NORDIC ROOTS MUSIC

Näcken (neck' ken) is a "water sprite" and master fiddler, in Nordic legends, who lives in streams, waterfalls and lakes. When he plays, people cannot resist his captivating tunes, are thus drawn to the water and invariably drown. Some, however, must have survived and taken with them the best from the master to become Nordic Roots musicians who today play some of what must be Näcken's truly magical tunes for music lovers around the world.

Nordic Roots music can be very traditional music as well as a fusion of traditional folk material, techniques and instruments, presented in a very contemporary context. The fusion variety is essentially a mix of rock, jazz, heavy metal, Celtic and Nordic Music. The result is hauntingly beautiful "world music" that has placed Scandinavians squarely in the musical spotlight. Entertainment Weekly even declared (May 26) that Nordic Music was IN and Celtic Music was OUT.

"Nobody in their right mind could say that I've ever had anything to do with folk music," says the pop band Rozette's Per Gessle. "So when I heard the Vdsen album it was a real eye-opener. Exhilarating, yet hauntingly beautiful sounds that are pure honesty, something not to be sneered at in times like these."

The Nordic musicians who found inspiration in medieval ballads and musical traditions that had been passed down through the generations never really expected to find an audience beyond Europe. It was really by chance that US record executive Rob Simonds was talked into listening
through a pile of Swedish Roots CDs. He brought the albums home to his Swedishspeaking wife and they listened and became addicted and wondered "why music that good wasn't yet available in the States".

In 1997 Simonds started North Side Records in Minneapolis that has to date released 48 albums with Nordic Roots music (and on their www.noside.com site you can read more about their artists).

Their titles sell an average of 3 - 4 000 copies, with Vásen's Whirled being the top seller at around 10 000. If you want a nice intro, you should listen to North Side's Nordic Roots and Nordic Roots 2 CDs (for only $ 2.99 each), or the Lonely Planet's Guide to Nordic Roots Music. If you have a large record chain store like Tower Records or Peaches nearby you should have no difficulty in finding or ordering a wide variety of Nordic world music albums.

North Side organized the first Nordic Roots Musical Festival last year with some of their groups. It has now become an annual four nights in April tradition in the Minneapolis Cedar Cultural Centre, bringing in enthusiasts from all over the continent. Several tours are under way and the Swedish Frifot group just topped off its third US tour with an appearance on Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion radio program that has two and a half million listeners.

Garmarna are in Cambridge, MA when you read this and Hoven Droven is touring Canada. In September you can see Hedningarna and Wimme in Detroit, Bloomington WI, Chicago and Minneapolis.

Melding old notions and forging new impressions, the wave of new Nordic world music bands is attracting growing audiences of young fans in Scandinavia, Europe and the United States. Here are a few of the interesting groups to look out for right now.

SWEDEN

Väsen (Veh'sen) is an acoustic quartet that features an instrument unique to Sweden called the nyckelharpa (keyed fiddle) along with viola, guitar and percussion. Originally a trio, Väsen ("Spirit" in English translation) has renewed traditional styles of folk music and "can go from the sound of a classic string quartet to upbeat folk/pop in seconds" (www.drone.selvasen.html).

Ranarim is a quartet of two singers, an acoustic guitarist and a nyckelharpa player. Very poppy folk music, very fun and young.

Blending violin, saxophone, and electric guitar, Hoven Droven (meaning "Whatever helter skelter, things will take care of themselves") plays old waltzes and polskas like hard-rock anthems. The band adapts traditional tunes from as long ago as the 1700s, or the seven band members write their own material in a "collaborative process".

Singer Emma Härdelin and the four musicians in Garmarna do not write. their own lyrics, instead they use the texts from 1000 year old medieval ballads. The band, that takes its name from the dog-like creature Garm, that guarded the gates of hell in Norse mythology, has been compared to Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd.

Frifot with Lena Willemark, Ale Möller and Per Gudmundson has been voted the World Music Group by Roots World for its folk music- and jazz-inspired music.

FINLAND

Hedningarna (The Heathens) is really a Swedish trio that for a long time has been joined by the Finnish "runo" singers, Sanna KurkiSuonio and Anita Lehtola, creating "lush melodies, twisted rhythms and percussive bass from a lonely ancient northern glade" (and selling more than 80 000 albums).

Värttinä comprises of three very energetic female singers accompanied by a 6-piece band (fiddle, accordion, guitar, bass, soprano sax or Irish bouzouki, and drums) that has won over so many young rock listeners that many of their albums like Aitara and Kokko have sold gold, something almost unheard of for a folk band (www.digelius.com).

The very traditional JPP ensemble from Ostrobothnia with four fiddles, stand up bass and harmonium (pump organ) can sound like a refined chamber music ensemble in a minuet and then switch to a roaring polska or tango the next moment. Loituma is a quartet with fiddles, song and the national (string) instrument of Finland, the kantele.

NORWAY

Annbjorg Lien is a former child prodigy who plays the Hardanger fiddle (with resonating strings) and the nyckelharpa. Just back in Norway from a U.S. tour, she weaves a Norwegian tapestry from ancient and contemporary sounds from all over the world. You will also like the Chateau Neuf Spelmanslag - a big band with an incredible sound.

DENMARK

The band Sorten Muld goes further than most world music groups and melds traditional Danish tunes with electronic music. Ulla Bendixen's vocals are mixed with traditional instruments like the hurdy-gurdy and bagpipes, with samples, sequences and the international languages of techno and trip-hop.

ICELAND

When Björk first started singing ul her Reykjavik commune, she sang traditional Icelandic tunes. There are no recordings of these early performances, but you can still hear Björk's folk roots origins in many of her albums.

SAMILAND

Wimme Saari is a yoiker from Finnish Lapland whose yoiking (chanting) is very reminiscent of Native American vocal styles. Wimme is a modern yoiker who can be as inspired by an outboard motor as he is by the wind.

Scandinavian Press, Issue 3, 2000