A Sampling of Norwegian Movies and more music from Norway

I had a Norwegian bachelor farmer-uncle.

Fans of Prairie Home Companion will understand this reference!

He lived in a tiny cottage on our farm, and played the accordion for dances in his youth. I inherited his beautiful push button accordions, but not his talent for playing them.

How his music made me dance! Especially my favorite tune. Sadly I never learned the name. It took me years of searching, but I finally found a recording on Itunes.

Here it is, along with more cheerful Norwegian dance tunes that remind me of Uncle Andrew.
For more Norwegian music presenting a mix of traditional and contemporary influences, see my earlier post: The Many Sounds of Norway.


For movies featuring Norwegian bachelors, scroll down!


Akkurat Den Same, Reinlendar
Embrik Bergaplass
Youtube







Ormevekkjaren
Tom Willy Rustad
Youtube





Trondhjemmer'n
Jorun Marie Kvernberg & Øyvind Sandum

Youtube of an accordion solo version - live performance
Reminds me so much of my uncle!


Movies
For several weeks now we have been watching Norwegian movies found through Netflix and borrowed from the library.



Our favorite so far is Elling.
Set in Oslo, Elling is overcoming his fears with the help of his new friend Kjell Bjarne.
It's just too funny and sweet. I want to watch it again.
Rated R - for discussions about sex and language





We were totally unprepared for O'Horten.
Until the very end of this movie, we kept asking "Is this movie ever going to make sense? Was there a plot at all?
Then there was the resolution - to a conflict we were not entirely aware existed - in the last few minutes of the film - and we agreed we were glad we had watched this quirky and brilliant film.
Rated PG-13 but there is some brief nudity.





We tried a few movies that took their inspiration from Norwegian Folk Mythology. Of course we watched Trollhunter when it was on Netflix last year and has become something of a cult classic. Of the new releases we tried in this vein, we found Ragnarok very entertaining. A single father/archaeologist takes his kids on a hunt for Viking treasure. Action adventure, beautiful scenery.
PG-13

Scan Fair, Discovering Norwegian Traditions in Oregon

As the name implies, Scan Fair, a  Scandinavian Heritage Foundation event, combines several Scandinavian cultural traditions, and it is a good place to see some fine traditional crafts, sample delicious food, and to meet representatives of the Sons and Daughters of Norway Lodges in the Portland and Salem area.

One of them eagerly told me the secrets to making good lefse.
Another enthusiastically gave me her recipe for authentic Norwegian Poached Cod. I can't wait to try it.

And it does not get much more Norwegian than this. I watched this kind of conversation when I visited distant relatives in Norway decades ago: the brightness of the eyes, the quick and sincere warmth, bonding instantly over a proud heritage.

Yet another booth representative encouraged my husband and I to join them on Monday nights for traditional Norwegian folk dance. My husband is resigned that this "Norway thing" is more than a weekend excursion.

On the right: Hardanger fiddles by Lynn Berg, Oregon.
For more about these, see my earlier post.

There were many booths showcasing Rosemåling, a traditional Norwegian folk art 

similar to tole painting. This display won my heart.

I enjoyed talking to this vendor. I wish I would have purchased one of her kits to 

make traditional Norwegian braided trim.   It looks like so much fun.

Candidates for the 2015  Lucia Crown

The Many Sounds of Norway

I've been collecting Norwegian music for years, but our upcoming Norway Staycation is all the excuse I need to do a little more research.

Traditional Folk Music of Norway 

Norway's folk music is much loved and continues to be taught and celebrated.
Here is a great website to learn more.

One thing that sets this music apart is the haunting sound of the Hardanger Fiddle (Hardingfele). These amazing work-of-art instruments are tuned differently from violins, and have additional strings underneath that provide extra resonance.
(Fiddle pictured on the right by Lynn Berg)

You will also hear other instruments unique to Scandinavia, and accordion, especially in dance music.

In many recordings there is foot stomping, an important percussive element

Stølskinna Sigmund Eikås

to help the dancers because many of the traditional songs can have such
 elaborate rhythms it can be hard to follow!

