Search - Sinikka Langeland :: Starflowers (Ocrd)

Starflowers is the fascinating debut recording from Norwegian vocalist and kantele player Sinikka Langeland. The album is a brilliant confluence of folk music, sung poetry and Nordic improvisation. A folk singer from Finnskogen, Norway's `Finnish forest' land, Langeland explores in her work the relationship between man and nature. All of the texts on the album are derived from the poetry of Hans Børli (1918-89), a lumberjack whose poetry is alive with his experiences of the Norwegian forests. On Starflowers, Sinikka is joined by four fellow Scandinavians: Norway's Arve Henriksen (trumpet) and Trygve Seim (saxophones), Sweden's Anders Jormin (double-bass) and Finland's Markku Ounaskari (percussion). Henriksen, Seim and Jormin are veterans of numerous ECM jazz recordings. Born in 1961 to a Norwegian father and Finnish mother, Sinikka Langeland has drawn upon both sides of her cultural heritage. The instrument she plays is Finnish, a 39 string kantele or `table harp.' After growing up around classical music, Sinikka became interested in folk music in her teens and at age 20 began researching rune songs, incantations, old melodies from Finland and Karelia, as well as little known medieval ballads and religious folk songs. Since the early 1990s, she has been working and recording with jazz musicians as part of her ensembles.