My friend Cormac O’Kane – on a high from last weekend’s Buddy Mondlock concert at his studio in Belfast, Red Box (see elsewhere on the blog…) – is putting on a short-notice BYO/whip-round gig for a Norwegian Bluegrass Orchestra, called Hayde, next Wedneasday, August 2, who find themselves in Belfast for a day without a show. I know, I know – happens all the time…
If anyone fancies it and can be in the Belfast area next Wednesday, come along.
I expect Locust and Kaisfatz can tell us all something about them. After all, Norway is just a few hundred yards down the road from Stockholm, isn’t it? 🙂
Here’s more info from the lads and lasses (or, indeed, ‘gutter og lasses’):
The Hayde Bluegrass Orchestra is from Oslo, Norway with a crew that consists of fiddle, banjo, guitar, mandolin, dobro and upright bass, and additionally they have the somewhat unconventional bluegrass instrument accordion with them as well. And of course lots of vocal harmonies! Their bluegrass is reaching back to Anglo-Saxon folk and American «Appalachian» old-time music and obtains material and inspiration from Hymns and blues. Their version of the Wayfaring Stranger has opened a way into the heart of the american audience and were voted best band at the Beeg Bluegrass festival in the Netherlands back in 2015.
members:
Rebekka Nilsson – Vocals
Joakim Borgen – Mandolin
Ole Engrav – Guitar
Mikael Jonassen – Banjo
Moa Meinich – Fiddle
Jonas Olsen – Upright bass
Emil Brattested – Dobro
Sjur Marqvardsen – Accordion
So, I can guess we can say that’s they’re now Beeg in Holland.
Apart from making the small correction of “gutter og jenter” I have no useful information to part with! 🙂
As much as I enjoy a healthy dose of “Americana” myself, I do wonder why so many musicians from other parts of the world, and especially Scandinavia, go in for it so enthusiastically. Any ideas?
Yes, I find it intriguing too – there’s a very strong bluegrass scene in Northern Ireland, with a notable festival every year somewhere near Omagh (I forget what it’s called). I don’t quite see the appeal myself – though I know several bluegrass players and always enjoy seeing them play ONCE IN A WHILE – but I feel no desire, ever, to buy bluegrass records.
So… Google translate let me down on “lasses” then? Huh!
As far as the Norn Iron side of things goes. American “Country” musical stylings seem to have had an attraction in British and Irish rural communities for a long, long time. I suppose Bluegrass is just a refinement of that, as mainstream US “Country” has become slicker, poppier and more corporate, Bluegrass is seen as retaining the old “country” values.
Also it may be seen as reasonably close to trad. folk in that it has a social music basis that mainstream country, rock, pop etc. do not have.
Or something.
Yes, the social music aspect of it – like trad – is certainly part of the appeal. I know people who spend time learning bluegrass standards on their instrument then go to banjo camps, or whatever, and sit around playing those shared tunes with others who’ve done the same. It’s something I can’t really see the appeal of myself – the learning tunes thing – likewise in the Irish trad world, sitting around in pub sessions waiting for the tunes you know to come around. I just can’t really see the appeal in all that. But I do see the appeal in people socialising, and if that’s the thing that allows them to do it, fair enough.
I’d like to see a lot of these musicians and singers relying less on the “standards” of their genre and producing more original stuff to evolve that particular canon.
This isn’t an original or even bluegrass, although it’s played on 2 bluegrass-typical instruments at a bluegrass festival.
(Sam Bush & Jerry Douglas – Sailin’ Shoes/Crossroads/Sailin’ Shoes)
But Sam Bush and Jerry Douglas are about as far out of their box bluegrass musicians as you can get, both at the peak of their prowess. Transcending genres is their game. Heck, even Tiggs and Col would have some respect for them. Or should.
One for Col, given his being a Uillean pipeman.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktjlu0BjOkM
A sensational performance indeed, Mike. As retro says though, Sam and Jerry are not typical bluegrassers. Here’s Sam with ‘Mahavishnu Mountain Boys’:
Very agreeable indeed. I would certainly go and see them. I will if they come here.
When I arrived here, I too presumed that many artists would be PanScandinavian and that Swedes would know a lot about Norwegian and Danish acts. Wrong. It is the exception rather than the rule.
When we did a thread on Danish music recently, that polymath Locust was struggling to name more than a couple of Danish artists.
I’d say that in order of familiarity with musical acts from each country, as a Swede, the list goes:
Norway
Iceland
Denmark
Finland.
(Although I can actually name more than a couple of Danish artists, but arriving late to that thread, most of the others I knew were already mentioned by then! 🙂 )