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Thursday 12 June 2014

In a nutshell EMCD 'from Norway and Beyond' Compilation



Another high quality Songlines compilation focusing on music from Norway, and more circumspectly, beyond Norway. Lovers of Scandinavian music will find no surprises in the Norwegian selections. They’re stark, fiddle driven ditties that could just as easily been sung by an attractive Scandinavian witch in a hut with turf for its roof or by a snaggle toothed sailor on the bow of a Viking longship. I think being ginger gives me a predisposition to like this kind of stuff, it’s a genetic throwback.


Sadly this is a game of two halves, as the ‘beyond’ Norway selections are much weaker and break the flow and atmosphere of the CD. But that’s a small criticism as there’s so much to enjoy here.


My personal favourites are the timeless ‘L’Autre Jorne’ by Five Men in a Boat, the ultra stark ‘Stev’ by Gunhild Tommeras, and the eerie ‘Tankens Runer’ by Bodil Haug. Best of all is the nasal sea shanty from Jon Anders Halvasen ‘Skomakarvisa’.



It’s another low key, slow burning Scandinavian gem from Songlines and well worth hunting down from www.emcd.co.uk.  


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