One of my favorite aspects of Norwegian folk music is the unaccompanied vocals that truly treat the human voice as an instrument.

All that said, my favorite recordings tend to blur the lines a little between folk music and contemporary styles.
Links go to Amazon, but these should also be available on Itunes.


Vrikkjaren
Spindel
From the Album Aminje
I LOVE this piece. It was my ring tone for years,
and everyone would ask about it.
Youtube

Når mitt øie, trett av møie
(When My Eyes, Weary of Toil)
Oslo Kammerkor
From the Album Strid
Oslo's Chamber Choir
Contemporary Choral Works based on Folk Music
Absolutely stunning ~ the whole album
Youtube



Snåle mi jente 

Kerstin Blodig
From the Album Trollsang
(Troll Song - That's why she is made up to look like a Troll)
live performance youtube

Numedalshalling
(Billy Goats Gruff)
Bukkene Bruse
From the Album Steinstolen (The Stone Chair)
I love this whole album
This group was selected as the official Olympic Musicians for the Lillehammer Olympic Games and performed at the closing ceremony. (Wikipedia)
Youtube




Den Store Trasten Forelskar Seg
Tindra

From the Album Lukkeleg Vaking
Playful Indie Acoustic Sound
Youtube





Halling
Jon Faukstad & Per Sæmund Bjørkum
From the Album Slåttar Frå Torger Olstads Notebok
Dance Music with  Hardingfele and Accordion
Toe Tapping!
Youtube

Solistvals (Soloist's Waltz)
Berit Opheim Versto
From the Album White Night: Impressions of Norwegian Folk Music
I may have to buy this whole album.
This track is so joyful.



No Skal Eg Fortelje
(Now I'll Tell)
Sigrid Moldestad
From the Album Sandkorn
Sigrid has recorded many beautiful ballads,
but I like this spicy piece. I have no idea what it is about.
Youtube

A Little Bit of Norway

My daughters want to celebrate Lille Julaften, or "Little Christmas Eve" on December 23rd: a holiday tradition revered by my Norwegian Grandmother.

Leading up to this we will be lefse rolling and possibly making Krumkake or Berlinerkranser, Fattigman or Sandbakkels. My daughters have requested lutefisk. Why?????

And I'd love to put on a lovely Smörgåsbord. Too much for one day! Uff da!

My Grandmother would not understand this American impatience to do everything at once. Her dinners were never over the top spectacles, but simply and beautifully prepared, graciously served love feasts.

Grandma Rebecca and all the Grandchildren

That is why I miss them so much. Why my daughters are tired of hearing about them and want to start their own traditions.

But it will take some doing to get my inner Norwegian jump started. I need to go to Norway. Or the next best thing.

I need to go to the ScanFair just two weeks away! With music, crafts and many Norwegian delicacies.

And to remember Grandma I will need to spend some time by the water. As a child she lived in Southern Norway, on a farm next to the lake where she fished in the summers, and in the winter learned to ice skate by pushing a chair across the ice!

One reason Oregon attracted so many Norwegian settlers is because it is so similar to Norway's rugged beauty. I'm sure we'll find the perfect lake.

Into the Twilight Zone

I'm cheating on my own blog. Maybe. It depends on your definition.

Some define a staycation as only taking day trips and sleeping at home.
Yet others define it as staying close to home or in your own country.

I'm going to allow myself this broader definition: day trips OR longer trips as long as we stay in Oregon.

Because I really want to go to Eastern Oregon.

Because there are Haunted Hotels. Ghost Towns. Abandoned Mines.

There's the bleak and beautiful landscape shaped by ancient volcanoes, glaciers and violent floods, marked by wagon wheel ruts of hopeful pioneers who sacrificed much to journey into the unknown.

Because it's "another dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity"
and  "a land of both shadow and substance".
We will truly take "a journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination".

"Next Stop: the Twilight Zone!" (keep scrolling for day one)

Into the Twilight Zone, Day One

Heading up to the high desert and into the twilight zone.

