response 16 of 41:

Jan 15 22:45 UTC 1999

I just got promotional e-mail from the Northside Records people.
They announce the new Hedningarna album for US release on February 23.

response 18 of 41:

Mar 3 03:30 UTC 1999

Well, on the same day that I got "From Dublin to Dakar", I also got
Hedningarna's latest "Karelia Visa". It has two women vocalists (Sanna
and someone whose name I can't recall, but she's good...) and the usual
male lineup. It's very very good, a bit less experimental than Tra or
Hippjok in that the songs are presented "straight", and the liner notes
mention that they'd learned the songs originally from books and now they had
managed to travel to Karelia, and hear the way the traditional singers 
sang them, and that they were honoring that. There is still the intricate
harmony between the two women, and still the same mix of instruments, as 
far as I can tell, but the singing seems to be paramount. Much less jazz-
influenced, as well. I like it quite a bit, tough "Kaksi!" is still my
favourite Hedningarna album, simply because it was such a revelation when
I first heard it.

response 20 of 41:

Mar 14 22:08 UTC 1999

Recently I heard a few songs from a band by the name of Komedia, from
"someplace in Scandinavia".  I wouldn't call them "roots music" exactly, but
I was wondering if any of you knew anything about them.

response 22 of 41:

Mar 18 21:39 UTC 1999

No, I haven't... I'll try that.

response 24 of 41:

Oct 17 22:41 UTC 1999

Hi! Well, hmmmm. What to say? They were even more glowing in person,
though I don't think there were seventeen whole people in the audience, and
at least two of us were journalists. The cow-calling song rang from the
rafters, the cow-horn playing (which sounded very much like a bombarde, but
also was played very like a saxophone) was cool, and the other traditional
instruments were played well. I think Bruce was dreading it, as Ken knows,
he dislikes my collection of Scandinavian music, but he loved it. He said that
they sounded like a mixture of Celtic and Russian music, which is reasonably
true.

response 26 of 41:

Oct 28 21:30 UTC 1999

Two new collections to note for Twila and maybe others.
The first is a collection from the Institute for Folk Music which is 
part of Finland's Sibelius Academy.  I think it's called "Finnish 
Folk Song Through The Ages."  It includes two tracks each from 
Hedningarna singers Sanna and Tellu, plus two more by the all-woman
group Me Naiset, plus a bunch of other stuff.
 
The second is a second promotional sampler from the Northside label, 
which has been flooding the market with contemporary Scandinavian issues.
I hope *somebody* is buying their output, they are putting out more 
than I can keep up with.  Anyway, the new compilation is called 
NORDIC ROOTS 2 and it should sell for $3 or $4.

response 28 of 41:

Oct 29 12:39 UTC 1999

I've only bought a few used Northside albums, since my funds are rather
limited. I'll definitely pick up NORDIC ROOTS 2 though.

response 30 of 41:

Apr 28 00:53 UTC 2000

JPP & Vasen, The Ark, April 26 2000:
 
This was the truncated version of the Nordic Nights 2000 tour; 
fiddler Annbjorg Lien and her band were also touring with JPP and Vasen,
but for some arcane reason they needed to be in New York last night.
 
JPP is a Finnish fiddle band who I've been aware of for quite a few 
years.  Four fiddles, upright bass and a harmonium.  I think I felt 
this was a little too much fiddling for my tastes, but Leslie like it
quite a lot -- said it was very symphonic -- and she was the one who 
was motivated to buy the JPP CD.
 
Vasen I liked better with their more varied textures: nyckleharpa 
(keyed fiddle), viola, guitar and percussion.  Lots of the long loping
rhythms which they seem to share with the music of Hedningarna and 
Hoven Droven.

At the end of the night, both bands came on stage: ten musicians, 
six of them playing fiddles or variants.  Some nice tunes, some of 
which swept into breathtaking loud passages.

Addendum to my resp:14 about the previous Vasen concert:
it appears the Vasen percussionist is of Italian descent, not Sami!!!

response 32 of 41:

Jul 1 00:58 UTC 2000

i have many of the albums already talked about, plus i have
the solo project from sanna kurki-suonio called 'musta'.
i read the lyrics ahead of time, and was very excited about the
overtly heathen/pagan influence.
but once i played it, i was a bit disappointed with al but 2 songs.
<polska release, and johda mua>
the album had so much potential, but came off kind of wimpy.
she even did a cover of the tuuli song from TRA renamed on
here as 'TUULEN NOSTATUS' which came in a poor second to the
hedningarna version she was on with wimme.

i would recommend getting 'wizard women of the north' which has a
lot of high energy shrieking in it, as well as some instrumentals.
tellu has a few songs on it also.

songs from the cold seas, arranged by hector zazou is kind of interesting.
actuall, i like it.. but i am not real fond of the jazz overlay on
many of the songs.

response 34 of 41:

Jul 8 13:27 UTC 2000

a friend of mine is going to be in sweden, and i told her to
look for a particular album for me.
it is 'suden aika' by tellu.
i liked her contribution to 'wizard women'. i tried to get it here in
the states, but no luck.  northside didnt have it either.

response 36 of 41:

Jul 12 02:26 UTC 2000

The Tellu album never appeared in Ann Arbor, Twila, I'm pretty sure I 
got a copy for you.  Iggy, take a look at www.digelius.com, which is 
a Finnish firm specializing in exporting this music to the west.  
I have not yet tried ordering anything from them, but there is a second
Tellu album I want to get.

I used to get this sort of thing from ADA in the U.K., but that company
has changed hands recently and I haven't seen how they are after the 
shakeup.

response 38 of 41:

Aug 11 22:49 UTC 2000

I tend not to worry about song translations, iggy, so I probably 
do not have one for you.
 
I tried to find some information about the Detroit Festival of the Arts,
the organization which is sponsoring Hedningarna's appearance in 
Detroit next month.  I could find nothing on this year's festival on
the web; don't they know it's 2000 already?
 
The week after their Detroit appearance, Hedningarna is scheduled 
to do a show at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago.
At least I know where *that* is; I can always drive to Chicago if
I can't get more information about the Detroit appearance.