Svensk-norska folkmusikgruppen SVER presenterar sin nysläppta skiva Legacy.
This album is our way of giving thanks to and praising the people who played, sang, danced, and taught the traditional tunes that are the foundation on which our musical expression stands. We felt that it was time to go back to the roots and make an album with only traditional tunes. But not just any tunes, we picked the best of the best from Norway & Sweden.
This is our legacy!
This album was recorded live and is completely free of chopping. All arrangements by
SVER.
SVER:
Olav Luksengård Mjelva – Fiddle, Hardanger Fiddle & Octave Fiddle
Anders Hall – Fiddle & Viola
Leif Ingvar Ranøien – Two-Row Accordion
Oskar Reuter – Guitar & Mandolin
Jens Linell – Drums
Texts about tunes:
- Perigarden – Laus, Hallingdal
One of our favorite halling tunes! Perigarden is a well-known, punchy, and happy tune from Hallingdal. Perigarden was also known to be a good fiddler.
- Trollfuglen – Pols, Hedmark
In 2002 the fiddlers Mats Berglund, Göran Håkansson, Atle Lien Jenssen and Olav Sæta released the album “24 polsdanser frå Finnskogen”. Finnskogen is an area that is found along both sides of the Norwegian and Swedish border. This album was for many people an introduction to the folk music traditions of Finnskogen, and it played a part in making this music more accessible for a bigger audience. More than 60 years earlier (1939), the
“folk music general” of NRK (Norwegian broadcasting), Eivind Groven, visited Gustav Kåterud in Våler and made several recordings. One of the tunes recorded was this
polsdans called Trollfuglen. “Trollfugl” is a local name for capercaillie. - Skog – Polska, Hälsingland
A magical polska that Anders got from his teacher Jonas Olsson (1965-2010) from Järvsö. Jonas died way too young in 2010. “Skog” is found in the well known Swedish music book, “Svenska Låtar” and is attributed to fiddler Johnny Schönning (1894-1966). - Homslien – Gangar, Setesdal
One of the best gangar tunes we know. Originally a tune from Setesdal in the south of Norway, transferred and arranged from Hardanger fiddle to two-row accordion by Tom Willy Rustad. - Lördagskvällen – Polska, Hälsingland
A party polska after Lars Fredriksson (1870–1946) from Vallsta, Hälsingland. This tune is an imagination of the perfect Saturday night out. - Toingen – Springar, Hallingdal
This hallingspringar has its name from Knut Christensen Thoen (1818-1872) from Nes. He was known as the best fiddler in Hallingdal in his time. The form we play is based on a recording with the great fiddler Egil Syversbråten from Hemsedal. - Den Blåkledde – Springleik, Gudbrandsdalen
This atmospheric springleik was made by the legendary fiddler Hans W. Brimi (1917-1998) from Lom in Gudbrandsdalen, Norway, for his album “Hyljarhildring”. The album consisted of his compositions and many different fiddle tunings were used. Fiddle
tuning: DDAE. - Gymnastikken – Reinlender, Agder
One of our favorite fiddlers, Ånon Egeland, learned this funky tune from Sigurd Fjeldstad (1903-1984). Sigurd said this was a “reinlender” that he heard from the local
accordion player Torleif Jensen. “Gymnastikken” was the name of the town hall in Tvedestrand where Torleif played. - Brännvin – Polska/Schottis, Småland
The second tune in the set is a brännvinspolska (spirit polska), written down by Knut Håkansson and comes from the legendary fiddler Eringa-Petter (Per Bengtsson
1822-1859) from Virestas in Småland, Sweden. Eringa-Petter’s life ended tragically when he fell off a horse and died in 1859. With the help of Magnus Gustafsson, we found out that many of the older polskas with an even beat were played as a schottis during the
19th century. We decided to take the tune back to its original form, so the first tune is our idea of what the original polska could have sounded like. - Tamnes – Pols, Røros/Brekken
This is one of the very few tunes in the key of F in the Røros tradition. Olav learned it from his friend Mads Kuraas, who learned it from a recording of fiddler Jørgen Tamnes (1915-2000).
- Draumen – Polska, Härjedalen
Olav learned this happy polska from one of Härjedalen’s finest fiddlers: Anders Thunell.
One night during his college days in Östersund Anders woke from a nightmare, from which he struggled for some time to recover. Bringing out his fiddle, he played this
beautiful polska. He could hardly name it “Nightmare Polska”, so from that day on he called it “Draumen” (“The dream”). The tune is a transcription from Halvar Åslund, but Tage Magnusson in Tännäs asserted that it’s a polska from Glöte. Now, however, it’s only a dream. - Valser
This set contains three of our favorite waltzes:
- Joskvarnleken. A beautiful waltz from Dalarna in Sweden.
- Vals etter Tor Tut. Another hit from Ånon Egeland’s repertoire. Tor Tut (Tor Torbjørnsen) was a fiddler who loved his drink. He came from a remote croft called Tut,
in Gjerstad in the southern part of Norway. Ånon’s sources are Kittel Ånonsen and Aage Hjellen - Vossavalsen. We love Voss and we love waltzes. Let’s end this album with a Vossawaltz!