Customer Reviews

Jarven

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In addition to their primary instruments of cittern/mandola, fiddle, and viola, the recording features some other instruments they play, or which suits the music: such as the hammered dulcimer, harmonica, pipes, and harp. This album is a great enveloping of some of the best of what Frifot does both individually and altogether:
-Willemark's Microtonal solo vocal (Mikaelidagen)
-Moller's Willow flute (Gammal och Ung/halling) & Harmonica playing (Svarteborgaren)
-Gudmundson's mastery of the pipes (Jarven)
-Lovely group ballads (Sommervals)
-Rich vocal harmonies (O Fader Wise)
Above that, there is plenty of frenetic and blissful group energy on tracks like Blank Anders polska, Gyrissviten, their version of polska efter Kopman, and Bingsjosvit. Tracks like Klosterpolskan prove with every listen that they are masters of the tunes, as evident in their sense of both rhythmic and dynamic variation. The album is well put together with liner notes, bits of history, and with the combination tunes that seem to reach new heights & worlds with every passing minute. It's a record for both players of traditional tunes, and for those accepting of the more loose ambient textures of the instruments and melodies themselves.

I've introduced some Scandinavian folk music to players of Old Tyme and Irish music, and have sat in Irish sessions, played for Scandinavian folk dancers, and performed both types of tunes on stage. One of the things that first strikes a listener about Scandinavian tunes is the sense of rhythm, and I'd have to say that the folk melodies of most Irish tunes can be a bit numbing and leave something to be desired, comparatively. This is a great well-rounded album that includes some of the tradition's best players -- especially for someone just discovering the tradition. The energies and auras of the recording are both masterful and addictive.