Hedningarna
Hedningarna is a Swedish-Finnish Pagan folk band, electronic and rock elements combined with traditional Scandinavian music.
History
Hållbus Totte Mattson, Anders Norudde ( the then Anders Stake called) and Björn Tollin founded Hedningarna 1987. " Hedning " is the Swedish word for " pagan " or " unfaithful " and the musicians said that they are against the ruling ideas of the Swedish Folk music felt they were unfaithful. They wanted to go far back to the beginnings of the Norse culture and ancient instruments play, the little are currently in the Swedish folk music to use. Stake, a trained luthier, also began with the invention and construction of new instruments to create new sounds ( sounds ).
1988 composed and performed Hedningarna the majority of the music for the stage play " The stora vreden " ( which translates as "The great anger " means ), which had a great success. Their first album, entitled " Hedningarna " appeared in 1989 on Alice Records. In 1991, the group arrived at Silence Records. They worked together with the Finnish singers Sanna Kurki - Suonio and Tellu Paulasto. The album " Kaksi " ( Finnish for "two" or "second" ) was released in September 1992. 1993 Hedningarna received the Swedish Grammis (the equivalent of the Grammy ) for Best Folk Music Album of the Year. Kaksi! was 35 000 copies sold - a large number of sales for a folk music album in Sweden. The British DJ Sasha produced a remix of Hedningarna 's " Kruspolska " which came out in the UK charts.
The third album " carrier " was released in September 1994. The Melody Maker wrote: "it june sound alien, but yet it sounds like the most essential music on the earth ." Hedningarna occurred on the second largest stage at the Roskilde Festival in front of 20 000 listeners. 1995 Hedningarna toured through Scandinavia and other countries. A compilation CD with pieces from carrier and Kaksi! appeared in the United States. In 1995 their albums in Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Thailand, UK and the USA have been published.
The singers Kurki - Suonio and Paulasto paused in 1996 to mark the birth of a child and for reasons of study in Finland. Paulasto decided to leave the band and in its place came Anita Lehtola added, had visited the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki a class with Paulasto. Mattson, Stake and Tollin working on the new album " Hippjokk ". The rock bassist Ulf Ivarsson played the new Bassmandora that Mattson had developed. The Finnish seed and Joiksänger Wimme Saari supported the singing as well as the eminent Norwegian guitarist Knut Reiersrud starred. Johan Liljemark played didgeridoo, whose playing he had learned living with the Aborigines in Australia. Hippjokk was released in February 1997. The band toured and performed with the singers at festivals in Spain and Belgium. Ulf " Rockis " Ivarsson became a member of the band. Anders Stake changed his name to Anders Norudde.
In the winter of 1998 the band traveled in the Russian part of Karelia to be inspired for the new album " Karelia Visa ". The album was recorded in the following spring and summer. Similarly, there was in the summer of 1998 a small Konnzerttour by Spain. Ulf Ivarsson left the group after the recording. Mattson and Tollin recorded a CD for the dance group Virvla together with the violin player Ola Bäckström. It was released in 1999 on Silence Records. Sanna Kurki - Suonio published in Finland in the same year a solo album. Karelia Visa was released in 1999 accompanied by concerts in Scandinavia and a three -week tour in the USA.
Hedningarna played live in a manner based on their music, dance performance, the Flying Foot Forum in Minneapolis (USA) had developed and danced. The violin player Magnus Stinnerbom came to the group. Published in 2000 Norudde a solo album and the percussionist Christian Svensson joined the ensemble. He replaced founding member Björn Tollin. The compilation CD " 1989-2003 " was released in 2003. Up to this time had sold approximately 150,000 points Hedningarna CDs. The singers left the group in 2003 and since then Hedningarna is again an instrumental ensemble.
In spring 2012, the album " &", on which there are vocal and instrumental pieces appeared.
Guest musicians
- Wimme Saari - Yoik vocals on carrier and Hippjokk.
- Knut Reiersrud - electric guitar and vocals on Hippjokk.
- Johan Liljemark - Didgeridoo on Hippjokk and Karelia Visa.
- Ola Bäckström - fiddle on Hippjokk.
- Per-Erik Nilsson - percussion on Kaksi.