release date: 18.02.2022 on Hubro
Hárr*, alternates between traditional tunes from Norway, free improvisational music, American minimalism, and extensive use of musique concrète as a prominent element in the compositions, with sounds from reindeers, birds, insects and reindeer herders from Hardangervidda integrated into the music. Recording brings the feeling of nature in to the music and indicates an equality of all the creatures who are inhabiting the planet Earth.
On top of that wide understood respect comes the specific methodology of the recording making, which intentionally is omitting the notation and relies on the spiritual, sensual and ever changing tissue of the music. It is a wonderful tribute to the Planet, Nature, all Life in general as a never-ending inspiration. But it is also a tribute to the musical tradition which being passed by mouth and feeling. In short, it is a tribute to the wildlife and people of Maruset.
” Here is what Benedicte says about the product in her own words, giving more backgrounds into what is happening here and how did it happened. Additionally linked below episode 26 of the Soundmaking podcast expands even further all the information below and gives a musical examples as a quotes, helping getting even deeper spiritual connexion with the project which reflects today’s people hunger for simple, intoxicated and harmonious life living more than anything else I came across during recent years.
A few years ago, musician, writer and philosopher David Rothenberg invited me to join him in several musical projects involving the sounds of unique birds from around the world. While I stayed in Berlin we also gave some live outdoor concerts, playing with nightingales in various parks late in the evening in the city. Playing with these incredible birds changed how I listened to animals in nature. During the same period Hardanger Musikkfest, an annual festival arranged in my home region of Hardanger, commissioned new music from me for their 2019 festival.
The festival theme that year was “vandring”, a word with many different meanings such as walking, hiking or strolling. I had grown up at Maurset, in the mountains of Eidfjord municipality, close to the edge of the Hardangervidda National Park, and had gone hiking in this region throughout my life. So the festival theme felt close to my heart.
I have also felt involved with and connected to ecosophy (økosofi), founded by the Norwegian philosopher Arne Næss (1912-2009). This is based on the view that humans are part of an ecological system that is interdependent with nature, and that all of life and all of nature’s rich diversity have equal value. I wanted to include this perspective in the commissioned work “Hárr” as a way of focusing on its role as a creative inspiration, and to refer to the philosophy by using musique concrète from animals and human beings living, harvesting or simply enjoying the mountains’ gifts and abundance throughout the centuries. All this was combined with musical themes and fiddle tunes composed on the Hardanger fiddle, and later arranged and improvised together with the other musicians involved in the commissioned work.
In many ways creating music and hiking are the same thing, at least to me – they evoke an awareness of beauty, deep listening and presence when our spirit is open. You can experience them alone or share them with others, in silence or in conversation. Both require time, effort, patience and repetitive continuity. Both are also a reminder of something else, something larger than the individual self, that makes one feel forever humble as a human being “.
Benedicte Maurseth
PS The cover photo was taken on Hardangervidda around 1930 of my great-great-grandfather Frantz Gustav Andersson Törna (Sæbø), originally from Vesterbotten in northern Sweden. He came to Hardanger while working as a reindeer herder, and also served as a cabin host for hikers at Litlos tourist cabin, and later in Hadle on the Hardangervidda.
Special guest appearances: reindeer, European golden plover, bumblebee, running water at Tinnhølen, rock ptarmigan, rough-legged hawk, great snipe, Arctic loon, common crane, mountain owl, and the voices of Brita Fykse, my great-grandfather Leif Maurseth (1902–1970), my great- great-grandfather Frantz Gustav Andersson Törna (Sæbø) (1888–1968), and Sjur Varberg (1926–2019).
BENEDICTE MAURSETH : Hárr
CD / LP / DL – 18th February 2022
HUBROCD2645 / HUBROLP3645
Tracklist:
1. Augnast (3:19)
2. Heilo (7:32)
3. Reinsdyrbjøller (5:49)
4. Kollasj I (2:41)
5. Eidfyrder (4:16)
6. Hárr (3:51)
7. Hreinn (6:18)
8. Kollasj II (4:18)
9. Snø over Sysendalen (5:16)
Line up:
Benedicte Maurseth: Hardanger fiddle
Mats Eilertsen: Double bass, electronics
Håkon Stene: vibraphone, marimba, percussion, electric guitar, electronics
Guest appearances:
Jørgen Træen: electronics
Rolf-Erik Nystrøm: saxophone
Stein Urheim: langeleik, harmonica, electronics, samples, percussion
*Hárr is the Norse name for Hårteigen, the most distinctive mountain on the Hardanger Plateau.