Category: Norwegian

Sigrid Moldestad: Tonen i meg

July 7, 2021

We all have strengths and frailties, multifaceted personalities and lives, good and bad days. On Tonen i meg (The Tone in Me), Sigrid Moldestad, the Norwegian singer-songwriter-musician, joins forces with Sigrid Moldestad the playwright to explore, shake and sing the inner human riddles that mold identities and worlds. Contrasting colors rotate on her musical landscape, light emerging from darkness, power from timidity, beauty from sadness—or vice versa … More Sigrid Moldestad: Tonen i meg

Sen Svaja: Kraitis iš pelkės / Dowry from a Swamp

January 12, 2021

Three women who present themselves as pixies, mixing real and mythic realms. Three pillars: Smart theatricality; venue (a biodiverse marsh); and group name (Sen Svaja), from an Old Prussian term meaning “with family,” implying not only blood but also those adopted from outside. The sundry elements of Dowry from a Swamp work and play in the service of darkly magical folk songs, five from the … More Sen Svaja: Kraitis iš pelkės / Dowry from a Swamp

Sigrid Moldestad: Vere Her

April 18, 2018

Sigrid Moldestad’s stature as a composer rests on more than her exquisite melodies. OnVere Her(Being Here) she aligns elements of nature and imagination—love and mortality, stress and relief; rain and sun; memory and hope; yesterday, today and tomorrow—finding joyful, nostalgic and melancholic beauty in life’s twists and contrasts. Though rooted in Norwegian folk, Moldestad nonetheless allows her songs to turn like flowers toward whichever genre … More Sigrid Moldestad: Vere Her

Sigrid Moldestad: Så ta mitt hjerte – Dei beste songane

December 19, 2016

Poets and writers from Ecclesiastes to Aeschylus, from Shelley to Kahlil Gibran, have described the thin line between joy and sorrow, but peerless is the musician who can erase the line and capture both emotions in a single note. The Norwegian folksinger, fiddler and composer/lyricist Sigrid Moldestad is that rare artist—in every sweet word a seed of loss, in every wintry chord a memory of flowers. Rooted in her nation’s rich music, she … More Sigrid Moldestad: Så ta mitt hjerte – Dei beste songane

Ingebjørg Bratland: Berre meg (Just Me)

September 2, 2015

Listening Post 10. Perusing the bleak scenes at Oslo’s Munch Museum, you can be forgiven for thinking that Norway’s most renowned painter worked only in winter. Ingebjørg Bratland’s songs focus more on singing larks and summer meadows. What the two share is uncommon artistry. Munch’s piercing insight keeps despair from leaping out of the frame … More Ingebjørg Bratland: Berre meg (Just Me)