Meeting with Sigbjørn Apeland - For something bigger than oneself
Photo: Magne Sandnes
I like to know a lot about the history of music. The more I know, the more easily I can relate to the sources of the artistic work.
Text: Janne Karin Støylen
Sigbjørn Apeland has a foot in research and a great interest in historical sources and knowledge. He works at the Grieg Academy in Bergen. In 2005 he defended his thesis on church music discourse, and is now an associate professor at the university.
With the other foot, he steps on the pedals of an old organ and lets his fingers play over the keys. Sigbjørn Apeland creates unheard-of expressions, in the sense that they are new. With the wood organ as a core, Apeland paints new soundscapes by combining traditional music with electronics, jazz and other improvisations.
- I find it fruitful both ways, says Sigbjørn Apeland. I started working with improvisation early on, while studying classical music. I also worked on collecting local music and found that the more I could, the more freely I felt as a performing musician. This exchange has become a rewarding balance for me.
Sigbjørn Apeland has been tasked with being the musical director for the concert production "Op sødeste sang" which is based on church music archive material from Sogn og Fjordane. - Everyone is very skilled in their fields, says Apeland about the musicians the festival has selected for the project. I have worked with most of them before, all as close as Malin Alander. But I have heard a lot of good things about her, and I am very happy that I am bringing a musician with me that I do not know! The challenge will be to find this balance between the traditional and a free and improvisational approach, I think. Fortunately, we have plenty of time and good working conditions. There is Førdefestivalen an outstanding client!
Photo: Magne Sandes
“ - The ornamentation that our folk singers now learn from tradition originated as improvisation in the singing of hymns in church ”
- In the churches, it was the bell ringer who led the singing, says Sigbjørn Apeland. For a long time, there were no musical instruments. This opened up enormous musical variation, even though many of the texts are part of the common Nordic and European hymn tradition, such as Kingo and Brorson, for example. The church room was a place for expression and creativity. - The ornamentation that our folk singers now learn from tradition arose as improvisation in the hymn singing in church, explains Apeland.
How this sounded is another matter. Knut Hamsun even wrote a newspaper article in “Søndre Bergenhus Folkeblad” in which he described how bad the hymn singing in Øystese was to listen to: He thought the song was wild and barbaric. “These voices from the depths of Norway’s most dangerous rawness,” Hamsun provoked. He divided the blame between the schoolmaster, the church choir and the “aged farmers” who ruled the village. In the ensuing debate, which lasted as long as he stayed in Øystese, he was accused of being an “important pear” with “school-learned wisdom”.
- The hymn texts could also be written locally, but often by unnamed sources. They wrote for something bigger than themselves, not for their own honor and recognition, that is how we interpret the lack of senders for such texts, explains Apeland, and continues: - The church is not a place for self-assertion and posturing, when you enter the church you enter something far greater. This makes the church space a place where much can be set aside. For the artistic creativity in man it has provided good conditions, concludes Sigbjørn Apeland.