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Grex > Music2 > #113: Scandinavian Folk & Roots Music | |
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| Author |
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krj
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Scandinavian Folk & Roots Music
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Feb 11 19:05 UTC 1998 |
This item spins off from the world music item, I guess... I decided to
enter it after learning in party that Font is a Hedningarna fan.
Also, I got a couple of mailing list items which I can pass along to
Twila:
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| 41 responses total. |
krj
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response 1 of 41:
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Feb 11 19:07 UTC 1998 |
From: Mattias Mattsson <Mattias.Mattsson@icast.com>
To: hedningarna@cdt.luth.se, kari@zengarden.fi
Subject: Sanna Kurki-Suonio
Hi All,
This email has been lying around in my mailbox for some time now
and I finally got around to share it with you:
>
> Hi there,
> Just to inform you that we (Zen Garden Records) have signed SANS, the
> new group fronted by Sanna Kurki-Suonio - known from Headningarna.
> They've been in studio and the first single or Ep will be out on March.
> All the best,
> Kari Hynninen
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krj
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response 2 of 41:
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Mar 14 21:19 UTC 1998 |
I haven't had any luck in learning any about Sanna's new project.
The web pages for Zen Garden Records in Finland seem to be rather
static.
The two brilliant Hedningarna albums, KAKSI and TRA, get their
long-awaited USA release on Tuesday. I expect to become quite
tiresome on the subject. I'm playing KAKSI right now at roof-shaking
volume; six years on and I'm still madly in love with it.
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krj
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response 3 of 41:
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Aug 10 05:23 UTC 1998 |
The Northside label, which is issuing all sorts of interesting
Scandinavian folk'n'roots music for an American audience, has a
new CD sampler out called NORDIC ROOTS. Twila mentioned to me that
Borders has restocked it; they also have it in a play station, so
you can check it out before you invest the mammoth sum of $3 in it.
20 tracks, 78 minutes, $3; I think almost every track is worthwhile,
but then I already own about half of the albums.... anyway, if you
are at all curious about this stuff, here's a great opportunity
to get a taste.
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mcnally
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response 4 of 41:
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Aug 10 21:32 UTC 1998 |
Hmmm.. For $3 that certainly sounds worth a listen..
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anderyn
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response 5 of 41:
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Aug 12 03:55 UTC 1998 |
Oh it is. Fantastic. I had several of the albums, too, but it's a great
compilation.
Vasen is coming to the Ark in September.
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mcnally
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response 6 of 41:
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Aug 14 05:58 UTC 1998 |
Bought the sampler and like it reasonably well on first listen --
a little bit more Scandinavian folk music than I'm ready for in
one sitting just yet but I can see why krj likes Hedningarna,
their tracks stood out to me as fairly interesting even at first
liten, I liked their mix of obviously traditional styles with modern
influences. I'm not sure I'll ever flip over them the way krj has
but now that their albums are apparently (reasonably) available in
the U.S. I may have to check one out..
Recommendations?
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anderyn
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response 7 of 41:
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Aug 14 19:26 UTC 1998 |
Kaksi is my fave. It is the one with the two women vocalists and is
more accesible than Tra. Hippjok doesn't have the women singers,
but it's got jojking on it.
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orinoco
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response 8 of 41:
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Aug 15 17:50 UTC 1998 |
(clueless question - what is 'jojking'?)
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krj
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response 9 of 41:
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Aug 15 21:51 UTC 1998 |
"joiking" (spelling seems to vary) is a Sami (Lapp) style of
improvisational singing. That's the best I can do off the top of my head.
As for the Hedningarna CDs: KAKSI, the first one with the two women
singers, I just love to death: I played it literally every day for six
months after I got it. It's one of the perfect albums.
TRA, the other album with the women singers, is more complex in places
and has some great tracks, but isn't perfect.
But since I have to go visit Mike anyway to pick up a CD he bought for
me, I should just bring over one or both of these so he can borrow them
for a bit.
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anderyn
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response 10 of 41:
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Aug 16 00:47 UTC 1998 |
And of course therre's the American compilation which has stuff from
KAKSI and TRA on it. It's maybe not perfect, but it's a nice intro.
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krj
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response 11 of 41:
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Aug 16 05:14 UTC 1998 |
(That Hedningarna compilation was FIRE, on Sony/Tristar. It was
utterly unpromoted -- Schoolkids, which usually stocks world music
stuff, never got a copy -- and is now out of print.)
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anderyn
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response 12 of 41:
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Aug 16 20:13 UTC 1998 |
But Borders did get copies, which is weird.
So did Tower.
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krj
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response 13 of 41:
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Sep 1 20:11 UTC 1998 |
Elderly Instruments's catalog lists a new Varttina cd, VIHMA.
I thought I had read that Sari Kaskinen has left the band, and she
was sort of its guiding spirit, so I have no idea what to expect here.
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krj
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response 14 of 41:
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Sep 21 02:58 UTC 1998 |
Vasen, The Ark, Sunday September 20:
Nice show; almost a chamber folk sort of ensemble, although that may
be too polite a description for them. Instrumental lineup:
a conventional fiddle, a nyckelharpa (keyed fiddle), percussion and
guitar. There were a lot of the long loping melody lines which
characterize Swedish folk music. I suspect the drummer was Sami:
partially from the dress, partially from the Native American feeling
that a lot of the percussion had.
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anderyn
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response 15 of 41:
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Sep 21 17:26 UTC 1998 |
Hhmmmm. Yeah, that might make a lot of sense (that the drummer was
Sami) -- I actually *blush* thought he was a girl throughout, since I
only saw him from the side and sitting down, and I took the hair
feathers to be a weird kerchief until I saw him up close.
For me, it was a very nice show -- I liked it a lot more than I thought
I would -- since I usually don't enjoy totally instrumental bands, this
was a surprise, but I didn't even get bored in the middle of some of
the longer songs. I *really* liked the drumming, and the odd other-
worldly effects he got out of his set-up, and I also liked the nyckel-
harpa quite a bit. Very effective.
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