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Written in Folk Roots issue 144, 1995

IVER KLEIVE
Kyrie
Kirkelig Kulturverksted FXCD 142 (1994)

TONE HULBÆKMO
Konkylie
Grappa GRCD 4095 (1995)

Two albums which, though they contain only snatches of traditional melody, are fine examples of the extraordinarily innovative, highly sophisticated and deeply rooted music happening in Norway. Both are stunningly well produced and packaged, and have the confidence and authority that’s becoming a norm for Norwegian releases, particularly on Kirkelig Kulturverksted and Grappa.

      Iver Kleive’s main instrument is church organ, which given the strong strand of church music in the Norwegian tradition is pretty much a traditional instrument. But his use of it shows an attitude that has never penetrated the dusty recesses of the organ loft in any other country. He’s part of the creative nexus in Norway bringing innovation and brilliance to each other’s projects - he played a major role in Knut Reiersrud’s wonderful Tramp album, collaborated with Annbjørg Lien on her Felefeber, and with the magnificent Kari Bremnes on her earlier albums.
      So much was to be expected of his own album, and in Kyrie it’s more than delivered. Opening with limpid piano, a hint of thrilling Hammond B3 behind it, a female gospel lead, then a soaring quartet, then the full choir, building and building with Paolo Vinaccia’s percussion reverberating around St.Joan of Arc church. That’s just for openers; for the second track it’s into swingy percussion, church organ, churning Hammond and an enormous riff as the percussion thunders, pulling back over the sounds of a church at prayer. Reiersrud’s slide guitar shows up next, as Kleive hums a quiet theme over piano and percussion. And on it goes - velvety quiet moments, immense grooves, huge space, finishing up with Nåde, the over-the-top opening theme for the Lillehammer Winter Olympics based on a folk-tune and written by Kleive and Reiersrud.

      It’s a while since Tone Hulbækmo’s last album, and in Konkylie it’s clear the time hasn’t been wasted. She and Hans Fredrik Jacobsen have obviously worked long on this big project, in which wide influences are brought to bear on their settings of texts by poet Halldis Moren Vesaas. Settings of poetry can often result in unsatisfactory songs, but there’s a grand tradition of notable success in this sort of thing in Scandinavia - for example Kari Bremnes’ and Kjetil Bjørnstad’s Løsrivelse album of Munch texts, and Sweden’s Elise Einarsdotter’s use of work by a variety of poets including e.e. cummings sung by Lena Willemark. This is up there with them.
      Styles vary, reaching into Arabic music, and in God dag even touching on an almost Eurovision poppiness (sorry; I know, it’s that E-word - it’s sad that an occurrence in an event no-one gives a toss about can so colour perceptions of one of Europe’s most musically interesting nations). For instrumentation, they use whatever’s needed: Hulbækmo’s Norwegian harp, Jacobsen’s stringed and wind instruments including oud, reeds and flutes (he’s a particularly fine player of the seljefløyte, which appears occasionally here), and keyboards, drums, electric guitar and more played by a nucleus of a further three musicians with sessions from others such as Annbjørg Lien on hardingfele and an non-slushy exotic string section in which appears another maker of a recent notable fiddle album, Per Sæmund Bjørkum.


© 1995 Andrew Cronshaw
 

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