Thursday, February 28, 2008

Old Norwegian religious ballad singer

Heard on Radio Norway's streaming audio folk music channel "Alltid Folkemusikk," a singer named Bodil Haug performing a religious song called "Ved dig min Jesus bestandig jeg bliver." A cappella. Sounds modal, or minor. A lot of ornamentation. I want to hear more.

Haug graduated from the University of Bergen with a major (hovudfag) in ethnology. She took part in a seminar on "bevaring av autentisk tradisjon eller nyskaping" sponsored by the Norsk folkemusikklag og Ole Bull Akademiet på Voss, etnomusikologi og Arne Bjørndals samling ved Griegakademiet - Institutt for musikk, Universitetet i Bergen og kulturvitskap ved Institutt for kulturstudiar og kunsthistorie, Universitetet i Bergen. A Norwegian record label called Etnisk Musikklubb (Ethnic Music Club) has a brief bio in its blurb on Haug's CD "Snart lyset sig mon svinge" (scroll down till you see the title and click on the CD cover graphic):
Snart lyset sig mon svinge - Bodil Haug, Knut og Ole Aastad

EM25
- Traditional Folk Songs and Norwegian Langeleik
- Bodil Haug: Songs Ole & Knut Aastad Bråten: Langeleik, Lyra
- Her songs sound best in a light and bright voice. For the last ten years they have been among the foremost langeleik-players.

BODIL HAUG was born on January 29th, 1970, in Aal, Hallingdal. Little by little she developed her own style of singing and musical expression. As she grew older she became especially fond of religious songs used by lay people. Also many of the concerts at the Folkmusic Festival at Aal were important for the further development of Bodil’s musical interests. Her songs sound best in a light and bright voice. Bodil is very talented, a generous and positive woman. She sings her songs with respect and humour, and her musical expression can be both flirting and challenging. She possesses an analytic mind and a sharp tongue, and has many young admirers. Folkmusicians and folk singers are just simply musicians of our time, Bodil says. What else could they be?
Audio clips are available and mp3 files can be downloaded on the Music from Norway website, a joint venture between institutions in the Norwegian music business including Nordmanns Forbundet and the Music Information Centre of Norway.

Note: I'm switching in and out of English because I can't translate all the Norwegian without a dictionary, and want it where I can easily find it when I have time to read it more carefully. I hope the plagiarism police will understand I am not representing anybody else's ideas or words, especially those I don't understand yet, as my own.

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