Helga Myhr has had a remarkable recording career considering she’s just barely in her early 30s. Remarkable in terms of both volume and variety. The Norwegian Hardanger fiddle player and singer has been a part of many projects across the folk and experimental spectrum, starting with the vocal group Kvedarkvintetten’s self-titled debut in 2016. I first noticed her as part of the contemporary folk group Morgonrode’s 2020 album Du milde verden, still one of my favorite releases of the decade, and I’ve also reviewed Kvedarkvintetten’s 2024 release Tagal, Mojna’s Mareld and Väntenätter, as well as Erlend Apneseth’s amazing Song Over Støv from 2025, and Hans Kjorstad’s fiddle-centric Dålågjel from earlier this year. One I didn’t review was Klangkorpus, her highly experimental 2024 album with cellist Tanja Orning; we’re talking Edgard Varese meets Pierre Schaeffer level of experimental music here.
Her solo debut was on Motvind, 2019’s Natten veller seg ut (The night is rolling out), combining traditional and contemporary folk, and featuring both Myhr’s fiddling and vocals. Now her second solo effort Slåttespel puts the focus squarely on her fiddling and on traditional Norwegian dance music from her home region of Hallingdal. This is the music that got her named Norway’s finest Hardanger fiddle player at the 2025 National Championship for Norwegian Folk Music and Dance (Landskappleiken), an event that’s been going on since 1896.
She’s playing three fiddles here, made by Gunnar A. Røstad (1915), another by Anders C. Kleven (1898), and the newest one by Gjermund Tjønn (1974). And I swear that at times it sound like she’s playing all three at once. Her bowing technique is remarkable, and when added to the extra set of resonating strings that makes a Hardanger a Hardanger, the sound generated is impressive.
All that said, I’m not much of an expert on Norwegian folk dance music. Although I can definitely identify a waltz, I usually depend on the tune’s title to tell me whether it’s a springar or a laus or some other form. (I first encountered the laus, also known as hallingdans, at Celtic Colours in 2013 as performed by two of the three members of Nordic Fiddlers Bloc — Olav Mjelva played the tune on his Hardanger fiddle while Anders Hall performed this athletic dance which ended in him taking a high kick and knocking a hat off a tall pole.)
Anyway, this is amazing music, wonderfully played by Helga Myhr. I’m probably not going to listen to an album of 15 solo Hardanger fiddle tunes very often, but individual tracks will definitely go on my Nordic trad playlist. And boy would I love to start this album up at a dance at Portland, Oregon’s historic Norse Hall and watch the fun begin. Definitely recommended for lovers of the Hardanger fiddle and deep aficionados of Nordic traditional folk music.
(Motvind, 2026)
