Thursday, January 26, 2012

Gjøvik Spelmannslag and Nordic Harp Meeting - langeleik, kantele and various Scandinavian harps

Gjøvik Spelmannslag in Norway has a langeleik group. The town is north of Oslo on Lake Mjøsa. According to the group's website:
Gjøvik Spelmannslag er et allsidig lag med egen fele-, langleik-, torader- og bygge-gruppe. I tillegg kan vi presentere en rekke eldre instrumenttyper som norske harper, lyre, strykelyre, sekkepipe og diverse fløyter. Mange av instrumentene vi bruker er bygget av vår egen instrumentbygger-gruppe som har innredet et flott verksted, der det holdes årlige kurs i instrumentbygging.
Hosted the 3rd annual Nordic Harp Meeting in Gjøvik, in 2010. Here they are, playing a reinlender on YouTube:



Langeleikmøte på Gjøvik april 2011
Langeleikmeeting in Gjøvik april 2011

The Nordic Harp Meeting is an interest group (see below) of people who play Scandinavian, Finnish and Icelandic harps and folk zithers, including the Swedish psalmodikon group.

Nordic Harp Meeting home page at http://www.nordic-harp-meeting.se/ ... navigate by clicking on links to the left of the page ... describes the group like this:
Nordisk harpetræf - pohjoismainen harpunsukuisten soittimien kokoontuminen - Nordic gathering of musicians who play harp, lyre, kantele, langeleik and related plucked string. ...
The Nordic Harp Meeting is a gathering of musicians who play, build or simply like the harp, lyre, kantele and related instruments and who have a particular interest in music from the Nordic countries. We meet to get acquainted with each other, learn and teach tunes and play together. Everybody is welcome, no matter if you are advanced harper or beginner, professional musician or just curious! The purpose is to actively share our interests in plucked string instruments and music.

The Nordic Harp Meeting 2011 is made possible by financial support from the Nordic Culture Fund and Gjøvik spelmannslag. It will be arranged in cooperation with Broby Gamle Skole (Denmark), Gjøvik spelmannslag (Norway), Malmös medeltidsförening Torsheim (Sweden), Musikkulturföreningen Kantele- och Kalevala Vänner (Sweden), Nordiska psalmodikonförbundet (Sweden), Finnish Harpist Society (Finland), and Teater Kontur (Sweden).
More details, and music on the "Allspiel" page; click on "Allspel" on left and page will launch ...
The "allspel" is literally translated as "all play": all participants are invited on the stage or in the central place to play some tunes together. The tunes are taken from the common repertoire and can be downloaded here. All tunes are traditional and in public domain.
The allspel is usually led by somebody who knows the tune and makes sure that everybody starts in the same key and at the same time. For example, Maja Lillian Marcussen from Norway might lead the historical tunes Drømte mig en drøm (Denmark), Völuspá tune (Iceland) and Olav's sequence [music for all three].
Music from Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Iceland.

The 2011 programme has more information. There is also a year-long aevents schedule currently updated through the fall of 2011. The group has had meetings in Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark so far. Nothing posted yet for 2012.

CD with Marit Mattisgard playing langeleik (among vocals and other instruments) Tre ord te de (ta:lik). Blurb on CD Roots: "A beautiful collection of traditional Norwegian songs and tunes performed by Mattisgard (langeleik and vocal) and accompanied by Rolf Karlberg (voice, munnhørpa-jews harp), Ellen Marie Selland (accordion), Berit Selland (voice, flute) and Magne Olav Selland (hardingfele).

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