Despite being somewhat put off by the packaging and,
especially, the minimal and fairly trite sleeve notes ("…resembles a
good game of chess"!), this is one of the most compulsive CDs to have
come my way for quite a while. I suppose I enjoyed it on two levels,
firstly for the music itself, at least some of which is nothing less
than magnificent, and also for all the other wonderful and varied music
it reminded me of. The aforementioned commentary mentions Scandinavian
and Gaelic folk music, as well as religious tunes (Nordic hymns presumably)
as influences but there is much more besides.
The basic trio of Sundli, Farmen and Meisfjord is ably
complemented on several tracks by the wistful vocals of Heidi Skjerve
(think Nordan's Lena Willemark or even a Swedish Sandy Denny!) and Erlend
Skomsvoll's plangent harmonium. One look at the instrumentation alone
should give some indication of the territory we are in and those listeners
recently enthralled by Geirr Tveitt's recently rehabilitated works might
like to sample the Hardanger fiddle based tracks as an example of the
type of material which sourced his muse. Likewise, devotees of Jan Garbarek's
most overtly Nordic works (e.g. Legend of the Seven Dreams and
his collaborations with Sami songstress Mari Boine) will find much to
savour here. The tracks represent a mixture of traditional arrangements
plus newly composed music (some by band members); the latter, however,
sounds so authentic that there is a pretty seamless feel to the whole
undertaking.
Although there is hardly a weak link here, my personal
favourites include Bryllupstoner which sounds like an old English
sea shanty (of the type kept alive by the likes of Bill Meek and John
Conolly on their By Humber's Brown Water record) meeting up with
a Lutheran hymn tune, and the following track Reel-potpurri in
which we are transported to the gaeltacht of Ireland's western
seaboard. Other points of reference which emerge include the fiddle
music of both Cape Breton Island and Appalachia, and a fluid, underpinning
bass often reminiscent of the great folk-jazz inspirations of Danny
Thompson, John Renbourn and the rest of the Pentangle "extended family".
The aforementioned Hardanger fiddle tunes also make explicit something
apparent in late, more experimental (almost Bartókian?) Grieg
(Slatter etc.); the connection (something that Jan Garbarek has
often referred to, in his interviews and his music) between the folk
music of Scandinavia, the Balkans and beyond (Asia Minor, India and
the far East).
I would view this disc as part of a wider picture of
what Percy Grainger affectionately called "North Sea music" (but would
have been better described as music from the North Atlantic seaboards),
a living tradition characterised, whether in "classical" or, as in this
case, "folk" format, by its respect for the value of what has gone before
combined with an openness to new influences. Flukt deserve to gain a
wide audience for this disc - there are certain tracks, including the
favourites mention above, that communicate just as directly and profoundly
as recent classics of a comparable provenance, e.g. the Chieftains with
Elvis Costello and Anuna on "A Long Journey Home" and cult Breton harpist
Alan Stivell on his superb Au-dela des Mots album. Highly recommended
to anyone with a taste for an evolving but traditionally rooted sound,
this CD is lovingly performed and recorded in an intimate but highly
appropriate acoustic.
Neil Horner
Heidi Skjerev, voice