The Norwegian Grammy Award winner Marja Mortensson is releasing a new album,
dealing with modern life and heritage: «LÅÅJE - DAWN»
“Her singing is so mesmerising, it ought to inspire listeners from every corner of the world to fall down upon their knees in awe … it is so beautiful, so different.” – Audun Vinger, Dagens Næringsliv
The Norwegian Grammy Award Winners Marja Mortensson and Daniel Herskedal are releasing their first duo album together, aptly named LÅÅJE – DAWN.
Mortensson’s and Herskedal’s music transcends borders. As such, their music moves effortlessly through the borderlands between South and Ume Saami yoik melodies, where it finds itself swinging back and forth between tradition and the musical compositions of classical string quartets. The melodies imitate standing stones, carefully rooted menhirs, who guide the listener from the gravity and melancholy of a planet finally speaking up against our treatment of her, to the playful yoik melodies associated with woodpeckers and ptarmigans.
Seven of the album’s ten tracks feature the Trondheim Soloists’ String Quartet, and their virtuosic musical engagement with the circular schematics of the traditional yoiks. Herskedal has established himself as a musician and composer on stages throughout Europe, having written commission pieces for the BBC Concert Orchestra and the Moscow Patriarchate’s Male Choir, among others.
«Norwegian tuba player Daniel Herskedal is nothing short of a miracle, which is mainly brought about by his perfect mastery of the instrument.» - Jazzenzo
LÅÅJE is an exploration of human vulnerability and nature’s resistance and resilience, as well as an insight into a youthful optimistic outlook on our future.
“Climate changes, the shifting seasons, the way our lives slowly change from one day to the next, all these changes happen more or less without us noticing them. It is only with time that we truly realise the impact that these changes have had on us. I hope that this album will, little by little, help to change our world for the better. That this music, which is so important to us, will eventually come to mean something to others as well, once we release this album. That the South Saami language will be heard in public more often, and eventually become a natural part of more people’s everyday lives.
I have spent a lot of time studying the way we transmit cultural values and teachings from one generation to the next. I’ve experienced what it means to be young, faced with different options, but without a clear path ahead. Even though we’ve rushed ahead, subconsciously trying to escape ourselves, and thus ignoring life as it happens around us, we could only ever become more knowledgeable about the past, whereas the future still remains unclear.”
LÅÅJE – DAWN release October 18th 2019.
Release concert: the 30th of October, Oslo World Music Festival, Cosmopolite.
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