Product Description
Like the duo’s debut album, “Vårdroppar” was recorded at Ål Church in Hallingdal with technician Tor Magne Hallibakken, and also like the previous album the repertoire consists of traditional music from Norway and Sweden along with a few of the players’ own compositions. As musician Arve Henriksen writes in the accompanying brochure, “They’re full of life and energy, and give me a real lift; they carry within themselves the same radiance and colour that sparkle outside my window.” It is an even more well-integrated duo, with tremendous musical dynamism, that we hear on this album.
Swedish keyed fiddle player Erik Rydvall and Hardanger fiddle player Olav Luksengård Mjelva, from Røros in Norway, are both counted among the foremost folk musicians of their generation. Their debut album as a duo, “Isbrytaren” (Heilo), was released in 2013 to glowing reviews, and that same year Olav Mjelva was named folk musician of the year at the Folkelarm festival. “Isbrytaren” also won an award at Folkelarm, and was nominated for a Spellemannspris (Norwegian Grammy) in the category “Folk Music and Traditional Music”.
At the Manifestgalan, Sweden’s independent music industry awards, the album was nominated in the category “Folk”, and at the Folk and World Music Gala it was named the release of the year.
Rydvall and Mjelva are inquisitive musicians, with strong roots in the traditions of their places of origin. A duo collaboration featuring Hardanger fiddle and keyed fiddle has rarely been presented before. The repertoire and playing styles of the two instruments are basically very different, but the two musicians manage to make the combination sound natural and intriguing.
