At the wheel of this freight train are the three founding members of the band, Anders Norudde, Hållbus Totte Mattsson, and Björn Tollin, who started the band in 1987. All three had affairs with rock and flirtations with other world music, but they came back home to Nordic music. In 1987 the band played together for the first time, Totte relates, "When we joined together at the beginning Anders had his drone instruments, Björn had his tambourine and I had my lute, and, like an accident, we started to play together and these instruments, they loved each other…We're not interested in trying to be authentic or historical; we don't mind how it was done years ago, but we mind what wonderful instruments they had then." He adds "Because we know the tradition, we write a lot of new stuff that is based on traditional ideas, scales, modes, rhythms and so on."
Anders continues, "We seek folk music with harsh melodies, twisted rhythms and percussive bass notes, the kind that was played in a lonely glade somewhere in the northern parts hundreds of years ago. No other music reaches so far down to our collective roots. There is so much power in the old music."
Through all the modern technology, Hedningarna remains true to the polska, an addictive three-beat rhythm unique to Sweden, a derivation of a dance from elsewhere in Europe in the 18th century. The polska is rhythmically complex and has many regional variations both musically and in dance forms. In modern day terms, the polska was the party music of that time, Anders explains "People danced themselves into ecstasy to these compelling rhythms. This was not tolerated at all. The religious 'revival' movement killed much of the Swedish folk music tradition. The fiddle was regarded as the devil's instrument and was burned. As industrialization crowded out village life, this form of music nearly died out completely. The folk music that survived was 'refined' and 'respectable' not sweaty and ecstatic."
Hedningarna have a truly unique sound; they have taken old, forgotten melodies and created their own new folk mutation. "It's nothing we've conciously thought out, it just happens. We were longing to arrange music in a different way, and this is what came out," says Anders with a shrug.
In 1989 Hedningarna recorded their first release Hedningarna as the core trio. After hearing female Finnish voices wafting through the halls of the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Hedningarna invited Sanna Kurki-Suonio and Tellu Paulasto to join the band. With this lineup they recorded Kaksi! in 1992 and Trä in 1994. For 1997's mostly instrumental Hippjokk, they returned to the core trio with some collaborations with Sámi yoiker (or chanter) Wimme Saari who also has two solo recordings on NorthSide.
For 1999's emotionally potent Karelia Visa, the core trio was again joined by two Finnish singers, Sanna Kurki-Suonio and Anita Lehtola of Loituma, singing in the traditional Finnish runo-song style. Anita replaced Tellu Paulasto after she left the band to continue her studies in Finland. In 1999, when Sanna left to pursue her promising solo career, Liisa Matveinen replaced her.
In 1999, Hedningarna added Magnus Stinnerbom on octave violin to their line up. Magnus has his own band, Harv, with their first U.S. release Must released September 2000.
on Karelia Visa...
- "…hearty melodies that can seem like Celtic reels one moment, Slavic polyphony the next." -The New York Times
- "Hedningarna pays tribute to a forgotten culture, bringing its traditional music alive with energy and excellence." - Rhythm
- "Enthralling and compelling from first note to last." - Dirty Linen
- "…an album that ambles with bright melodies and charms with sweet, exotic voices." - amazon.com
- "This is folk music for a rave, a Dionysian frenzy with a minimum of electricity and nothing
verbal to distract you." - Playboy
- "Imagine eating black bread tainted with ergot and hallucinating with a bunch of
peasants from a Breugel painting while K.C. & the Sunshine Band jam with a squad of
Viking berserkers playing bagpipes. All other rave music is hereby declared
dilettante fecal matter." - Musician
- "The group's rhythms are beguiling, and the sounds of these ancient instruments
(samplers notwithstanding) hold endless fascination." - Option
- "When this record hit my desk, I went crazy! Only a few bands really seems to define
their own genre, but HEDNINGARNA is definitely one of them." - Dirty Linen
- "Kaksi! may sound alien, yet it sounds like the most essential music on earth!
