Kjenslevarulv

On a Friday afternoon in the autumn of 2017, Andreas Hoem Røysum and I strolled from Oslo’s Old Town, through Greenland, making a pit stop in Gaza Kitchen, over The Border, up through the Palace Park and onwards to Uranienborg Church. A few days earlier we’d seen a poster - or was it a slightly worn A4 page printed at someone’s house? - with a picture of four beautiful musicians, a bit timid-looking but smiling warmly to the camera. Below the photo was written: Dei Kjenslevare - Meditative music seeking tonalities and timbres from a time past. Our antennas shot up, and with good reason: The music we heard that afternoon burned its way into our hearts. We felt like archaeologists who had just discovered the remaining structures of a prehistoric pagan site. We learnt that Dei Kjenslevare is an ensemble that falls between several stools. Around them, one where the Norwegian folk music tradition is sitting, and next to that, one that the Euro-American contemporary music has found. Then, close by, sits the Norwegian pioneer Eivind Groven. Groven succeeded in building a theoretical foundation for just intonation in folk music. He constructed an organ with chords based on overtones, and in this way was able to integrate the tonality of folk music with that of art music. Thankfully, it is possible to talk to stool sitters if ones sitting on the floor, too. The common subject in this conversation is the interest in just intonation, microtonality and older types of tonality, amongst others those that don’t go up in the octave. Dei Kjenslevare is definitely inspired by the tonalities of Norwegian folk music. You can hear the echoes of the fiddlers Andres K. Rysstad, Erling Kjøk and the Dahle Tradition of Telemark, of singers such as Ragnar Vigdal, Gunvor Uleberg and Aslak Brekke, as well as the old langeleik (droned zither) scales documented by Erik Eggen. From contemporary music their inspiration springs from composers who, each in their own way, made use of microtonality, starting with the pioneers of the 1920’s and 30’s (Wyschnegradsky, Haba and Carrillo), through to the timbre pioneers of the 50’s and 60’s (Scelsi, Xenakis, La Monte Young, Cage, Tony Conrad, Ligeti, Penderecki), right up to the Spectralist movement in the 1970’s, which started with Gerard Grisey and is still alive and kicking (Murail, Harvey, Benjamin, Haas). Put together, these sources of inspiration create a portal into a magical world brimming with uplifting sonic vibrations. The music on this record takes the hand of the listener and guides them to a place of calm. In this tranquility there are tonalities which sound both mysterious and comforting, like something unfamiliar that you feel inexorably drawn towards. This music does not take the form of traditional slåttar (tunes) and stev (short songs), but tradition surrounds it and seeps through it. By presenting a perspective on Norwegian folk music that tears down the barriers between traditional folk and abstract contemporary music in a fundamental way, we trust that those with antennas tuned into the right frequency will find their way to new audible rooms. Perspektiv på norsk folkemusikk is a series on Motvind Records that deals with different traditions that is characterised by giving us a feeling that they bring out a soulfulness that sheds light over a certain significance by the essence of Norwegian folk music. The purpose of the series is to give people that want to listen to Norwegian folk music a broad selection of expressions that hopefully will inspire to further listening and reflections. ‘Kjeslevarulv’ is the fourth edition in this series, after Helga Myhr's debut album "Natten veller seg ut" that came out in the autumn of 2019, and Thov Wetterhus' hard-hitting "Stålslått" and Naaljos Ljom self-titled debut album from 2021. With the combination of unique music and elegant design, we hope that these albums will be sought after collector's items for those who know that physical format still is the most soothing format.