All the singles from our folk music project are released now!
We are so excited to share our Folk Music project with you!
We have made five singles and videos which were released on streaming channels and our YouTube channel in the past weeks.
Here our first single of our own arrangement of traditional joiks collected by Sigmund Lillebjerka (1931-2015) for 2 hardanger fiddles. This music takes you straight to the vast plains of Finnmark, where the joik is one of the oldest song traditions in Europe. If you listen carefully, you may hear the wolves accompanying the joik....
A traditional "Scottish" dance from Lom
One of our absolute favourites, we have learnt this dance from Nils Økland (1961-), who learnt it from Knut Kjøk (1948-2016). Knut's father Erling Kjøk (1913-1999) is known as the source of this dance, which was written down in violin duet form by Magne Bø (1924-2005). The Kjøk and Bø families were key players in the Lom traditional music scene in Gudbrandsdal.
A psalm from Kvæfjord arranged by Bjørn Andor Drage (1959-)
This beautiful psalm is from Kvæfjord which looks west to Lofoten. The text is by Petter Dass (1647-1707), a legendary theologian and poet, from Alstahaug in North Norway. The first line of the psalm goes like this, "As the light of day diminishes, Oh Lord please be our light!" The melody was written down by Hans Christian Bergersen (1835-1924), who was a teacher and church chorister in Kvæfjord from 1874. The Engegård Quartet have been playing this song for many years and it is one of our favourite encores.
See the full version here
A traditional dance from Telemark, and a string quartet arrangement of Edvard Grieg's (1843-1907) version of this dance, by Nils Anders Mortensen (1971-)
A traditional folk dance describing a forlorn farmer looking for his bull. The hapless man eventually falls asleep, when he is visited by a damsel who not only knows where the bull can be found, but also promises future happiness. Johan Halvorsen (1864-1935) wrote the dance down from the legendary Telemark fiddler Knut Dale (1834-1921). Edvard Grieg used Halvorsen's transcription as the basis for his well-known Slåtter Opus 72, composed for the piano. In this recording the Engegård Quartet moves between the traditional folk dance and Grieg's version arranged for string quartet by Nils Anders Mortensen.
A traditional folksong from Eide on the West Coast of Norway, arranged by Bjørn Andor Drage (1959)
A bridal march with a twist... here is a charismatic piece based on the Norwegian tradition of a fiddler leading the bride and the wedding guests, to her bridegroom. A journey with mixed feelings....
… with huge thanks to our record company LAWO Classics!