Nordic Artists

While Sweden and Finland have become very visible on the international scene over the last few years, Norway has produced very few folk artists who've achieved any type of global recognition. One who ...

One of the best CDs of 2003 didn't appear until close to the end of the year. Balance, by the Danish duo of de Fries & D. Beck is a delightful, invigorating tour through Danish traditional music. ...

The music and words of Hildegard von Bingen, the 12th century abbess who was possibly one of the first female composers, has been hijacked by the New Age movement in recent years. And as such, it's ...

You can find plenty of variety in Finnish music, as anyone who's listened to both Wimme and Värttinä can testify. But Gjallarhorn fall outside even Finland's curious standards. In addition to the ...

If you want to search for the roots of the modern Swedish sound, one of the places to look is Groupa. "Groupa and Filarfolket were the leading bands during the ‘80s," explained longtime keyboard ...

It's nine p.m. on a Tuesday, and Harald Haugaard has just finished teaching his last class of the day. Late hours for education, but Haugaard is no stranger to working hard. In addition to being ...

For a young band, Harv has a long history. The Swedish folk duo of Magnus Stinnerbom and Daniel Sanden-Warg, both of whom play fiddles, might only be in their early 20s, but they musical past has ...

"I compose in my own musical language. And my background is folk music, so of course you can hear the Danish/Scandinavian tradition coming through." Roots music can be a springboard to many ...

"In our music you can always sense the Danish traditional music even though we mix it with inspiration from other musical genres." Danish music has been very much in the shadows of its Nordic ...

ABBA might have been huge international pop stars in the ‘70s, but one thing they never did was play folk music. So what are Sweden's Ranarim doing, giving a shout out to their countrymen on their ...

Mark II, the first album from Sorten Muld, comes on as something of a quiet revolution. On traditional songs, electronics, samples, and loops mingle with a female singer and a sprinkling of ‘real' ...

Danish music continues its rise as a star in the world music firmament, bringing forth new names all the time. One who really burst on the scene in 2004 was fiddler Kristine Heebøll, with her debut ...

Today's Värttinä is a long way, but also just a short stroll, from the band that began in 1983. The young girls who began the group in Karelia, reciting old poems and singing the traditional songs, ...

"To me, joiking the deepest way to give out my feelings and my background," said Sami (Lapp) joiker Wimme Saari. "It makes my life fuller." The joik, pronounced yoik, is the singing of the ...