response 1 of 41:

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

response 3 of 41:

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.

response 5 of 41:

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.

response 7 of 41:

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.

response 9 of 41:

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.

response 11 of 41:

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.)

response 13 of 41:

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.

response 15 of 41:

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.  

response 17 of 41:

Feb 19 00:55 UTC 1999

I just got even more promotional e-mail from the Northside Records
people.  
 
They are hosting a "Nordic Roots Music Festival" in Minneapolis, 
April 1-4, 1999.  
 
Northside is bringing in most of the Scandinavian bands which they license
and which I love:  Hedningarna, Vasen, Troka, Garmarna, Hoven Droven
are the big ones.  It's going to be like a Scandinavian Woodstock.
They are going to premiere a dance theatre piece based on 
Hedningarna's album TRA; I've been reading about that for a while, they 
hope to make it a Swedish "Riverdance."
 
Oh, my.  I am tempted.

response 19 of 41:

Mar 14 19:18 UTC 1999

I've only played "Karelia Visa" a couple of times.  I'm still trying 
to get over my crushed expectations.  "Karelia Visa" is a wonderful
album, lots of great singing, and if it had been recorded by any 
other Scandinavian band I'd be delighted with it.  
 
But Hedningarna have jettisoned so much of what I loved about the 
band in the albums KAKSI and TRA: the edge, the drive, the electric 
guitars, the bagpipes, the furious percussion.  
No one is going to mistake "Karelia Visa" for a rock album.

response 21 of 41:

Mar 18 19:42 UTC 1999

Sounds like the answer is "no."  Have you done any web searching?

response 23 of 41:

Oct 12 01:42 UTC 1999

Here's a prod to ask Twila to write something about last month's Frifot
show at the Ark.  I skipped it because I was just in a grumpy mood
that night, and then a week later the new issue of FOLK ROOTS magazine
arrived with Frifot on the cover, and a glowing article inside...
and Saturday night at the Roberts/Barrand show, the house PA was 
playing the Frifot CD before and after the concert, and it was very fine.
Sigh.