Accordionist Jon Faukstad and violinist Per Saemund Bjorkum teach at the Norwegian Academy of Music. For the past fifteen years they have performed hundreds of concerts throughout Scandinavia and the rest of Europe, fascinating audiences with the diverse styles of traditional Norwegian music.

This album is recorded at an old farm called Kleppe in the Gudbrandsdalen valley. Today Kleppe in Vaga serves as home for a family and operates also as a center for cultural exhibitions and concerts. The duo has played there many times.

The first part is devoted to the music of Niels Ursin, Oluf Melvold, Christian Olberg and Anders Sorensen, four Norwegian composers who lived and worked in the 19th century as educated, professional musicians. Their dance music shows great kinship to other European music of that era. Their music was adopted by many fiddlers and has become an important part of the living folk music tradition of Gudbrandsdalen.

The themes in Lyaren (The Listener) refer to a famous battle in Gudbrandsdalen in 1612, when an army of Scottish mercenaries was defeated by local Norwegian farmers. The wonderful tune in the middle can still be hyeard among fiddlers both in Shetland and in Norway.

For 25 years, Jon Faukstad was the musical partner to Hans W. Brimi (1917-1998), one of Norway's most prominent fiddlers. Inspired by the beautiful scenery in Gudbrandsdalen, Brimi composed a number of tunes, many of them in a distinct lyrical style.

Anders Viken (1898-1977) was a teacher and a skilled fiddler from Jolster. He composed hundreds of dances and concert pieces.

Brursuite (Wedding medley) is a musical description of a traditional Norwegian wedding. It begins with a bridal march followed by a hymn, making the church ceremony. At the wedding feast that follows, guests enjoy the bridal waltz. Dancing continues with several springleik-tunes, for an older traditional dance in 3/4-time from Gudbrandsdalen. The medley ends with a halling, a dance for men only, in which solo dancers show off their physical strength and prowess.

Contact:
Email:jon@faukstad.no