Issue 26 10/2003

Norwegian Lindberg Lyd (2L) is more than a label, rather a project to bring down barriers and represent acoustic music free from the strains of genre. Morten Lindberg, head of 2L, says: You can have a musical experience and the feeling of a musical mood independent of what kind of genre. what we are interested in is a musical experience within an acoustic world, and there is no limit, we don't have any limits. Thus 2L is doing traditional and folk music as well as jazz and classic and everything inbetween. They usually leave the sterile studio environment and record in churches and concert halls. Four examples here (see some other reviews in the German section):-
Flukt means soaring and spill means play. An apt description, because this folk trio music is going for high altitudes. Flukt consists of Sturla Eide Sundli on fiddle and Hardanger fiddle, Øivind Farmen on accordion, and Sondre Meisfjord on bass. The repertoire is Scandinavian to the heart, traditional dance tunes, religious songs and a bit of the original. But sometimes they wander between the worlds, e.g. squeezing a tune written by Sturla between two Irish reels. Great tunes, tight playing. Additionally guest singer Heidi Skjerve gives us three songs.
Sturla Eide Sundli is partner in another project, here with acoustic guitarist and occasional Irish bouzouki player Andreas Aase calling themselves simply sturla|andreas. Both are based in Trondheim, the record was done at the Sofienberg church in Oslo. The traditional fiddler and the contemporary guitar player, yet it's quite sensible accompaniment, try to find the core of the tune. It follows that even Norwegian traditional music is rocking; the marches and springleiks, tunes that reach back to the 1850's. On the other hand, even "St. Ann's Reel," the mother of all American old-time fiddle tunes, sounds as it ever was a Nordic tune. Music that's glimmering (I assume it's the same meaning in Norwegian).
Majorstuen is, I'm told, a township of Oslo. The group with the same name perfectly embodies the spirit of 2L. This six-piece ensemble, described as Sibelius meets the Barra MacNeils, has to be compared with the Irish Bowhouse Quintet (-> FW#12). That means playing traditional tunes and own compositions in the folcloristic mould, but by conservatory-trained musicians of Norges Musikkhøgskole (Norwegian State Academy of Music in, you guess, Majorstuen) and semiclassical instrumentation: six fiddles, sorry violins!, and the occasional viola and cello. Even a chamber ensemble wants to have fun.
The magnificent steel blue of a Winter Moon, an eerie warm light on the cold snow... That's the inspiration for Vintermåne, which means - certainly - winter moon. Vocalist Anne Gravir Klykken, accompanied by saxophone (Frøydis Grorud), piano and keyboard (Torjus Vierli) and occasional percussion and flute, perform a mixed bag of Norwegian folk songs. The magic of the traditional tunes hangs in the air of Lommedalen church where the tracks have been recorded. There is no major development in sound throughout the disc; the music flows on and on and on. Kind of lazy, laid-back jazz tunes. But it warms in the cold of winter.
Lindberg Lyd AS
Walkin' T:-)M

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© - Editors of FolkWorld; Published 10/2003

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