How to prepare for a Twilight Zone trip to Eastern Oregon?
Watch all the Western episodes of course!

I especially enjoyed “Showdown with Rance McGrew” and "Mr. Denton on Doomsday".

On the first day's drive, we listened to Twilight Zone Radio Dramas on CD and some amazing music (suggested list at bottom of the page.)

A quick stop in Pendleton for dinner at the Prodigal Son Brewery seemed a natural choice. If time had allowed, we would have taken a tour of the mysterious Pendleton underground.

We arrived at our first destination, the historic hotel in Union, well after dark. Perfect.

We stepped into another world: vintage 20's music coming from the elegant dining room, 

antique furnishings, original murals contributed by a patron in the 30's.

The gracious proprietors have good reason to be so proud of their hard work restoring the Union Hotel.

We took a night time stroll through the town. With the colors stripped by the night, and the streets nearly empty, 

we felt like we had stepped into our own Twilight Zone narrative.

Somewhere at the end of town a cowboy was singing his heart out. His voice echoed off the empty brick buildings.

Just more photos...

Rosie guards my purse at the Union Hotel.

Suggested song list for your own Twilight Zone adventure (I did not use all of these, some are too "out there" for my husband):

Art Detail at the Prodigal Son Brewery
in Pendleton

• Twilight Zone: The Movie (suite) by Jerry Goldsmith, on "40 Years of Film Music"
• Actual scene music from the TV series! "The Twilight Zone: The Complete Scores of Bernard Herrmann" 
• Cello Concerto Farewell to Philosophy: (Bar 222) by Gavin Bryars. Moody, Gorgeous, spooky.
• Trumpet Concerto: II. Nocturne by Henri Tomasi, Lush, advanced harmonies, could be the soundtrack for a ghost story.
• The Planets, Op. 32, H. 125: VII. Neptune, The Mystic by Gustav Holst
• Cantus Arcticus Op 61 (Concerto for Birds and Orchestra) by E. Rautaavara
• Tree Line by Toru Takemitsu 
• Rothko Chapel 5th Movement by Morton Feldman 
• Mysterious Adventure by John Cage
• Lux Aeterna by György Ligeti
• Also check out: Hovhaness, Stravinsky, Mussorgsky

(keep scrolling for day two)

Day Three: Wandering the Back Roads, John Day Fossil Beds

"It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity."

Twilight Zone Opening Monologue, Season 1

Day Three Itinerary:

• Explore Baker City (and the "timeless" search for a good cup of coffee)
• Wander the back roads
• Go Rockhounding along the way
• Have a late lunch at the Dayville Cafe 
• Hike in the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument (Vast and Timeless)

Early Sunday Morning, Baker City was still asleep.

All around town there is evidence of restoration, and of civic pride

Historic buildings of brick or local stone.

The Lone Pine Cafe. If only we had been hungry! We watched the waitress bring tremendous

 breakfasts to the sidewalk tables outside our window. But the coffee was very good.

With a borrowed copy of Rockhounding Oregon, we set out to find one of the sites along the Old West Scenic Bikeway, CR20.
We settled on investigating Vinegar Creek, the second stop listed in the guide.
We tromped across the grass, hoping the rattlesnakes were all asleep!

The creek had some interesting rocks, and we played for a few minutes with my Dad's old rock picks. It would have been easy to spend a lot of time looking for "just one more", a common theme in Twilight Zone stories.

Dayville is next to the turn-off for the John Day Fossil Beds, and is home to the Dayville Cafe, well reviewed for its burgers, breakfasts and pies.

We were not disappointed!
They are closed Mon-Tues, so this was our only chance.
I don't think we were hungry again for about 24 hours.

We checked in to our quaint and cozy room at the Fish House Inn and drove to the Sheep Rock Unit of the John Day Fossil Beds.

What these pictures can't tell you is how utterly noiseless it was, all sounds hushed by the peaks.

We were there just before sundown, and the park was empty. 

Alone in a silent, lunar landscape,

Surrounded by this amazing strata of ancient geologic history, layers of sediment and ash.

(keep scrolling for day four)