Trollfågeln - The Magic Bird
Till Maria (for Maria) [5:00]
G-mollpolska efter Anders Gustaf Jernberg (Polska in g minor)
[3:25]
Ut i mörka natten (into the dark night) [4:55]
Isadoras land (Isadora’s land) [3:50]
Trollfuglen (the magic bird) [2:25]
Polska fra Hoffsmyran (Polska from Hoffsmyran) [4:02]
Herr Lager och skön fager (Herr Lager and the fair beauty)
[3:08]
Brännvinslåt från Torsås (Drinking song
from Torsås) [2:40]
Pigopolskan / Den glömda polskan (The Maid’s Polska
/ The Forgotten Polska) [5:08]
När som flickorna de gifta sig (When young women get married)
[4:05]
Kapad (Hijacked) [4:44]
Bredals Näckapolska (Näckapolska after Bredal) [3:01]
Galatea Creek [3:19]
Vals från Valsebo (Waltz from Valsebo) [8:56]
Emilia Amper (nyckelharpa, vocal); Johan Hedin (nyckelharpa); Anders
Löfberg (cello); Dan Svensson (percussion, guitar, vocals); Olle
Linder (percussion, guitar); Helge Andreas Norbakken (percussion)
Strings of Trondheim Solistene (Johannes Rusten, Daniel Turcina (violin);
Frøydis Tøsse (viola), Marit Aspaas (cello); Rolf Hoff
Baltzersen (double bass))
rec. April 2012, Länna kirka, Sweden, and Trondheim Frikirke, Norway
BIS BIS-SACD-2013 
[59:42]
This is one of those recordings which immediately
make me wish I’d grown up in a land with the kind of folk traditions,
tales and exotic instruments as those of the Scandinavian regions. True,
the UK has a vast and varied history and an increasingly burgeoning
folk music circuit, but Morris dancing doesn’t quite hack it in
comparison to your Norwegian scales and rhythms, especially on the showing
from this fine release.
Brian Wilson briefly mentioned this disc on his December 2012
Download
News. The nyckelharpa isn’t such a hard instrument to grasp,
though the opening
Till Maria is a more enigmatic exploration
of its possibilities, opening with upper harmonics in similar ways to
ECM people like Paul Giger and Walter Fähndrich. This improvisatory
folk-flavoured piece, the voice joining with the instrument in a plangent
lament, to a certain extent sums up Emilia Amper’s intentions
with this recording: “…my love and respect for tradition
merge with an on-going, exciting and occasionally also painful exploration
of my own boundaries and those of my instrument.” The nyckelharpa
is given a more traditional workout in the
Polka which follows.
The sound is not dissimilar to a fiddle, but with a hint of glass-harmonica
nuance thrown in and some extra little mechanical noises which are a
natural part of the keys with which the strings are ‘played’,
the bow being the driving force behind those strings’ vibrations.
This “kaleidoscopic mix in which traditional dance melodies confront
newly composed items inspired from other countries as well as pop, rock
and chamber music” is inevitably something of a mixed bag, though
with Amper’s voice and instrument as a high-class unifying factor.
Ut i mörka natten is something like a cross between an arrangement
from
Rolf
Lislevand and the chilled bass-lines of the Buena Vista Social Club,
and the Brazilian influences in
Isadoras land has us up and dancing
or bust.
Trollfuglen is one of those rhythmically ‘impossible’
traditional dances on solo nyckelharpa, “the final beat in the
bar being a little shorter than the two preceding it.”
Polska fra Hoffsmyran brings in the string orchestra and, like
strings used in jazz, I have yet to make up my mind if this works to
the music’s advantage. Still, with plenty of oomph and subtle
percussive effects this little piece has plenty going for it.
Herr
Lager and the fair beauty is a sweet song which ably resists sentimentality
while sailing close to some pop stereotypes. Still not sure about those
strings…
Some of the best of these pieces are those performed solo, and the
Drinking
song from Torsås is one of those inimitable tunes which sounds
as if it is emerging from the nyckelharpa for the first time.
The
Maid’s Polska /The Forgotten Polska is a gorgeous duet with
two nyckelharpas, Johan Hedin’s sympathetic strings creating extra
magic in the kind of medley you could only dream of hearing late at
night around a smoky camp fire.
When young women get married
funks things up with some African influences, the irrepressible beat
creating an infectiously supple dancing drive in the music.
Kapad
or ‘Hijacked’ is Amper’s answer to rock music for
the nyckelharpa and very fine it is, with a few power chords and limited
harmonic movement creating a basis from which some incredible percussion
noises emerge.
The last three numbers round us off with another remarkable solo,
Bredals
Näckapolska, which is said to have magical properties, a marvellous
dancing tune inspired by the Canadian landscapes around
Galatea Creek,
and a fairly downbeat finale with the Nyman-esque minor-key
Vals
från Valsebo, missing only a choir of wailing saxophones to
top of the effect.
I would say this is one of those ‘try before you buy’ releases,
but if you are open to interesting new sounds, some genuinely fascinating
folk music and one highly talented person’s moves within and beyond
those traditional influences, then this disc will indeed shake off a
few layers of dust and probably revive your interest in foreign travel.
The SACD recording is top-notch, and it is an honour to have been in
the presence of such fine musicians.
Dominy Clements
