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Knut Kjøk and Dag Gården
Frå folk te' folk (2L - Lindberg Lyd, Norway)
$16.99

Knut Kjøk (fiddle) and Dag Gården (accordion) present duets of traditional tunes from Norway, tunes like the springleik, the halling, the wedding march, the lyarslått and the waltz that have been passed 'from person to person' for generations, growing, changing and finally become the unique property of the musician who plays it.

Listen!
Bjøynnhallingen
Valbjørslykkjin
Hestleitar'n

Track list and more audio samples (Windows Media Player files)

The artists say:
In our opinion this title expresses in many ways the essence of folk music. On their way from musician to musician, from community to community - even from country to country - the tunes have lived their own vagabond lives. They have been passed down ”orally” from people to people, and they have always been just on loan. In this way they have been handed down from generation to generation. Different dialects and the skill, temperament and personality of the individual musician have contributed to forming each tune.

All the tunes that we play, belong to the great heritage of traditional fiddle music in the Gudbrandsdalen Valley, concentrating mainly on music from Vågå, Lom and Skjåk. We have worked on the oldest types of tune such as the springleik, the halling, the wedding march, the lyarslått (air to be listened to) and the waltz.

Also strongly recommended is Frå Folk te' Folk, which, while perhaps less rigorously traditional, could hardly be labeled contemporary in this era of electricity and drum kits. Fiddler Knut Kjøk and accordionist Dag Gården play music from the Ottadalen Valley, which seems a bit less strange than that from some other parts of the country. It also seems that Kjøk and Gården, in their arrangements of the material, seek to bring out the music in a more "normal" fashion than, for example, a group like Frifot, which likes to base its presentation on the more outré aspects of the tradition. This is not to say that the music here sounds too straight, however. The musical intelligence brought to bear by the two protagonists brings the tunes to life, and if the music is not as full of obvious surprises as, for instance, Hardanger fiddle tunes, it is still very rewarding. The melodies have their own subtle but considerable charm, and the playing of the complex arrangements is spot-on and full of feeling. - Dirty Linen

From the record label:
Folkloristic traditions are based on the transmission of music from generation to generation. But this does not at all imply that folk music has to be static and forever unchangeable – musicians like Knut Kjøk and Dag Gården lend the term Tradition itself an entirely new meaning, as they pay equally respect to creativity and fantasy as well as re-creation and faithfulness to their musical sources. As a result an extraordinarily sincere, honest and fascinating music emerges; right through candid, truly original and refreshingly new – from people to people!

List of tunes:
1 Bjøynnhallingen
2 Valbjørslykkjin
3 Hestleitar'n
4 Gamal brurmarsj
5 Brunsølen
6 Gamal Eirik-hallingen
7 Springleik etter Ola Åsen
8 Brurmarsj
9 Goroleikjin
10 Pær Spelmeinnleik
11 Netosætervalsen
12 Liabekken
13 Marsj
14 Vriompeisen
15 Gamel-Sjugurd
16 Nord og ne'rin
17 Storhallingen hass Fel-Jakup
18 Hull'n hass Pær Klonesbakka

Liner Notes:
from people to people

In our opinion this title expresses in many ways the essence of folk music.On their way from musician to musician,from community to community,even from country to country,the tunes have lived their own vagabond lives.They have been passed on “orally ”from people to people,and they have always been just for loan.In this way they have been handed down from generation to generation.Different dialects and the skill,temperament and personality of the individual musician have contributed to forming each tune.Most of the oldest tunes we play have an unknown origin.However,we always tell whom we learned the tunes from,which is in accordance with rules of good behaviour among folk musicians.

These folk musicians have been the sources of the tunes on this CD
Syver (Sjugurd)Garmo Garmo 1896 –1991
Theodor Bakken Heidal 1904 –1988
Ola Åsen Bøverdalen 1905 –1979
Erling Kjøk Garmo 1913 –1999
Pål Skogum Lalm 1921 –1990
Kristian Gården Vågåmo f.1924
Reidar Skjelkvåle Skjåk f.1940

The fiddler who has left the deepest marks on folk music in the Ottadalen Valley is Fel-Jakup (Fiddle-Jakup),whose real name was Jakup Olsen Lom 1821 –1876.He was the great ideal to his contemporaries,and not least to the musicians who came after him.A great number of tunes are today linked to his name,and many of the tunes on this CD can be traced back to him. All the tunes on this CD,except five composed fairly recently,belong to the great heritage of traditional fiddle music in the Ottadalen Valley.We have chosen to concentrate on the oldest types of tunes such as the springleik ,the halling ,the wedding march,the lydarslått (air to be listened to)and the waltz.The first four types were well established in the district in the early 17th century.The designation

lydarslått is relatively new in the Ottadalen Valley,but airs such as "Guroleikjin "and "Hull 'n hass Pær Klonesbakka "fall within this category."Guroleikjin "are among the oldest airs we use.The waltz came to Norway shortly after 1800,and it quickly became popular among the fiddlers in the Ottadalen Valley.Today we know a host of good waltz tunes,which are considered to be among the best traditional folk music of the district.

Knut Kjøk was born in Lom in 1948.He got his first fiddle at the age of 12.His father,Erling Kjøk,was a very active fiddler,and Knut grew up in a home filled with folk music.Apart from his own father,his main sources of inspiration have been Pål Skogum and Mattias Bismo,both local fiddlers.Knut Kjøk has performed both at home and abroad,and he now works as a music teacher at the municipal music and culture schools in Sel and Vågå.

Dag Gården was born in Vågå in 1959 and grew up in a home filled with folk music.His father,Kristian Gården,is still an active fiddler,and Dag would probably have followed in his father 's footsteps if he had not come across an accordion at the age of ten.After having learnt the rudiments of accordion playing from various local accordionists,Dag bought himself a free-bass accordion and went to Oslo to study music at the age of sixteen.He first attended Foss videregående skole (Upper secondary school)for three years,and then he studied for four years at Norges Musikkhøgskole (the Nor wegian State Academy of Music)with the accordion as his main instrument. Jon Faukstad was his accordion teacher both at Foss and at Norges Musikkhøgskole.Since 1990 Dag has been the principal of the municipal school of music and culture in Sel.

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