- artist:Øyonn Groven Myhren
- featured artist:Leiv Solberg; Tomas Nilsson
- release year:2008
- style(s):Traditional
- country:Norway
- formats:CD (Compact Disc)
- record posted by:Etnisk Musikklubb
- label:Etnisk Musikklubb
- publisher:Etnisk Musikklubb
It is a pleasure to be able to present this
selection of medieval ballads sung by one
of the most distinctive and highly respected
vocalists of the Scandinavian traditional
landscape. The ballads are performed with
an unpretentious, traditional mode of
delivery, utilizing tonality, ornamentation
and rhythmic understanding that have
survived the centuries - despite continual,
conscious attempts to quell these ever
since the Reformation of the 1500’s.
Øyonn Groven Myrhen has grown up in a
musical home, rich in tradition and oldstyle
singing. Her parents come from
musical families where traditional singing
has been a normal part of daily life for
generations. From her mother’s family she
has inherited an especially large repertoire
of songs and melodies. Øyonn has also
learned a great deal from Hagny Huso, of
the Gugard family singing tradition.
The ballads presented here are for the most
part from the Groven and the Gugard
family traditions of western Telemark.
Some are performed a cappella. Others are
arranged, using instruments whose nontempered
tunings help emphasize the melodies’
peculiar qualities.
The result is a singular weave of the:
- lovely and the wild, the grand and the
mild.
- beautiful and the violent, the grand and
the silent.
- the mystical and the mild, the beautiful
and the violent, the majestic and the silent.