...every song here has the self-contained energy of a dynamo revving up to optimum,
ecstatic speed, precise but exhilarating, like an initiation into a divine order." - Melody Maker
- "...the sheer drive of their music is revelatory. One of this year's best European folk albums
(Hippjokk)." - Q Magazine
- "...mood-drenched, propulsive music that is both exotic and rewarding...this record is a spellbinding, mesmerizing hour that offers deep rewards for those willing to take the plunge." - CMJ
PLAYERS
- Hållbus Totte Mattsson - mandora, lute, moraoud, hurdy-gurdy, accordion, hummel. Known by his middle name, Totte was an early member of the seminal Swedish folk group Groupa, and is a member of the trio Boot with Björn Tollin.
- Anders Norudde - fiddles, keyed fiddles, bowed harp, Swedish bagpipe, flutes, jews harp, hardanger fiddle. He is credited on early records as Anders Stake. Anders is an instrument maker, playing many of his own creations and replicas. His new solo album, Himself, was released on NorthSide in 2000.
- Björn Tollin - tambourine, percussion, hummel, sampling, bass mandora. Björn is a member of the trio Boot with Totte Mattsson.
- Magnus Stinnerbom - Octave violin. Magnus has his own band Harv with Daniel Sandén-Warg, and accompanies Sanna Kurki-Suonio in her solo performances.
- Anita Lehtola - Anita is also a member of the Finnish band Loituma who have two recordings on NorthSide. Current vocalist with Hedningarna.
- Liisa Matveinen - In 1999 she recorded Mateli with Tellu (Paulasto) Virkkala and a solo recording, Ottilia, in 1996. Current vocalist with Hedningarna.
- Sanna Kurki-Suonio - Sanna has one solo album, Musta on NorthSide.
- Tellu Paulasto - Tellu now uses her married name "Virkkala." She recorded a solo album Suden Aika and a collaboration with Liisa Matveinen called Mateli. She currently performs with Luna Nova.
(Stress on the first syllable)
- Hedningarna - "Head-nin-gar-nuh"
- Totte - "Tot-teh"
- Kaksi - "Kahk-see" ("two" in Finnish)
- Trä - "Treh" ("wood" in Swedish)
- Hippjokk - "Hip-yoke" ("Karelia Song")
- Drone - to make a continuous, low, dull humming sound.
- Hummel - A stringed drone instrument related to the Appalachian dulcimer, but much older.
- Hurdy Gurdy - A medieval stringed instrument played by turning a rosined wheel with a crank and depressing keys connected to tangents on the strings. Sometimes referred to as "the synthesizer of the Middle Ages."
- Lute - a stringed instrument having a body shaped like a pear sliced lengthwise and a neck with a fretted fingerboard. A relative of the oud and the modern guitar.
- Mandora - Also known as the "mandore," the mandora of the sixteenth century was a precursor to the modern mandolin.
- Moraharpa - the medieval precursor to the nyckelharpa or the keyed fiddle. It has keys like a hurdy gurdy and resonating strings like a Viola d'amore. An ancient instrument was found in Mora, Sweden, thus the name.
- Sámi - Sámiland stretches from the northern to central regions of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and to the eastern tip of the Kola Peninsula in Russia. Many people in the U.S. grew up calling the Sámi "Lapps" and their homeland "Lappland."
- Swedish bagpipe - also called "sackpipa," it has a single reed chanter and a single drone.
- Polska - a dance, or type of dance, in 3/4 time, usually with emphasis on beats one and three. There are many different kinds of polska, some with even beats and some with beats of uneven length.
- Runo-song - also "rune-song" or "poem-song" in English. Finnish folk verses with a repetitive, alliterative style. The Kalevala, the national epic of Finland is written in this style, which was borrowed by Longfellow for his epic poem Hiawatha. Think of the cadence of "On the shores of Gitche Gummee/By the shining big sea water" and you get the idea.
- Willow Flute - The willow flute, sallow flute or overtone flute is a long whistle without fingerholes, used in Swedish and Norwegian folk music.
- Yoik - Yoik is traditional Sámi music, an archaic mode of unaccompanied solo singing which is uncannily similar to certain Native American music.
