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Written in fRoots issue 286, 2007
 

STREIF
Nordic Winter
Ozella OZ 015 CD (2007)

KNUT REIERSRUD & IVER KLEIVE
Nåde Over Nåde
Kirkelig Kulturverksted FXCD 313 (2006)

Put on records like these two and the world becomes a calmer, more optimistic place. Not the spineless, rootless ambience of new age music, but the gutsy playing of shapely traditional tunes, in this case those of Norway, whose tradition is full of airy melody and the open sound of the natural scale. No fiddle, hardingfele, jew’s-harp or langeleik here though, it’s the more transnational sounds of reeds, acoustic and electric guitars and, on the Reiersrud/Kleive album, church organ; but the spacious approach to the music, its strong roots in tradition and the CDs’ high production quality are a characteristically Norwegian phenomenon.

      Nordic Winter is by the quartet of Georg Reiss (clarinet, tarogato and soprano sax), Tom Karlsrud (accordion and euphonium), Torbjørn Økland (guitar, mandolin and trumpet) and Birger Mistereggen (percussion and marimba). Though it’s a compilation of remastered tracks from two earlier albums on their own Lærdal Musikkproduksjon label (2004’s Nøring was reviewed in fR 263), it flows and sounds as a complete, fresh album, not a patchwork.
      It opens with an Estonian lullaby, and the first four tracks are largely serene and reflective, but exciting doesn’t have to equal fast. Reiss’s reeds and Økland’s electric guitar soar ecstatically together, Mistereggen’s marimba ripples darkly. The tempo picks up on track 5, Bessleiken, where Økland’s trumpet and Karlsrud’s accordion and Mistereggen’s darabukka solo over a restless klezmerised kopanitsa 11/16, and on into a perky clarinet march, slowing again to a stately, spacious waltz. Hjemlandsklokker is a blow of fuzzed Santana-like electric guitar and wild soprano sax, after which in glides the quiet, distant, nostalgia-redolent final Ballade.

      Another album to cast balm on the soul in a clattery world is the third set recorded by Norwegian blues guitarist Knut Reiersrud and organist Iver Kleive in the cathedral of Odense in Denmark, of music founded on the beauty and satisfying forms of Norwegian traditional melodies augmented by compositions by Reiersrud and others. The wide dynamic range goes from quiet pattering ripples through serene, airy floating of acoustic and electric slide guitars over a murmuring organ to the coruscating snap of strings and huge crashing organ chords resounding through the enormous reverberant space of the cathedral.
      Neither plays a ‘traditional’ instrument, but Reiersrud and Kleive are giants of today’s Norwegian music. Whether one goes for this album, or one of its predecessors Blå Koral and Himmelskip, or one of their solo albums (Reiersrud’s Tramp, featuring Kleive, Paolo Vinaccia, Juldeh Camara, Alagi M’Bye and the Blind Boys of Alabama, is particularly hugely recommended, as is Kleive’s Kyrie which combines church organ, churning Hammond, drummer Vinaccia and a gospel choir) prepare to re-evaluate what you might have thought Norwegian sounded like.
      www.ozellamusic.com, www.kkv.no


© 2007 Andrew Cronshaw



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