syvertsen says that the club concept has become a gathering place for the church sound, but that there are still many curious people who are not well versed in the music. Since it starts at 11pm in the evening, there is a preponderance of young people present. Erik Sollid and Tuva Syvertsen. Photo: Anders Sundsteigen Hana / Gorrlaus – On the dance floor there are many people who dance leaps, who are well into folk dance, and who are good. And then there are people who just dance what they want. It’s wonderful to solve that. Although Syvertsen assures that the Blood Club is open to everyone, she makes no secret of the fact that it is an underground phenomenon and that it should be somewhat secretive. On the premises of folk music That Norwegian folk music has merged with new forms of musical expression is nothing new. Hans Kjorstad grew up surrounded by traditional music. He plays and composes music at the intersection between folk music, jazz, improv and contemporary music. Hans Kjorstad plays the harding fiddle together with his brother Rasmus Kjorstad. Photo: Johannes Selvaag He believes that genre mixing now takes place on the premises of folk music. Not just as a spice in an already established tradition. – In the past, it was often jazz and dance musicians who took hold of folk music by setting a tight accompaniment to a folk melody and connecting it to dance and rock aesthetics. What is in the present tense is rather to take hold of the unique elements. – Høyrest ut as club music abroad Kjorstad is part of Motvind Kulturlag which organizes festivals, publishes magazines and records. Among other things on the record company called Perspectives on Norwegian folk music. A Norwegian-made harmonica from Bø (bottom), and one from Kharkiv in Ukraine (top), photographed in Anders Hana’s studio. Photo: LARS ARNE LINDLAND / news Among the releases we find the record “Ståslånt” by Thov G. Wetterhus, who was nominated for Spellemann for 2021. An entire album of slåts performed solo, with only harmonica playing and accompanying stomping. It has received glowing reports abroad. – They couldn’t understand that this is dance music that people dance to. To people abroad, it sounds like club music. And it is, in a way, says Kjorstad. Kenneth Lien, Thov G. Wetterhus, Hans Hulbækmo, and Anders Røine play at Motvind i Middelalderskogen. Photo: Hans Kjorstad / Motvind Kulturlag The National Library broods over the cultural treasure Kjorstad also finds his main inspiration in unique archive recordings to which one still has to apply for access. He is sure that many people interested in music would have had a completely different relationship with Norwegian folk music if they had had easier access to the archive. Therefore, he has an encouragement for national librarian Aslak Sira Myhre: – The national library should take action and create a proper portal for archival recordings of Norwegian folk music. I can help him with that, if needed. Mountain facility for the preservation of cultural heritage in Mo i Rana. The hall ensures that paper archives, films, pictures, music, sound, books and other things that Norwegians have produced throughout history can be preserved. Photo: Frank Nygård / news Assistant national librarian Roger Jøsevold replies to news in an email: – The National Library has prepared an estimate to replace the archive system for folk music (Fiol) that is used by Norwegian museum institutions today. This will cost in excess of NOK 9 million to establish, after which it will have an annual cost of well over NOK 2 million. A digital public portal is added to this. The further plan for the investment must be decided in dialogue between the Ministry of Culture and the museum institutions.
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New players bring Norwegian folk music tradition forward by looking back in the archives – news Rogaland – Local news, TV and radio
