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Written in fRoots issue 263, 2005
 

GJERTRUDS SIGØYNERORKESTER
Jeg Er På Vandring
Lærdal Musikkproduksjon LMP 304

STREIF
Nøring
Lærdal Musikkproduksjon LMP 204

It’s a still not widely known fact that Norway is bursting with interesting and high-quality music, beautifully recorded and stylishly presented. Not just fiddles, jazz sax, church and classical music but pop, country and unexpected fusions.
      Time was when the Norwegian Music Information Centre dealt just with classical and sheet music, but now it’s following its Finnish counterpart’s example and making a serious export effort, including sending to journalists abroad hefty packages of selected CDs from labels large and small in all genres.
      The gathering process can take some time, so the batch arriving in late 2004 was mostly made up of 2003 releases. But a few of the more enterprising labels send their CDs abroad for themselves, which avoids being part of an impressive but daunting pile all arriving together, and means that things aren’t verging on too old to review by the time they get here. From the small label Lærdal Musikkproduksjon, based up in the fjordland county of Sogn og Fjordane and owned by accordion and euphonium player Tom Karlsrud, come two classy recent releases that deserve to be much more widely appreciated.

      Gjertruds Sigøynerorkester has been around for fifteen years, and comprises Gjertrud Økland on fiddle, Trond Villa on viola (in the 1970s and 80s he played hardanger fiddle in the pioneering Swedish/Norwegian band Folk och Rackare), Georg M. Reiss on clarinet and tarogato, Karlsrud on accordion, Hungarian cimbalist László Rácz, plus cello and bass. As the name signifies, they play Gypsy music, but for Jeg Er På Vandring they link it with two other connected bodies of tradition: Jewish music and the music of the Romany-speaking people of Norway, known there as Taters (pronounced, despite appearances, “tah-ter”).
      They’re joined by two very fine singers: Elias Akselsen, a Tater whose strong, commanding tenor needs to be more widely known, and Norwegian Yiddish singer Bente Kahan, who brings a German-cabaret sort of feel. The material comes from Russian, Hungarian and general Gypsy and Jewish tradition, and they do it exquisitely with complete integration, elegant arrangements and warmly emotional, world-class playing. One of the most enjoyable albums from any of its constituent genres I’ve heard.

      Reiss and Karlsrud also play, with ace acoustic and electric guitarist Torbjørn Økland and percussionist and occasional singer Birger Mistereggen, in the quartet Streif, which maintains the same high musical standard. The material on its third album Nøring draws mostly on Norwegian tradition, but they interpret it in constantly interesting and unexpected ways including influences from klezmer and Balkan music. The particularly beautiful slow Estlandsk Vuggevise features Mistereggen’s rippling marimba and glorious sky-sailing electric guitar from Økland.


© 2004 Andrew Cronshaw



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