Customer Reviews

Oasis

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Shortly after early service on a recent Sunday morning, I tuned in a rebroadcast of Prairie Home Companion on NPR just in time to catch Garrison Keillor introducing this Finnish band. I had planned to use the radio as background noise while I did chores around the house. However, when Frigg began to play I stood transfixed, staring vacantly out the bedroom window. The music instanly swept me away, back to the Scandinavia I left five years ago. I find it hard to explain just what it was that took hold of me at that moment - the melody, the harmonies of the instruments, or the dazzling perfection of the mucsicians - it was all genius. It was so good that tears welled up in my eyes.

I could not stop thinking about this group, so the next day I went online and ordered "Oasis." Listening to the albium a few days later, tears again welled up, especially on the second cut, "Daavid Ja Mina." I have heard some fiddlers in my half-century on this earth, but never anything quite like this. It was Incredibly Good. When I came to "Return From Helsinki," I wept openly. It was as if Frigg had looked into my heart and put to music all the emotion which surfaces whenever I remember my own return from Helsinki. This was on the Silja Line ferry, which my two youngest daughters and I took from and back to Stockholm in the winter of 2001. The lone piano keys that begin the piece is the ice chunk-filled, crystal water our ship glided silently through, past the glittering windows of two and three-storied, gambrel-roofed homes along the shoreline of the archipelago. The single fiddle melody that follows and expands reflect the joy and wonder we three experienced on our little adventure to Finland's snow-bound, fog-encased capital city. It also reflects a bit of the sadness we felt that our trip was so brief. Frigg seems to have written the soundtrack to a wonderful portion of my life.

I have since listened to the 2004 album, simply titled "Frigg" and am equally impressed. (Review to follow there.) If you are checking out "Oasis," you must already be interested in Nordic Roots music. If you have never heard Frigg, you owe it to yourself to get this album.

I found this in a cut out bin obviously no one knew what it was. this is a very uplifting cd with an almost american buegrassy edge at times and some classic "sad" sounding tunes as well. it's better than their other one. i like the use of dobro on some cuts. great cover art makes this the full package. Good tuneage.

Glad to have this CD again, after having lost my original copy I bought at one of their performances. Product arrived in good condition and plays well. Couldn't have asked for better.

Hoy! Hoy!
I discovered Frigg while trying to learn more about the Finnish string band JPP. I greatly enjoy JPP, but Frigg seems, to me at least, a bit "edgier" in attitude, while somewhat "freer" in performance. The talent and discipline in any of these "Finnish Fiddle Bands" is evident, but, in retrospect and to my ear, bands like JPP and Troka (with some musicians appearing with both bands) sound a bit too precise, and this imparts a certain "formality" to their recordings. I wonder if this doesn't simply reflect the enormous role of the violin, as well as string sections, in "European" classical music. The musicians in these bands are impressively technically fascile, which I suspect comes from some formal training in classical music. Evidently, the musicians in these bands hail from a region in Finland with a strong heritage in "fiddling" (as opposed to "the violin"?). In comparison with JPP and Troka, Frigg's performances seem (again, to me) a bit more energized and less formal (dare I say, "They Rock!"?), which I feel better compliments the character of many of the tunes; which often draw on "folksy" musical idioms, such as those employed in bluegrass and traditional music. The same reasoning holds true for the tunes that evoke the idioms of rock and jazz music. Great performances from a great band make me want to see them live (at least, better than what's on "youtube").

This music borders on being gaelic and blue grass at the same time. Totally amazing and entertaining to listen to. I can highly reccommend it for the adventurous listener who enjoys either genre by itself. This will blow you away and make you smile all day....very uplifting and fun to listen to.

I was introduced to this energetic Finnish/Norwegian band recently while traveling in Norway. The skill of these young people is outstanding. The rhythms are contagious - you literally can't stop tapping your feet, and soon you find yourself up and dancing. Besides being excellent string players, the influence of American Appalachian music is obvious! Whenever I want a lift from the routines of the day, I turn to FRIGG!

Heard these people live on The Prairie Home Companion last weekend and my son and I enjoyed the music so much we purchased this CD...wonderful!