Search - Ketil Bjornstad :: Seafarer's Song

Seafarer's Song evokes the kind of hypnotic beauty that had

Nitya Nadesan | Mercer Island, WA United States | 06/14/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Ketil Bjornstad - Seafarer's Song (info gathered from various sources)



Catalogue No: Emarcy 986 577-7 International Release Date: 15th March 2004



Ketil Bjornstad's Seafarer's Song evokes the kind of hypnotic beauty that had critics reaching for superlatives on albums such as Grace or The Sea. Recorded live at the 2003 North Norway Festival in Harstad with group he describes as "the finest musicians I know," this sixteen piece suite continues Bjornstad's quest of investigating, as he puts it, "The possibilities of melody at a time when melodic elements are often reduced to fragments."



Seafarer's Song brings together the special talents of singer Kristin Asbjørnsen, trumpet-player Nils Petter Molvær, cellist Svante Henryson, guitarist Eivind Aarset, bassist Bjørn Kjellemyr and drummer Per Lindvall. With only a few days of rehearsal, their remarkable performance and the intensity of their live collaboration lingers in the memory long after the CD has been returned to its sleeve.



Performed in Harstad, one of the most beautiful settings on the Norwegian coast, it inspired Bjornstad's thoughts to turn to the dangerous splendor of the local coastline and its history of shipwrecks. In many ways Seafarer's Song is an ode to the sea, yet it is something more. " I wanted to portray the happiness of finding a safe harbour, and the tragedy of those who don't," says Bjornstad,.



Using the north and south as political metaphors, "Dreaming of the North," and "Dying to Get to Europe" explore the emotional trauma of African refugees in search of a better life in the industrialized north. It is an album of floating, hypnotic moods, with Bjornstad's piano mediating the flow of the music that somehow captures the anxiety and drama of the fleeing refugees on "I've Been Hungry All These Years" and "Refugee's at the Rich Man's Gates."



Asbjørnsen's haunting diction illuminates both libretto and melody as Bjornstad succeeds in translating meaning from the eternal dichotomy of the human condition, the gulf between the haves and the have nots. Climaxing with a reflection on the Arab/Israeli conflict, "I Many Times Thought Of Peace", he creates an album of stark, desolate beauty.



There is something of the Renaissance Man about Ketil Bjornstadt who is recognised as a unique figure in the arts in Norway. Trained as a concert pianist, he has recorded over thirty albums since 1973, including five volumes of solo piano and collaborations with both jazz and rock musicians. Alongside his music career, he has been equally prolific as a writer, with over 20 novels plus collections of poetry and books of essays. In addition, he continues to write for newspapers and periodicals as a critic of literature and music.



Recorded by award winning engineer Jan-Erik Kongshaug from the famous Rainbow Studios in Oslo, and co-produced by live sound engineer Sven Persson, Seafarer's Song is an album that's very much of its time, a musical odyssey that depicts man's eternal search for security in today's traumatic world. "Seafarer's Song is ultimately an ode to all people struggling to find a harbour a safe place to live," says Bjornstad.

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