Here are a couple of new albums by Norwegian women’s vocal groups singing in different folk traditions.
Øyonn Groven Myhren and Marit Karlberg first recorded together as members of the vocal group Dvergmål, which released albums in 1996 and 2004. Now they’ve teamed up on a unique album of songs that honor the traditional dance music of Telemark and Valdres in Norway. Using only their voices and simple sparse accompaniment on the lyre (Myhren) and the langeleik zither (Karlberg), they present 13 songs, largely Hardanger fiddle tunes to which lyrics have been added over the years or to which they sing in a type of wordless mouth music, in mesmerizing two part harmony.
“We are both deeply fascinated by the two-part harmonies inherent in much of the fiddle playing, especially in the sound of the Hardanger fiddle,” they say in the liner notes. “It often feels as if two independent melodic lines are playing together. When we arrange for two-part vocalizing, the Hardanger fiddle’s expression is an important source of inspiration.”
This is pretty obvious to me in the wordless songs like the second track “Gøytilsspringar,” and “Si du så du,” both of which are unaccompanied and may be among those noted as coming from village dance and round dance traditions.
Another that stands out is at the other end of the sonic spectrum: “Bonden og røven” has both the lyre and langeleik acompanying, and the vocals are in either unison or very simple harmonies, mostly in the singers’ lower registers. I like best the songs that pair the vocals in the alto and soprano range; the times that they both sing soprano, I confess it felt a bit like listening to The Chipmunks in Norwegian.
Other than that, this is a lovely project, packaged in simple beauty with a lot of information (unfortunately almost all in Norwegian) about the history of the songs and tunes, and the musicians from which they came.
Kvedarkvintetten (Cedar Quintet) sings traditional and tradition based unaccompanied songs in polyphonic harmony. For this project they’re singing works composed by Hardanger fiddler Jorun Marie Rypdal Kvernberg; the title Tagal means wordless, thus the singers are using purely wordless vocals, scatting or mouth music. Thus, it’s similar to Myhren & Karlberg’s Tostemt but really quite different.
Kvedarkvintetten is two groups of siblings: Silje Risdal Liahagen and Tonje Risdal Liahagen, and Sina, Margit and Helga Myhr. (You might recognize Helga from the Swedish-Norwegian trio Mojna, and the contemporary folk ensemble Morgonrode, in both of which she plays Hardanger and does some singing.)
“Until this collaboration, our repertoire had always been rooted in the singing tradition of Hallingdal, consisting almost exclusively of traditional material that we arranged in our own style,” the quintet says in the liner notes. “Working with material specially composed for Kvedarkvintetten was both challenging and inspiring. Jorun Marie provided the work in the form of sheet music and recordings. We read, listened, and shaped it into our expression with vocal syllables, rhythms, phrasing, and style.”
The ensemble premiered these songs at the Førde Festival in 2021 and at several concerts the following year, then recorded it with production assistance from Martin Langlie.
There’s an adequate amount of variety in this program to keep the listener’s interest, from the hymnlike opening track “Mela og mu” to the sprightly dance tunes “Agalaus” and “Kvelarspringar,” the strident “Ho oppa haia” with Balkan-style polyphony, and more.
The final track “Reisesong” sounds like it was recorded in a church or performance venue, with some real hair-raising harmonies.
(Grappa, 2025)
(Heilo, 2025)
