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Written in Folk Roots issue 191, 1999

GUNNFJAUNS KAPELL & VISBY ALLMÄNNA SÅNGEN
Volund
Sjelvar SJECD 12 (1998)

A mightily melodic folk-epic-opera, music by Jan Ekedahl and words by Eva Sjöstrand and arranged and performed by the band of which Ekedahl is a member, Gunnfjauns Kapell, with the folk music choir Visby Allmänna Sångförening arranged by Mats Hallberg. They’re all from the Swedish Baltic island of Gotland, a place still full of reminders of its turbulent medieval history as a strategic base for trade throughout Europe and the Middle East.
      Drawing on the sagas of the Icelandic Edda, and inspired by the 8th-century picture stones on Gotland, this new-forged song cycle tells of the skilful smith Volund, maker of the sword that at Ragnarök would send fire over the world. King Nidad steals Volund’s treasures and cuts the tendons of his knees, but Volund cuts the throats of the king’s sons, rapes his daughter and takes to the sky on eagle’s wings, fights the gods for his woman, and is killed by Thor, who hurls his eye into the sky where it becomes a star.
      I hesitate to compare, but if the folk-rooted choral music in Shaun Davey’s The Pilgrim reaches you, so will this, with its narrative solos (largely from Gunnfjauns Kapell’s Gunnel J Mauritzson), strong instrumental playing, and winding anthemic recurring choral themes that persist in the mind long after the last track has died away.


© 1999 Andrew Cronshaw
 

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