Cheerful, Joyous, Thoughtful, Provocative Music
Erika Borsos | Gulf Coast of FL, USA | 06/19/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Anders Norudde creates an exciting musical journey into the heart of Swedish folk revival music. On this solo album he plays any combination of the following instruments: low-tuned fiddle, Swedish bagpipes, various flutes (inexpensive tourist type bamboo flute among them), the hurdy gurdy, and morharpa (a three-stringed keyed fiddle, made after an original one which survived from 1526). He also has one guest musician: Goran "Freddy" Frederiksson who plays guitar and bouzouki. Anyone who loves Irish, Scottish, and Celtic traditional music and its more modern revived stylizations and anyone who loves American traditional music, including bluegrass would find this music appealing.
The unusual combination of rhythms, melodies, and traditional instruments creates cheerful and joyous tunes that become hypnotizing and trance producing. Some of the music is haunting and contemplative. There are warm melodies with beautiful trills and original musical phrases. It is hard not to start tapping ones feet, swaying to the music, and getting up and creating dance steps across the floor. The music has exhilarating rhythms and very pleasing combinations of notes.
Some of my favorites include: #10 "Hard Tune" which is a beautiful composition played on bagpipe and guitar. It contains some some amazingly complex joyous musical pathways. # 11 "Hamborgar" is a very pleasant and cheerful tune played on willow flutes. # 12 "Twin Waltz" is a very fine tune with highly appealing memorable melodies played on the morharpa. # 15 "Polska from the Laundry Room" composed by Anders Norudde is a tremendously complex piece played on the fiddle. It will have you either whistling or humming along. Overall, every single track on this CD is a creative and enjoyable musical journey. This CD is most highly recommended. Erika Borsos [pepper flower]"
Brilliant tunes from the Heart of Hedningarna
Erika Borsos | 03/26/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The Swedish progressive group Hedningarna has a certain Sound. When the instrumentals and vocals are stripped away, the amazing tunes and strange modalities remain underneath, and you can hear them here in their full glory. Himself is a solo effort by Anders Norudde, one of the founders of Hedningarna. The tunes on this album are brilliant: some are original and some traditional, but all of them grab you the same way that Hedningarna's music grabs you, and then some. Himself may not please everyone as it's on the austere side, consisting of solo fiddle, Moraharpa (a relative of the Swedish nyckelharpa), and Swedish bagpipe. But for anyone interested in hearing or better yet playing new Nordic music, this album should be a treasure trove of exciting new tunes."