Erlend Apneseth - Nattsongar

Well before he even has to think about hitting his thirties, Erlend Apneseth, one of Norway's most renowned Hardanger fiddle players, is already an extremely highly regarded musician. Alongside his exceptionally skilled band, the music for his third album, 'Nattsongar', Apneseth combines musical elements from the four corners of the globe.

In this project I wanted to emphasise elements I feel all kinds of folk music share, from the gentle and intangible to the rhythmic and playful, Apneseth says. The music on 'Nattsongar' was commissioned by the F�rde Festival in 2016, and was given its world premiere there. But the influence of the festival in the project goes far beyond the commission itself.

In the cover notes he writes: It was a great pleasure for me to write music for the F�rde Festival in particular, as it has provided me with musical inspiration from all over the world since I was a child. In many ways this event must bear some of the responsibility for my having become a musician. The work Nattsongar is Apneseth's attempt to distil his own experiences and encounters from the Festival, and is a sort of tribute to an event that accentuates what various traditions and cultures have in common rather than cultivating their differences.