Label: BIS Catalog: SACD2013 Format: SACD / CD Hybrid
Emilia Amper: nyckelharpa & vocals Johan Hedin: nyckelharpa / Anders Löfberg: cello / Dan Svensson: percussion, guitar, vocals / Olle Linder: percussion, guitar / Helge Andreas Norbakken: percussion / Strings from the Trondheim Soloists
Traditional and new Nordic folk music, arranged and composed by Emilia Amper:
Till Maria; G-mollpolska efter Anders Gustaf Jernberg; Ut i mörka natten; Isadoras land; Trollfuglen; Polska fra Hoffsmyran; Herr Lager och skön fager; Brännvinslåt från Torsås; Pigopolskan / Den glömda polskan; När som flickorna de gifta sig; Kapad; Bredals Näckapolska; Galatea Creek; Vals från Valsebo
Emilia Amper, nyckelharpa player and one of Sweden's most exciting young folk musicians, has devised a programme which demonstrates the numerous facets of her own musical personality, and of her instrument. With its roots stretching back to medieval Europe, the nyckelharpa ('keyed fiddle') that we know today was most common in a small part of Sweden and almost died out in the middle of the twentieth century. Lately it has made a remarkable comeback, however, and there are an increasing number of performers in Sweden and around the world. Firmly grounded in Swedish traditional music, Emilia Amper has also worked with musicians from many other backgrounds, and regards folk music as a common international language, and a way of combining tradition with spontaneous improvisation in a playful reflection of our own times. Consequently, on Trollfågeln ('The Magic Bird') a traditional dance tune such as Bredals Näckapolska stands next to Emilia's own take on rock music, Kapad ('Hijacked'), which she performs with a string quintet from the Trondheim Soloists with added percussion. Similarly, Ut i mörka natten ('Into the Dark Night'), a song about budding love that she's written and composed herself, is contrasted with Herr Lager och skön fager, her setting of a poem from the late 1800s describing the sad outcome of another love affair... In turns hypnotic and meditative, joyous and melancholy, Trollfågeln is a breathtaking roller-coaster of a disc.
Trollfågeln comes in an attractively designed digipak, with a full-colour booklet containing photo material and an introduction in five languages (Swedish, English, French, German and Japanese), as well as texts by the performer about the music and the nyckelharpa in English and Swedish.
Emilia Amper became world champion on the nyckelharpa in 2010, the same year that she was nominated to two US Grammy Awards together with the Trondheim Soloists, Gjermund Larsen and 2L.
Price: $28.98